Gazing Ball Joins the Pondscape

My son suprised us with a large gazing ball for Christmas which has found a prominent location at the end of the pond. It is nice to have something shining with everything else being so dull and brown this time of year. The pond temperature hit a low of 37 degrees before the current milder weather arrived. The temperture rose back over 40 degrees today and there is a tad more fish action with the warmer water. In picking out leaves yesterday, we disturbed two bullfrog tadpoles and a baby salamander who were hibernating under the leaves. We returned them to the pond and hope they won't hold a grudge next spring. The Ponders that say they give their ponds a thorough cleaning must throw away a bunch of wildlife as we seem to disturb small critters every time we do any cleaning at all.

Watch Out for the Iceberg

Last night the temperature dropped to the low 20's and ice formed on the still surfaces of the pond. Some of the ice was 1/4 inch thick and the fish were all sleeping at the bottom of the pond. I checked the water temperature and it was only 39 degrees which is a new low for this season. The blowing leaves have slowed and the net is catching most of those that do get stirred up in the wind. Too bad the net is so ulgy as it has helped with the leaves and Hawk.

Foster Care Fish Head for New Home

Today Gayle came by with a large bucket and we caught about a dozen fish from the foster care pond. One of her two had grown to be 6 to 7 inches long. Her second, the white one either didn't grow at all because we did catch one white one. But I suspect her white one was lost to the hawk. The fish we caught included a number of Goldfish, a Black Goldfish and a multicolored Shubunkin. If these fish are close to being as fertile as their parents, she'll have a pond full of fish by next fall. Tomorrow if the weather permits, I'll clean the small pond and see if we missed any of the foster care fish.