Last Updated: 12/1/13

1. On 11/3/13, I did pond chores. The 1800 gallon pond was at 53 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 55 degrees F. I set up a lighted candy cane by the main pond outlet so that I can tell if there is power out there by glancing out and looking for the lights. I squirted all the filter materials. I changed the Ammocarb. I changed the PondMaster filters in the 153 gallon pond. I cut down all the marginals in the main marginal area all at once. I sunk the two pots of pickerel rush to deeper waters in the pond. I think my golden club is dead; I had two healthy pots last year! I cut down the terrestrial marsh mallow next to the pond. We had our first temperatures down to freezing the next morning.

2. On 11/9/13, I put water in the 20 gallon tub pond in the basement. I won't use the 50 gallon one this year as there is no need. I put some tropical runner plant (don't know the name; it was free) in there. Next week, I will bring in the tropical waterlily.

3. On 11/10/13, I did very few pond chores. I intend to do a lot of them next Sunday. The 1800 gallon pond was at 46 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 49 degrees F. The winds were horrible. I just put in additives, topped off ponds, and got leaves off the net. I then used the riding mower with leaf catcher for a few hours. Since I have to do everything now, I really cannot get leaves off from around the pond when they are so ubiquitous.

4. I processed the following photos:
On 10/8/13, my cat was looking at something in a funny manner in the basement. I figured a cricket but it turned out to be a spring peeper! He must have come in with one of the house plants that I brought in for the winter. I put the little guy in an empty syring filter box (green plastic container) to take these photos.
Spring Peeper
Spring Peeper
Spring Peeper - tummy view; look at those suction cups!
Spring Peeper
Spring Peeper

5. I never thought I would have the time to do this but down time at work has allowed me to finally get the insect pages moved to their own subdirectory! I divided and read through all pages and fixed all the links that no longer worked. I only added a little bit of content but all the new pages are up now here.

6. On 11/17/13, I took three hours to finally get most of the winterizing chores done on the ponds. The 1800 gallon pond was at 49 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 59 degrees F. First, I removed the PondMaster filter and pump from the 153 gallon pond and put in a Luft pump to aerate the water instead. Two green frogs were watching me and didn't budge even as I cut down the marginals in the pond and lots of goldenrod around the pond. I took photos of them. It was a warm 60 degrees F outside! Things were damp from a previous rain but it was a great day to work on the ponds. I cut the marginals in the 20 and 50 gallon tub ponds and removed some plant debris in and around the ponds.

At the big pond, I removed the MagDrive 12 which adds power to the main waterfall most of the year. The 20 foot tubing was not very cooperative. It is so rigid and stuck with all sorts of bends, and this is new tubing from this year! I changed the filter material (floss) around the one remaining pump in there (my OASE Nautilus, now almost 17 years old and still going strong). I squirted off the bioballs. There was one pickerel frog in there. I changed out the bag of oyster shell for fresh oyster shell. I tried to remove some plant roots at the top of the falls and at the junction where the water splits between the main waterfall and the side waterfall as so little was coming out the main waterfall. I removed the 5 gallon pot with the tropical waterlily. It never even bloomed this year! The leaves were still growing, and I had intended to overwinter it in a 2 gallon pot in my 20 gallon basement pond but, when I took the growth out, I saw that all growing points had large, hard nut tubers and few roots. So, they wanted to be overwintered in damp reptile sand which is what I did instead. I changed the little intake filter on the Luft pump that is aerating the big pond (noticed the filters when brining out the other Luft pump for the 153 gallon pond).

I tried to rake up some leaves from in and around the pond but didn't get much done there, maybe next week.

7. On 11/24/13, my mother died. I did not get to do any pond chores obviously. The pond was partially frozen, and the work the week before took care of most everything.

E-mail Robyn Copyright © 1997-2024 Robyn Rhudy