Today’s rebuild. Earlier posts lay out the entire story. My church, not my grotto, not my turtles. Turtles are a sign of longevity and fortune to Chinese/Taiwanese and are typically near religious institutions such as temples and churches.
Concrete block base, improvement, can be further improved. As long as I am paying for it and doing the work, no complaints so far. Feel like I would be better off with flat stones stacked in a staircase pattern, maybe held with a silicone adhesive, will look into this.
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Looks great oh benefactor of turtles.
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Silicone don’t bond all that well to stone, especially underwater or wet. Use brick mortar.
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Good on you! To be honest, they need more dryvland. A pond that small for turtles is indeed quite the challenge! But thanks for caring and doing what’s within your limits
If you live down south drop me a PM. I have trucks and loads of rock could deliver if passing by your area. Hualien and Yunlin South.
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The pond grotto extends under the bridge and towards the sidewalk, trying to post some pictures to give the idea. So about twice that size that you can see, it’s deceptive but it’s not bad for swimming areas and pretty deep which adds some more space. The angle here is odd, I was trying to get the rock colors since planning to return to yuan yuan garden center in Guishan, I figured a store in a district called turtle mountain was…a sign.
Oh, the last picture was a temporary setup before I found yuan yuan garden center but they couldn’t access it. The best basking platforms I have seen are pvc pipes with a long underwater ramp but I think you can see the issue now that you see the whole grotto. It’s a reproduction of the appearance of Mary to Bernadette of Lourdes in France. PVC not gonna cut it, already today someone was worried that I used a rock from way in the back that was just sitting there, used in order to help make this island blend with its surroundings. People bless themselves as they pass, pray the rosary, take photographs, it’s got to blend in. I may try to make a second island on the other side of the bridge.
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Ya those pics help a lot to get the idea. Could you create a larger base under the bridge, not blocking water flow, and creat the island right under/adjacent? That might be the best bang for the buck on space without visually occupying too much water surface area.
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There is some underwater structure already that I put in under the bridge if a lower water level so they can climb up, wanted the island part in what little sun there is. Ideally, stairs/climbing structure under the bridge, underwater, leading to two platforms above water, one on either side of the bridge. The fish love this as well, win win for all God’s creatures, Mary is pleased…and yes, I do emphasize that saying that the mother of God, intercessor for mankind, most certainly cares about the state of the animals in her grotto…zero arguments are then possible after that, I am not a lawyer for nothing…
I have no problem blowing real money on this so having introduced the idea, I may now be able to do a better job, order more and better materials. The beautiful selection of rocks was mind-blowing, you can see the whole stock on Google street view, including many decorative boulders. Could get one cut to create stairs on one side, have it placed in the grotto. My imagination has already run wild, believe me. I am also a materials engineer so I love me some beautiful stones…
And on the eighth day she shall take unto her two turtles, or two young pigeons, and bring them unto the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
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do not buy
go to any local river
take rock
ok maybe dont shit
I just read the catechism book about how Catholic church considers respect of animals, whether ornamental, consumption, or pets to be paramount.
But yea I would check the laws before removing any rocks or boulder from a river bed. Companies take from them because they have no choice. You cannot build with beach sands. Also companies doing so likely has permission anyways so don’t assume just because they do it that you can as well.
Like I said Bali has a lot of companies selling decorative rock, maybe visit them? I’m sure they got plenty of scraps they’ll sell for cheap.
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Which they can get permits for. Now with drones easy to catch illegal theft.
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I wish…turtles would be so cool. After a woman gives birth, under Jewish law, she is “unclean” and this sacrifice is to clean her (what with all that blood during birth, which is ritually unclean). And, sorry, it’s turtle doves (more or less pigeons). Turtles would be cool, but don’t think they were allowed to eat them, pigeons apparently A-OK (because you can be sure after they were sacrificed someone was eating them). Yeah, religion is so weird. In the old days, Catholics went for a cleansing blessing as well. My hardcore Catholic grandmother (sister was a nun…so, yeah) said this was dumb- that how could giving life make you unclean before God, etc. and refused to do this silly thing. Not to turn this into crazy religious discussion, I am into religion ONLY insofar as it advocates treating people better (“do unto others as you would have them do unto you”) and generally not be a pretentious jerk (Pharisees, for example). Anything beyond that, including whether there is even a god, heaven or hell, etc., not sure, wish I had more faith but, there it is, I don’t although I do try… And…meeting English speakers and spending an hour trying to think about being a better, nicer person. In the US, I usually do Lutheran for the much better music (they had Bach) but not really a good English option here so…whatever. And, thus, been going here 3 years but clueless about the turtles until the epic flood as praying the rosary before Mary is something I do not do (and going near someone who is about to do this results in a friendly invitation to join in, so I avoid places where I might get roped into this. I mean, if it’s meaningful to you, fine, but it isn’t for me, it’s repetitive, but I respect those people).
Went out to Taoyuan- Yuan Yuan Garden Center in Guishan (“Turtle Mountain” so clearly a nudge from God or Mary). Better public transport access for me (I live on Taoyuan Airport line, A3, can transfer to green line, church is near Taipei Arena station on the green line). And, as you can see from the pics, stones are blending in nicely, no complaints so far, although room for improvement from the turtles’ point of view. It’s a start, let everyone accept this version, make a move later when not so cold for me to get in the water like yesterday- over an hour in the water, about 17 degrees, yeah, the things I do for turtles. And, yes, we are supposed to care for God’s creation and if you are going to keep lucky turtles, you have to do it humanely. It’s ignorance, not deliberate cruelty, it’s a lovely church with nice people, but city people maybe don’t really know about wildlife…
Most parish has English mass, I think priests likely speak several languages. Timing may vary with parish but i believe many Catholics are philippino so a lot more English masses.
I’ve not seen many Lutheran churches in Taiwan, but I’ve found protestant churches in Taiwan, especially the taiwanese ones to be a bit meh.
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Any local river near me is very highly monitored as well as having carefully positioned stones as part of flood/erosion control, so that is out. We are talking Taipei City and close-in Xin-bei. I blew about 1800 NTD at the garden center (Yuan Yuan) and got exactly what I needed, blends in, looks nice, this is critical given the highly visible location right next to our front entrance. Blew another 700 on an Uber to the church (rocks are heavy, one giant suitcase, several large Ikea blue bags) so public transport was quickly discarded by us once the reality of the wieght kicked in- 200 tip because…rocks. So, what, 3000 NTD/ about 100 USD to get exactly what I wanted? Worth it (hey, maybe tax deductible!). Supported a mom and pop local business, win-win here. And…kind of an adventure and a very cool place- smaller rocks you could use in an aquarium or reptile habitat at prices cheaper than aquarium shops. And some pretty fascinating large boulders…and stone lanterns, fountains, all kinds of stuff, was pretty fun trip.
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good to hear
it does however feel bad to buy what nature deposits in such abundance… I’ve offroaded my bike around some rivers here in taichung and the rocks are honestly a few too many lol
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Yup, my church in HK, also Filipino. Pastor is Filipino, other priests are Congelese and Vietnamese and two Chinese that I think are involved at a seminary and not parish priests. An interesting group. Yes, mostly Filipino and super nice people, very welcoming to me, very inclusive so have been happy there. Which is why I don’t mind spending a few bucks on this project, make the world around you a better place and all that…but mostly broke my heart to see them grasping at the filter pipes as the only place to get dry.
Yes, Taichung is a different beast, more of a chance. Every inch of Taipei is covered by CCTV, not going to ruin my chance at PR for the sake of…rocks. Just not worth it. Also, these rocks already nicely sorted by color, size, shape, was a really cool place.
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Ask the rock shop about delivery. If you are buying a lot I’m sure they can arrange it.
Or ask the church if they have vehicles that can help with transporting the rocks.
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Very glad to see the turtle project is going well. Do post pics, we would all probably love to see a happy turtle situation come to fruition!