Pond Snorkeling

I went snorkeling in my pond a few weeks ago.  I wanted a fish eye view of my pond.  It was beautiful.  An underwater camera is at the top of my Christmas list for this year.  I had imagined that my fish were happy in their pond.  And maybe to them it is ho hum, but I was impressed.  A large snail I had put in there some years ago.  It Was crawling about and seemed to be doing well.  I hadn't seen him and wondered if he was still alive.  

While I was cleaning the upper pond a bit, I found fish parts from one of the little rock bass.  He must have gotten sucked into the pump.  I keep it wraped up in netting so that won't happen.  However when I'm cleaning my filters it is open for maybe 5 to 10 minutes.  Curious little critters that they are, he must have been nosing around and was sucked to his doom, and spit out at the top of the falls.  

Summer is winding down and I'm struggling to figure a better way to keep the leaves out of my pond.  I have put netting over it in past years, but the leaves get stuck, weigh it down it all ends up in the water anyway.  It becomes a big soggy unmanagable pile of leaves, netting and wire.  If my pond weren't so big (it's 15 feet by 30 feet)  it might be easier.  Well, I'm going to try something different this year.  Time will tell what that might be.  

 

Sunday Reviewing the Week

A lovely cool morning.  I got up at 4:30 this morning.  I want to get back on my regular wake up time.  I have to go back to work on Tue. after my week of vacation.  Laura, my darling daughter was here with her wonderfully charming husband Willie.  I had a good time, I hope they did.  Now I keep thinking of all things we should have done.  I went to the pond this morning to see if my gold fish were frisking in the weeds like they do most summer mornings.  They were a little more quiet this morning.  But they swam up to their regular feeding spot to see if I was going to throw anything interesting. 

The waterfall looks nice and water is clear.  Sometimes I think I have critters in the night that go mucking about in my pond and bog garden.  Sometimes the water is a little cloudy and bits of plants a floating around.  The critters seem to especially like my duck potatoe.  I often see them floating about with bites taken out of them.  I use to worry they would eleimiate my plants, but they seem to be thriving.  

Some say that Koi will pull up plants, but I haven't seen that yet.  Unless my koi have grown teeth that look like squirel's.

I made another blueberry pie this morning.  We picked blueberries when Laura and Willie where here.  We had a good time.  We each picked a buck full.  It is a lot of blueberries, but they do freeze well.  Oh yea... picking the berries. 

My Pond History

I Filled my pond for the first time on June 26, 2003.  The size is 15 x 30 and holds about 5,000 gal. It was all dug by hand.  I did about a third of the digging and my step son did the rest.  I was going to do it all, but my husband Jim paid his son to finish it for me one day when I was at work. What a wonderful surprize.  The main pond then is 5 years old this year.  I will add pictures to show the progress.  After several different attempts at a waterfall that just didn't work, I ordered a liner reminent from Stoney Creek Pond Supply Catalog, in 2006.  The upper pond and bog garden seemed to work well.  I know the date showing on my pond photo says that it is 2002, but in reality it is from 2006.  The date wasn't correct in the camera.