Here There Be Dragons!

Please go like and share our facebook page - not just to show support, but because we need DONATIONS! Like, DESPERATELY!

My dad and I improvising some last-minute design changes for the pond. Ultimately, it will expand the surface area of the pond, make it more stable and work better with the supplies we have. Of course...the design doesn't show that very well. Oh well! Speaking of the new design...WE NEED MORE DONATIONS! We have been at a standstill the past week and unable to work on the project because we need 20 more bricks and another two bags of all-purpose sand and gravel, each. Yes - TWENTY BRICKS!! If ANYONE can help by donating, we would really, REALLY appreciate it! Please email me at [email protected] if you are interested in donating any of this that we need. It is all cheap, with bricks at Home Depot amounting to $1.81 each, and bags of sand or gravel rolling to probably $5 each. Once again, PLEASE EMAIL ME, and spread the word if you can!! Thank you!!

Turtle feeding time. Or…we had leftover pieces of apple, so we decided to share it amongst the turtles. It was definitely a nice break for all of us, and I’m sure Delilah, Fluffy and the cherryheads appreciated the food.

We know it will work, no matter what; so, of course, I’m happy with where this is going :)

Hopefully this week I can also get in contact with the PetCo home office to get a donation of a water filter; we’ll see how it goes.

Turtle spotlight! These are the little guys this whole pond is for. I wonder if they will enjoy the climb up and the fixed water location they usually never get. We certainly hope so!

"Tetris for adults" is what Mrs. Greenwood-Brown called this pond the longer we went on with it. The good news is that it actually did end up looking pretty cool towards the end!

But we cut the other four pieces for the fence barrier for about an hot. Hopefully my dad will get them painted tomorrow so we can install them before the middle of the week. Donations are slow coming in, but here's to hoping we get most of this done by the end of September!

I was so glad to get this done, but we forgot, there was a whole pond left!

Special thanks goes out to Emma, the Rosental family, the Reece family, and the Azevedo family. I seriously could not have done this without your donations!

We've made significant progress so far; we are, however, on a time crunch and we still need donations to start work on the above-ground water feature for the turtles. I CANNOT take monetary donations but we would really like to get started working on the "pond" this week. If anyone is interested in donating new or used pavers, pond liner or bags of all-purpose sand PLEASE email me at [email protected] - it would be very much appreciated!! Like, you have no idea how much!!! We need a specific type of pavers, especially, and lots of them, although they are pretty cheap at Home Depot. So once again, please PLEASE email me or spread the word!!

Look at these hard workers! Today Be, my dad and I were able to make it back up to the school with everything finally measured and cut. We were able to install the other fence barriers for the rest of the gate to keep the tiny turtles from escaping. We still have to reinforce and paint them, as well as put a pipe next to the door because there is a giant opening between the door and the rest of the gate, and we simply cannot stick out the fence barrier that far out. We noticed that if we were to do that, people would not notice it when they opened the gate and would get their feet hit and scratched; therefore, a pipe was the first solution we could think of. Thank you Be for coming and helping us out, it meant a lot to me! And thanks again to my dad, who continues to volunteer his time, power tools and the cheap screws that hold the barrier against the gate. You're the best! And of course, thanks to Daisy (my dog up there) for keeping us all company. :)

Who has already cut, painted and installed the first fence barrier that we are using to make sure the smallest turtles cannot escape from the garden. It worked very well for the first quarter of the fence, and we brought home the other three parts to cut up, paint and hopefully have those installed tomorrow. Thanks again to my awesome father for his donation of the screws to hold up the barrier, the paint, and his time, since he is the only one able to actually use the power saw.

Wish list request forms from the CMS PTA are in, so I can now start filling out our donations wish-list. Since we need more supplies for the above-ground pond, this is awesome!!

So after meeting up the past few days, we have finally figured out a way to work the fence barrier; this barrier will be used to block the small opening of the entrance gate to the garden, which the cherryhead turtles often find a way to push through. Special thanks to my dad for his specialty in power tools; he is the reason we were able to design and cut the barrier. We will be testing it out next week and if the barrier works for the first section of the gate, we will be cutting, painting and installing the other four pieces. Pictures will be up for that soon! Also in the works are more donations for the above-ground pond. What a week!

Here is a before and after. This is what three hours of cleaning gets done. Thanks to the middle school caregivers and trainees for helping out!