Last Updated: 2/3/14

1. On 12/1/13, I did some pond chores. The 1800 gallon was a chilly 36 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was 37 degrees F. The air temperature warmed up to about 47 degrees F after it had been below freezing most of the week. I topped off the ponds. I squirted off the one remaining pond filter floss. I put de-icers in both ponds. I put the green storage box cover on the biofilter. I need to pull back the net off the waterfall but didn't have time to get up enough leaves around the pond on this day.

2. On 12/8/13, there was a snow and ice storm coming. A little after 9 am, when it was right below freezing, I went out and tried to do a month's worth of chores. The 1800 gallon was at 42 degrees F, and the 153 gallon was at 48 degrees F. None of the ponds needed water. I pulled the net off the 153 gallon pond. I pulled the net on the 1800 gallon pond off the waterfall (but still on the rest of the pond). I raked up and hand removed a bunch of leaves around and in both ponds. I didn't clean the filter or get in. A while after 10 am, and the snow started to fall. We had three inches on the road and four inches on the grass by the afternoon before it changed to sleet and freezing rain.

3. On 12/15/13, there was snow on the ground. It wasn't a lot but the net was frozen in so I couldn't get in my big pond if I wanted to do so. I just took temperatures. The 1800 gallon pond (pulled the thermometer up through the net) was at 39 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 47 degrees F. The air temperature was a warm 45 degrees F after days of near freezing. I had to unplug the de-icer in the big pond as it presumably tripped the outlet twice in the last few days.

4. It was 75 degrees F with 100% humidity after a thunder storm on 12/22/13 when I did pond chores. The 1800 gallon was at 50 degrees F, and the 153 gallon was at 51 degrees F. Half a dozen frogs jumped in the brick pond as I walked by. I squirted off the main filter and the bioballs and lava rock. There was one pickerel frog in the biofilter. A honeybee buzzed around my supplies. I put the last three tulips in the ground. A special thanks goes out to the squirrels who dug up and ate all previous tulip and daffodil bulbs that I planted this year. Daffodils are supposed to taste bad which is why the squirrels just dug them up and chewed them up enough to kill them instead of completely eating them like the tulip bulbs. Plants were turning green. The spring peepers were calling. Winter, where fort art thou?

5. I linked in these frog photos:

On 11/17/13, it was 60 degrees F outside, and these two green frogs were watching me do chores, and they never moved the entire time. I was very close to them. They would have stayed there unless I touched them which I did not feel like doing. They were staring at me. The bigger one is female, and the smaller, more green one is a young male.
Green frogs
Green frogs
Green frogs

6. On 12/29/23, it was pouring rain most of the day. I went out in a rain slicker and recorded the pond temperatures. The 1800 gallon pond was at 39 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 46 degrees F. I fixed the net on the big pond a bit. That was it.

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