For Klaus...

[qmr]

Ross.. yeah, I love watching my goldfish lazily swim about - when the water is dark and they are near the surface they are so distinct, floating. Great to photograph. I've been off drawing in Xara for a while but now I feel a fish coming on..

No Koi here (theyre banned, hazard to NZ trout fishery) but goldfish grow to the size of the pond.. (proportionally speaking) and my fish are now pretty big. Your tale of a biological filter sent me searching, and I found a how-to page at http://www.fais.net/~blondie/filter/biofilter.htm

Interesting read about PEI. I know an itty bit about Newfoundland after reading E Annie Proulx's novel set there, I've read all her books. (love the line about sitting in the cafe watching the icebergs 'clink' out in the bay..)

When I was a kid I read and reread all Hammond Innes books which often were set in British Columbia etc, and had a childhood dream to visit those wide, treed, snowy places (only trouble is, I had the thought that what happened up there was innes-world ie: hydro dams were about to burst, secret agents were blowing themselves and bystanders up, egomaniacs plotting world domination etc..)

Well now as a wiser(?) adult and now a skiing addict, I'd love to go for le ski

Q.

[Ross Macintosh]

Quintin - You must come to Canada some day and further explore your perceptions of our country. Be prepared to take some time. One thing that is really hard to comprehend is how big it is. From where I live on the East coast it is probably closer to Moscow than to Vancouver (which is on the West coast). With our relatively small population, say 31 million, compared to the land area, we are by far the richest people on earth - even if that doesn't translate to cash in my pocket. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif[/img] If we were all spread out the ratio of Canadians to Canada would be about 3 people per square kilometre!

Living here is really tough. Sometimes it gets warm in my igloo and the ceiling drips onto my computer. I hate when that happens! It is funny the perceptions some people have of Canada. Of course I don't live in an igloo. Most years we don't get enough snow where I live to even build one.

I don't really think our power dams are about to burst but it is true about the world domination thing! As for spys, I keep a low profile. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

Regards, Ross

PS - that biofilter is very much like what my father-in-law made. He used lava rock (the kind sold for gas barbeques) because it has considerably more surface area than gravel.

[qmr]

I live in an igloo!!

well, a wooden one.. kind of..
Being an amateur architect and a do-it-yourselfer I designed and built my 4 bedroomed house and it is triangular, plywood and battens, stained to look like rustic oak (I have no shame), with native kauri timber inside.
Kauri timber.. imagine a golden coloured wood with subtle grey tones that glistens gold flecks in light because of the high kauri resin content. Bought a whole truckload of demolition flooring 8"x2" back in the early 80s. Still using it. Kauri is amazing to work with a chisel, plane etc, the grain is so fine it is like cutting cheese. Treasured by boat builders in the old days. Was the largest tree (not height) in the world ..until those pioneers cut the old ones down.. for flooring (oops)

Actually the igloo connection is because my young daughters lock themselves for long periods of time in the room with the P133 ms-chat-machine. Means I dont get phone calls, so there is that advantage..

Lots of Canadian folks migrated here to NZ and yes I know you get warm summers etc. But Hammond Innes at an impressionable age is hard to shake..

Lava rock! thanks for the reason for using this. re: pond, selling up (sniff) so will build smaller version in new city abode (adobe??).

Need to run a lot of pics of my place on my website, as I'm about to show the all-new waterfalls etc. And, of course the place only really starts to look nice when youre trying to sell it (1st rule of slobdom..)

(messily,)

Q

[Ross Macintosh]

Quintin - These NZ trees you write of, how do they compare in size with "General Sherman" in California's Sequoia National Park?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> The General Sherman Tree is 274.9 ft (83.8 meters) tall, and 102.6 ft (31.3 meters) in circumference at its base. Other trees in the world are taller: the tallest tree in the world is the Coast Redwood, which averages 300 ft - 350 ft (91.4 - 106.7 meters) in height. A cypress near Oaxaca, Mexico has a greater circumference, 162 ft (49.4 meters). But in volume of wood, the Sherman has no equal. With 52,500 cubic feet (1486.6 cubic meters) of wood, the General Sherman Tree earns the title of the World's Largest Living Thing. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Now that's a big tree! Its trunk weighs an estimated 1,385 tons!

Regards, Ross

PS - Please post a pic of your pond/waterfall. (Use xara to crop it or something so it qualifies [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img] )

[qmr]

how does it compare with general sherman??

hmmm..

well, for a start, general sherman still exists. Seriously tho, the kauri lived 2000 years or so and imagine a giant branch of broccolli.. thats what it looks like to me. So height isnt the thing with the kauri its the breadth. There are still fairly large ones about, Tane Mahuta the biggest I think. I'll try to get some of this stuff soon onto my website - its due for an overhaul, neglected all year.

But thinking architecturally, my next house once I get sick of city living will likely be in the middle of a regrowing kauri forest (already have it) north of Auckland (NZ). Again, plywood and batten, -materials with attitude if not quite prestige.. (but its what you make of em, not the materials themselves..)

Hey! Xara is already responsible for my pond.. and draw and freudhand and photoshop and.. computers generally. I only built it first to throw this damn computer into while I was climbing the learning curve.. The fish came later.

(later)

Q.

[Ross Macintosh]

Hey Everyone - visit Quentin's website. He has great pics and info about his huge pond. Also, there are examples of his silkscreen prints and paintings, plus his world famous cartoons! I'm going to go back to read his history of industrial design. Meet ya all there!

Regards, Ross

PS - Quentin, I'm surprised you could get away with such a shallow pond. Here in the "Maritimes" ponds have to be at least four feet deep for the fish to survive the winter. Also practically all garden ponds here are made with a vinyl or EPDM rubber liner.

[This message was edited by Ross Macintosh on April 20, 2001 at 07:51 PM.]

[qmr]

Well thanks Ross for that nice pointer to my pond pages.. hope you folks visit (but does this mean I have to shave?)

I do have a pile of new stuff to update when I can drag myself back to dreamweaver. I get 45,000 hits a month which is quite good considering I dont sell anything, care not a whit about sport and categorically do not have any inappropriate photos of britney spears.
Must add that all the graphics bar a few flash things are Xara 2 to the core.

My pond is well under regulation depth for safety ie: no need to fence it. Our winters are so mild we say "oh. was that winter??"

I'm preoccupied with selling my house/pond at present and generally laundering my braincell, but will be hitting the home html soon.

Q.
http://www.Qdesign.co.nz