Morning in the Garden of Good and Evil

I will start my story by telling you about a loud bang that brought me out of a deep sleep this morning. As it only partially woke me up I went back to sleep, but only to be disturbed by another loud bang a few minutes later.  As I lay there coming to, I started thinking...what were those noises? They didn't sound like any of those noises I knew--you know, the ones you get used to after 18 years of living in one place.

So as the imagination goes, the more I searched that check list in my mind, the more I convinced myself that this noise was totally unique.  It didn't qualify as my husband closing the basement door, it didn't qualify as the cat jumping off the counter, and it wasn't a bird hitting the window.  It actually sounded like someone breaking into our basement!  So just because it is possible that someone could break into our house, not because it was probable, I got up and slowly looked out the windows, then started creeping around the house to investigate. As I got out to the living room I heard another sound, and started to get a bit scared....well, you how it goes!  And I thought about all the bad possibilities that could be associated with these strange noises.

But as I entered the kitchen, out the window was a sight to see!  Around fifty Robins were bathing in the waterfall.  Not only were there so many Robins (screaming spring in my face) there were a couple Cedar Waxwings and Bluebirds.  My two favorite birds!  In an instant my world was transformed from one of foreboding to one full of all-good-things. Was God telling me the world is a loving place?

You can see the Cedar Waxwings on the left.

Thinking on it, I realized a Robin had probably never hit our window before; they don't come to the bird feeder.  And they just make a louder sound than smaller birds I guess.  It's sad to think about, but in the pandemonium of all those birds competing for the water, a couple had flown into the glass making my evil noises. But I think they were OK; I did not see any casualties on the ground.

I took a few pictures through the window and screen, fearful that I might scare them away.  I think they could see me, and I never got one with all of them there. And now I am waiting to see if the Cedar Waxwings will flock en mass to take their turn at the waterfall.  Just about every year during the transition of the seasons they stop by.  And boy that is a sight to see.  They are beautiful birds!  As many as 100 have crowded the waterfall at a time. I will try to get pictures, but that is not the easiest thing to do.  Birds do fly away.  (But I promise, it's not like the fish that got away!)

Oh, Spring.  You will return!

A New Year, New Promise

I love this time of year when we begin to experience the promise of Spring.  Here in Virginia we have had several warm days, culminating with today in the mid-70's!  It's early to start up the pond, but the water in the large pool is greenish-brown, murky, and algae is starting to grow on the surface already.  I couldn't stand the thought of the fish not getting enough oxygen, so today I started the water flowing again even though the small pool at the top of the waterfall still had ice in it.

We are supposed to get a few more cold days in the next couple weeks, but I noticed on the weather report that it will only be one cold day at a time surrounded by several warm days on either side.  So around 3:00 pm I began the interesting process of bringing the pond back to life.

First I spent a good while scooping out as much of the stagnant water and muck from the little pools in the waterfall.  There are three or four small pools at descending levels along the length of it.  This is the first time in four years that I have removed stones and actually scooped everything out in the waterfall.  Last year was the first year I cleaned out the small pool at the top, and I wanted to do it again, but the ice sheet was stuck to the bottom.  There was no way to get it out to access the muck.  So instead I just took a hammer and chipped enough away to remove the hose, then laid it on top of the ice sheet to be ready for the flow of water from the pump.  If there had been fish in the pool, I would not have been able to use a hammer.  (Banging ice with something hard can kill the fish underneath it.)

With the waterfall sufficiently cleaned (I figured what I did was better than the usual nothing, so felt good about it), I went about resurrecting the filter from the garage, where it had been waiting since last fall after I pulled it out of the ground and cleaned it out.

It is always an interesting experience starting up a pond, and you never know how it is going to go.  There are always unforeseen problems that have to be solved!  You might compare it to starting up a car after it has sat for a year or so.

After inserting the filter pads into the cannister, and scooping out debris and dirt from the hole in the ground where the filter goes, I placed it down in there and reattached the hoses. These hoses are buried in the ground--one comes from pump in the bottom of the pond, and one goes to the top of the waterfall.  Last year I had a small leak where one hose joins the filter, so I expected that to probably happen again.

Instead, water started flowing out everywhere, in great quantities, from the top of the filter!  This is an area that houses the UV light, so it is not supposed to get wet!  Of course I quickly unplugged the pump to stop the water flow.  First I thought the hose to the top of the waterfall was clogged with ice, causing too much pressure to build up in the filter.  So I took a long time finding an auxilerary length of hose and hose fitting to route the water directly back into the big pool at the bottom, instead of going to the top of the waterfall. No easy task--finding an old filter with a spare hose fitting, sawing off the hose fitting to the correct diameter, installing the auxilerary hose, sealing with teflon tape.  Finally it was done, but when I plugged in the pump again, the exact same thing happened!

After quickly unplugging the pump and thinking a bit, I realized it was possible something was broken inside the filter part that housed the UV light, or perhaps I didn't re-assemble it correctly last fall after I cleaned it, causing water to leak through.  So I pulled the top of the filter out of the ground, unattached the hoses, and brought it inside along with the old filter I had.  I wanted to compare the two to see if anything was different. Each UV light is secured by 10 or 12 screws.  Once both were apart, I realized I did not have the crystal sleeve that protects the UV lamp seated down far enough, and water was getting though.  Mystery solved!!

Finally I reconnected the filter to the hoses in the ground, once again plugged in the pump, and watched to see if it would happen again.  No massive water leak!  But I still have the regular leak from the hose fittings.  I replaced some of the old teflon tape, and the leak reduced to a slower dripping.  But by this time it was getting dark, and it is good enough until I have time to work on it some more!

An afternoon's work is rewarding!  Water is flowing yet again!  Tomorrow the pond water will hopefully be clear, and the fish must feel better with the increased oxygen.  I also put a couple enzyme packets in the pond a couple days ago to help break down leaves and twigs that snuck into the pond despite the net that was covering it since last fall.

However, I don't expect much more to happen in the way of the pond coming to life until after a few more weeks.  The water looked like it was around 40 degrees--still pretty cold (the thermometer was covered with algae).  And I noticed in this blog that I did not start up the waterfall last year until March 14.  The first fish feeding was March 22.  So that is long time yet.  But I think it is safe to have the water flowing, as I do not think the waterfall will freeze this time of year.

So I'm happy--I hope the fish are happy, and I think the family will also be happy. I know the birds will be happy--they love to drink and bathe in the waterfall.  The frogs will be happy.  Soon they will start becoming more active--they do not like having a net on the pond.

Will add photo tomorrow when it get's light!  Ta-Ta!