I cleaned my pond last night.
Well I started it last night. It is a nasty horrible job, and I feel like the worst homeowner ever when I finally get around to doing it.
I didn’t even clean it last year, no wonder 4 of my fish caffed. I used the sump pump that I bought when the moat decided to come in my house a few years ago. I have that little problem fixed now, so I figured it was a perfect tool to help empty the pond out. I was totally right :) The time I emptied it before I used the old, suck on the end of the hose until the water starts to drain out method.
It only took about 10 hours to drain it out enough to even start to clean it.
This time it took me about 1/2 and hour to get the water out.
I have now decided that I need to find a better way to clean it.
My hard bristled brush is up on the center of my roof, so I had to improvise…heheheheh, it never made it back down from when Bill and I cleaned the gutters (which are sparkling white now by the way) I bet it is hilarious looking if you fly over in a heli!!! I would love a picture of that…
But I digress…the algae is so stuck on the pond liner I can’t scrub it off. I think I will buy some snails today and maybe see if there is something I can put in the water to help. The pond is in the middle of my back yard so there is no pump in it. I was at one time planning on running electrical out there, but it just never happened.
So I just kept filling the pond and then pumping it out again to get as much of the sludge out as I could, without having to catch all the fish and take them out.
The fish had no idea what was going on, at one point I had one that wouldn’t leave the damn sump pump alone…and the water was so full of silt that they were all gasping for air.
While I was cleaning I was once again doing the bob and weave to stay out of the bumble bee’s way. The hummingbird feeder by the pond is shared jointly by the birds and the bumblers, they are insane getting the sugar water out of the feeder.
And they get furious and go into attack mode if you are anywhere near threatening them. They definitely have a hive somewhere near, apparently they nest underground…interesting. The really are so cool, even if they do hate me.
I hope I am not killing them with the hummer food, I have never seen bees go crazy for the feeder like that before. The hummingbirds are drinking a whole bottle a day as well. Could be because I don’t have any flowers to speak of in the very back yard. My blueberries are definitely getting some attention though :)
So this morning I am finishing filling the pond up again. It takes longer than emptying it did. The water is as clear as I can hope for and the fish are swimming around like crazy. My plants have all been trimmed up and repositioned, today I will go to work and buy some duckweed for the fish, although they eat it faster than it can grow, and maybe a few water hyacinth, though I don’t know why I bother. The deer just take them out of the pond and take big bites out of them and then leave them on the edge. The inside of them is kind of Styrofoam like and I think they just forget until they have tasted all ten of them in the pond…
I am then going to buy a new battery and put it in the Stang, and go for a drive.
It is a second hand store day today, I feel the need to buy some new summer clothes as everything I have from last year, seems to have shrunk to the point that they don’t fit on this ass anymore. My bones must be growing.
I might even get in mowing the lawn today before the big game starts at 5…
Have a great day peeps…
