Dreaming of being a millionaire....

Bracing for more snow today. Suppose to get an additional 4-7 inches followed by high winds. Its the day following the Orange Bowl game so the office and emails are all about those Hawkeyes. Its a nice diversion from all the talk about the severe cold. Harry got up this morning and was excitedly telling me all about this dream he had. He was driving around with this big truck full of pond supplies. Wasn't sure why, but thought there was some sort of seminar or pond expo in a big field someplace. Anyway, he was hauling around this big plastic container with some sort of big shoot that wrapped around it. He seemed to think it was a filter but it didn't have any media in it just the container. He said he started to wake up but tried to go back to his dream so he could figure out just what it was all about. You know how some people get this million dollar idea that comes to them in their sleep. He thought maybe this was some epiphany of an idea and we'd both be millionaire. Unfortunately, he woke up without ever realizing just what this all meant. So guess I'd better not quit my day job, right? Funny how dreams work isn't it?
Received an email from Monica this morning. She keeps her waterfalls and streams running all winter. She reported that their stream had frozen over and she could only see a little bit of water flowing under the icy covering. They were adding a little water to the pond threw the open skimmer box. I wanted to take advantage of the topic and warn people about ice dams. Streams and waterfalls can easily freeze and divert water out of the pond. So if you are one of those people that like to leave things running all year round, please do daily checks on your pond volume so you don't pump your own ponds dry. It's not just something we read about happening in the books, but has happened to several members. So just be watchful. I, personally, shut everything down and pull the pumps. I've had the water freeze and make my pump begin to cavetate (suck air instead of water). I've also had the electricity go out and then had to pull pumps in the middle of a snow storm so that the pipes could drain and not freeze and burst. Something, Harry will never let me forget, cause it was my idea to leave them running, while he wanted to pull the pumps early. Live and learn, has to be my ponding mantra. Trust me, I've made all the mistakes. I'm not trying to upstage anybody by talking about all the horrible things that could happen, but letting you know experience is the best teacher. And, seems I've had more than my share of experiences. So while everybody must learn and make judgement calls for their own pond, I'm here to make you think about what "could happen" as a result of your choices. Meanwhile, maybe Harry will dream about some sort of super filter that he can invent and I can build a huge pavilion for my fish to winter over in. Never thought I'd be encouraging Harry to nap.