Finally, I'm so excited...the temps will actually get into the 40's. Big whoop, uh? But, it's been so long. The snow is finally melting and Spring is "may be on it's way". Harry took advantage of the warmer day to do a water change on the pond. As he runs the new water in over the ice it actually melts the ice and opens up the hole. It's hard to realize the size of the above hole, but it's about half the surface area of my lower pond. The fish are hiding under the remaining ice pack. The good news is, nothing is floating up in the hole and nothing is sitting on the bottom from what I can see. The water is crystal clear and since its calm, its easy to see straight to the bottom. I can see a lot of string algae growing from the sides and bottom of the pond. I don't mind this at this stage, cause I figure it provides some natural food for the fish that have been sequestered under the ice pack with out food from me for some 4 straight months now and I'm sure it will be another month before temps allow me to feed at all. Not what you would call a thriving environment. I know they are merely surviving. So knowing that they can at least graze on the available algae gives me some relief. This is a very natural habitat behavior for fish. In the picture you can just barely see the bubbles from the aerator. Not much movement, I've cut them way down from last year. I want the air, but not the water movement so much. Such a balancing act. Air for the fish, enough water movement to bring bad gasses off the bottom, but not so much as to disturb the fish. Gentle air. Spring fever is evident everywhere and with everyone you talk to. Seed catalogs are clogging my mailbox and Harry and I are talking about what fish will go into which ponds this season. (I'm waiting for just the right time to try to ask Harry to redo the upper pond, shhhh he doesn't know I'm already planning)