Last Updated: 3/2/15

1. My youngest chicken, Petunia, died on 1/3/15. See here for details.

2. On 1/4/15, I got in the pond and squirted off the filter material and also the bioballs. Both ponds were at 44 degrees F. The air temperature was warm, over 50 degrees F but there is cold air on the way in a few days. It has rained a lot so it was a mud slop all over.

3. We got 3" of snow on 1/6/15. I went to work.

4. The morning of 1/8/15, it was 7 degrees F! Winter has arrived.

5. On 1/9/15 when I got home from work, the air stone in the 153 gallon pond was not going. The water in the air in the tubing had frozen up. I cut a new line. The air stone fell to the bottom so I had to get a new one of those too. The pond had gone from about 40% open to only open in the de-icer's center hole. The air stone makes a huge difference.

6. On 1/11/15, I added water to the big pond and collected some leaves in the one spot that was not frozen. It got above freezing for the first time in five days. The thermometer was frozen in to the 1800 gallon pond. The thermometer in the 153 gallon pond read 34 degrees F.

7. My oldest chicken, Speckles, died on 1/15/15. See here for details.

8. I found an upside down goldfish in the pond at the surface on 1/17/15 and went to net him/her out but the fish swam away.

9. I got in the pond on 1/18/15 to take out the filter material to squirt it off. The air temperature was 36 degrees F, and it had been raining. The 1800 gallon pond was at 36 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 38 degrees F. There was chickweed in the waterfall, not unusual but it was not only green but it was covered in closed, white flowers! Flowers in winter! Love it. I picked up some leaves in the water but the ground and half the pond was frozen so I couldn't do much.

10. We got 2.5" of snow while I was at work on 1/21/15. Everything looks so fresh and clean with snow on it.

11. When I went outside on the morning of 1/24/15, the new red PondMaster de-icer was under the water in the 153 gallon pond. I picked it up, and it was half full of water. It is supposed to be full of electronics and air inside which makes it float but, somehow, it took on water. I can't find a hole in it. I pulled it out and put in one of my old, corroded de-icers. So much for trying something different.

12. On 1/25/15, I did a little bit with the ponds after I was shocked by 30 braying foxhounds and a galloping horse with rider running within 20 feet of me. Fox hunters apparently can trespass and tear up your ground if they want. At least they no longer kill the poor fox but he/she may have a heart attack.
The 1800 gallon was at 40 degrees F, and the 153 gallon was at 45 degrees F. I added water to the big pond and picked up some leaves.

13. The morning of 1/27/15, we had 2" of snow at dawn from the blizzard that buried New England.

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