Getting ready for our worst winter in fifty years.

It took a couple of weeks of puttering around the pond, but I managed to get it ready for winter. I emptied a thirty gallon container (tub) that I was using to harvest JW's duck weed that she sent me. As I drained the water through a net I found five half inch baby shubunkin's that are just starting to show their color, and two baby mosquito fish. I remember moving some frog bit in July from the pond to the tub, and I must have transfered the eggs & babies in the plants. I have to admit, at first I couldn't imagine how they could have got there.

I'll end up saving some indoors in an aquarium. That's what I had to do the couple of years to keep it alive. The first freeze will kill off the frog bit.

This year I'm using a 20 gallon aquarium with a fl. grow light. That's what i did in the past, and it worked just fine.

Like the last two years, I installed the submersible aquarium heater in line to the water pump. The last two winters this heater kept my entire pond the same temp. The temps do vary from day to night. My pond is only 365 gallons, and even on those nights when the temps drop down into the teens, the water didn't freeze. The only problem I have with heating my is evaporation. I'll do like I did the last two winters. I'll keep a five gallon bucket of water in the house to add water to my pond as needed.

Today, I installed a digital thermometer so I can check the temp of the pond water at a glance.

My hope is that this worst winter in 50 years isn't as bad as they say it will be.

I couldn't agree with you more. During the second world war all of both sides of my family moved Aberdeen, SD to the Tacoma, WA area for work. They liked the idea of not having to plow through three & four feet of snow all winter that they all stayed. I don't know how much snow you get up in Arlington, but we get very little here. Usually if we do, it's usually gone by noon.



I miss summer already.