Pete and Repeat… Yes, Another ICE Warning for your Ponds… There is some Bad Weather Coming. Below 0 wind chills and Several chances for BIG snow accumulations next week, and more ice to boot! Be Ready!
Brrrrr! 🥶 Baby, it’s COLD outside! I think the Pond is frozen… What do I do? As my nephew, Nick, the Eagle Scout says, “Always Be Prepared”! AND, Don’t worry, it’s not hard to be ready!
Don’t break the ice! It will harm your Koi! The powerful shock waves created by a blow to the ice can break their bones and rupture organs!
The #1 Rule if your pond ever Ices over – NEVER, NEVER, NEVER break the ice by banging on it! It can cause your fish great harm – it can even KILL them! To allow the escape/exchange of gasses in a frozen over pond, keep a hole open in the ice. This is IMPORTANT!!! It will keep the gases from building up under the ice and allow for oxygen exchange and keep your fish from suffocating. This will also allow the pump to get water if the surface is frozen. If you have a skimmer, this will be MUCH easier on you! The water movement will help keep the ice from forming. You may need to keep the hole open by adding water from a water hose, bucket or pan of water. (This is why I always say “keep a dry hose” or a 5 gallon bucket for this purpose! If & when you use your water hose be sure to drain it when finished-to keep it from freezing and bursting, or just keep it in your garage). You can also use a floating pond heater or a small pump in a shallow area to “flash up’ and break the water surface. Just do it!
Be ready before snow and ice cause a problem!
We don’t get too many Ice Days’ here in West Tennessee, but when we do, it’s Never at a convenient moment… In other words, if your not prepared, it can be an emergency
Simple Winter Pond Tool Kit 1 – 5 gallon bucket 🪣 (use to add water as needed. Hot tap water from your faucet will melt a hole in ice if needed)
2 – Clean, dry Water-hose (store in garage or shed so it will be ready to go when needed)
3 – Floating Pond Heater (A floating heater will maintain a opening 🕳 in an ice covered pond. This will allow for oxygen exchange and will keep your Koi alive).
That my Pond Tip today – Be Prepared! Next week, you might thank me…
Summer heat is still here, but it’s winding down… Next weekend is the big Labor Day Celebration that we all look forward too. Cookouts, boating, swimming, volleyball, etc. And even though it’s the ‘unofficial end of Summer’, it’s a long weekend for many & the beginning of a new season, So we got that goin for us 😊
What else is lining up for Holidays and long weekends in our future 👇🏻
2020 has been a struggle, but there’s always something positive if you look.
So, I’m gonna take the small things, the good things of 2020 as I find them and be thankful. I have also found that if you sit down with a pen 🖊 and paper 📝 and write down your blessings as you count them, it will blow you away! ❤️
There’s so much negativity out there right now… It’s hard to find a good story or an inspiring picture… That’s why many of us have been posting certain pictures on our Facebook pages.
Heres How YOU Can Play!
Copy/paste the text below & a picture as per directions. I’ve been doing it every day! 👇🏻
“Join the challenge of posting a picture of some landscape from a place where you’ve been, where the main requirement is that you NOT appear in it. Just a picture, no description. The goal is to flood profiles with landscape photos to give a twist on the situation we’re going through. Copy the text to your status, post a photo and let’s travel virtually!!”
I have a LOT of pictures from beautiful places that I will be posting daily! Like this one 👇🏻
I took this one in a kayak on Birdsong Creek. I am going to post one every morning on my Facebook page! Check it out 👇🏻 https://www.facebook.com/mark.carter.775
This is something we can all do. Spread some Beauty during this time of crisis!
Carter's Water Garden 