February Thaw

Here's a couple pictures I took this morning. Which in themselves is not too interesting. But, these pictures are of my "THAWED" pond. I can not ever remember seeing my pond open up in February! Now, I don't believe for one moment that it will stay that way. My notes say my pond was open last year on March 12th. And that was with the help of a running hose we used to preform a water change. So this is a full month earlier. Today's temps are in the 50's! The water itself was a little murky, but I could see most the fish. At least, I didn't see any on their sides. So, I'm sighing a little relief. Perhaps it will end up being a good year me. I mean them.

Wow, finally, it's above freezing! We're getting our February thaw since we didn't get one in January. With over 2 foot of snow on the ground, there hasn't been a whole lot to talk about outside. Sunday, the temps finally started to go up so we did another water change on the pond. Dropped the sump in and took out about 8-12 inches of water and replaced. When we did that, the ice cap all collapsed in on the pond. I only got a glimpse of a couple fish swimming around, so am crossing my fingers that the rest all all ok too. Actually, March and April are my worse times. As the water begins to warm it has not been unusual for me to loose a couple fish. Usually the larger older favorites. It has been sooo cold for sooo long this winter, I certainly hope the fish have been able to survive. The temps will be in the 40's all week so I expect the pond to clear enough that I'll be able to see the fish by Friday. Cross you fingers for me....

Went to the Waterloo Home and Landscape show on Saturday. Harry wasn't going to take me, but for some reason changed his mind. Of course, I droll over all the stone patios and outdoor kitchens. We are planning on redoing the upper pond this Spring, again maybe for the 3rd or 4th time now. This time I want to elevate the sides, so I can sit on them and be closer to the fish. Add a little more filtration of course. While at the show, we talked to a vendor from Quasky actually that has a new product he thought they could blow on our pond to form a seamless liner. A real dream come true, but costly and more than I wanted to spend. Harry likes the idea, though, so we'll see what Spring brings. Can't wait, can't wait......