Last Updated: 1/8/24

1. I did pond work on 12/3/23. At 3:11 pm, it was 54 degrees F out. The 1800 gallon pond was at 52 degrees F while the 153 gallon pond was only 46 degrees F. I removed the net from the 153 gallon pond. I did not have time to remove all leaves within 10 feet of that pond. In fact, I just removed some from the water and left the rest. There are just too many leaves. I did not get in the big pond. I put in additives.

2. On 12/9/23, I did an hour of pond work on Saturday! If you know me, then you would know I only do pond work on Sunday! But, it was supposed to pour rain all day Sunday. It did rain but it would, of course, not be pouring when I would have done Sunday pond work. Since I did pond work on Saturday, I had to clean my freshwater aquariums on Sunday morning.

In the morning 12/9/23, I went out and mostly cut down and dumped the yellow flag iris (yellow and wilted) in the 50 gallon tub pond and on the ground next to it.

At 1:03 pm, the air temperature was 50 degrees F. The 1800 gallon pond was at 48 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 44 degrees F. I got in the big pond to take out the filter material around the pump and squirt it off. It was pretty dirty. I collected some leaves. I put additives in the ponds. That was about it. I didn't have time to collect more leaves, cut down marginals, or pull the net back off the main waterfall.

3. So much to do and so little time! I had to give up most of my chore time on 12/17/23 so I could see my niece perform in the Nutcracker for perhaps the 15th time? For her though, I would see it again. She's a beautiful ballerina. I digress. At 11:12 am on 12/18/23, the air temperature was 48 degrees F. The 1800 gallon pond was at 50 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 43 degrees F. It was not raining but would start in a few hours and then pour (like it seems every Sunday recently!). I put in some additives and water in the big pond because it was a few inches low (even though rain was coming as I didn't want too high a percentage of rain water in there). I was supposed to squirt off the bioballs. I did not. I was supposed to cut back the marginals. I did not. I was supposed to pull the net off the waterfall after removing thousands of leaves nearby. I did not. I am a bad pond momma.

4. I did some pond work on 12/23/23. I couldn't do it on Sunday, Christmas Eve, because I had two family gatherings (one at 10 am!). At 2:27 pm on 12/23/23, the air temperature was 50 degrees F. The 1800 gallon pond was at 49 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 46 degrees F. I got in the big pond to take the filter floss out and squirt it off. I put in additives and water and collected a few leaves. I was sick, and I did not have time to squirt the lava rock and bioballs (now two weeks behind on those) but they didn't look too dirty from above. I removed one dead one inch pickerel frog from the bottom of the 1800 gallon pond.

5. I finally had time to do two hours of pond work on 12/31/23! At 12:47 pm, the air temperature was 44 degrees F with enough of a breeze that I had to put on longjohns under my clothes and wear a hat off and on. The 1800 gallon pond was at 48 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 44 degrees F. I pulled the net back off the big marginal area in the 1800 gallon pond and cut down all the plants above the water and some rotted plant material below the water as well. It was less than most years because I did it 1.5 months late, and the plants had somewhat rotted. I filled up a wheelbarrow full of plants. I collected leaves from around that end of the pond in and out of the water. I got in to take out the filter floss to squirt it off. I squirted off the bioballs. There were two small pickerel frogs and one green frog in there. I put them in a bucket while cleaning and then returned them to the biofilter. This was many fewer frogs than previous years. Once the cleanings were done, I resituated the pond net so that the waterfall was free of netting but the rest of the pond had the net. I had to unhook all the anchors and pull the net down. I removed some leaves from around the waterfall area but not enough. I added water to the pond. It was a few inches low. I think water is leaking into the dirt around the waterfall but I don't know how to fix it anymore. The pond is just too old (26.5 years), and the waterfall shifted and sunk a long time ago.

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