Last Updated: 2/27/23

1. I did pond work on 2/5/23. At 2:08 pm, the outside temperature was a toasty 50 degrees F. It was toasty considering that hell winds came through on 2/3/23, and it was about 12 degrees F the morning of 2/4/23. The 1800 gallon pond was at 44 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 45 degrees F. I did not get in the big pond. I topped off the ponds and put in additives. I spent most of my time hand picking leaves out of the ponds and netting would I could. The winds had put a thousand leaves in the ponds! I raked some leaves from the previously-mulched area around the pond. I say previous because I haven't had time in years to mulch most of it. So, it's weed city.

2. For weeks on end, it is warm and dry while I am at work and cold and wet on the weekends. On 2/12/23, it was supposed to rain after noon but it didn't start until 2 pm. I went out at 9:29 am when the air temperature was only 37 degrees F to do pond work. The 1800 gallon pond was at 50 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 45 degrees F. I got in the big pond to pull out the filter floss which I changed. I squirted off the bioballs and lava rock in the biofilter. There were two large and two small pickerel frogs that I put in a bucket while I was working. I put in additives and topped off the ponds with water.

3. Well, spring sprang a month early due to global warming. On 2/16/23, it was warm and wet. The goldfish and the wood frogs laid eggs. It was the earliest for both in my ponds. There were two globs of wood frog eggs.

4. I had off work on 2/20/23. It was President's Day but we do not get that day off. I took a "vacation" day to help a relative do taxes. I also worked on the ponds in the morning. At 9:19 am, the 1800 gallon pond was at 54 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 46 degrees F. The air temperature was nice at 50 degrees F.<> I pulled out both de-icers, the lighted candycane, and the lighted Rudolph. I put up the cover on the biofilter. The cover was the lid to my original 50 gallon Rubbermaid tub pond which was replaced by the 153 gallon pond years ago.

I emptied out the 20 gallon tub pond. I only found one survivor, a pond snail. I put it in the wheelbarrow with some debris. I half filled the pond with water from the 153 gallon pond and half fresh water. I moved the wood frog eggs and some anacharis to the pond. Once I clean the 153 gallon pond, I will move the tadpoles back but I cannot clean that pond with tiny tadpoles without killing most of them. When I went to put the snail in, I realized I had dumped the plants, forgetting the little guy was in there. I'm a snail murderer.

I got in the pond so I could squirt out the filter floss, gather leaves, and smell the heavenly water hawthorne flowers.

5. On 2/26/23, at 12:27 pm, the air temperature was 48 degrees F. There are warm days but always during the week while I am at work, of course. The 1800 gallon was at 48 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 44 degrees F. Due to the early spring, the iris, sweetflag, and other marginals are pushing through the net. It is still too bare to remove the net from the marginal area because the herons would eat the fish when they spawn. So, I put my late father's old socks back up on the fence posts and elevated the net in the marginal area.

I found a third wood frog egg mass which I moved to the 20 gallon pond. Once I clean the 153 gallon pond in a month, I will move most of the tadpoles back to that pond. The raccoon has been messing in the 153 gallon pond, pulling rocks and dirt out of the iris pots so it is looking poorly. If I did not have a job, I would clean that pond on a nice day.

I put the air stone back on the airline in the big pond as it had come off. I squirted off the main filter floss, removed some leaves, put in additives, and topped the ponds off with water. While I was in the big pond, kind of removing leaves and some algae from the waterfall, I saw three two-lined salamanders. They were so tiny, and one was injured. I'm afraid I may have been the reason since I didn't see him/her while I was rooting around.

I had a rare human visitor so I didn't have time to clean out the 50 gallon tub pond not that I could have lifted out the yellow flag iris anyway which fills the entire pond.

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