My goldfish pond

[CountryEscape]

Yep, the stingray killed Steve Irwin, but he got stung in the chest, and the stinger went into his heart! They said that if he hadn't pulled it out, he might have lived, but once he pulled out that stinger, he bled to death. Awful death!
When a Man of War comes in contact with anything, it wraps its tentacles around whatever it is. In Addy's case, it was her whole body. In my sister's case, it was floating near the edge, and the tentacles wrapped around her legs and lower body. They break off with a good amount of pressure, I think anyhow. My sister is 7 years younger than me, so she was about 8 when it happened. Yes, she remembers it, and I have told the story to my kids, and my daughter to this day is petrified of jelly fish.

 

[fishin4cars]

JW, Stingray is what killed Steve Irwin. I always was under the impression that the Man of War was so poisonous it would kill a human. I was always taught as very young to stay very clear of them as they had long tentacles. years ago while I was maintaining Aquaria for clients I had a Restaurant that had three Lion fish. I went to remove the glass top and it fell in. I went to grab it and one lionfish stung the inside of my hand. I will tell you this. THAT HURTS! None of the Hospitals knew how to treat and that was long before you could google anything. So I had to tough it out.
In the Gulf of Mexico there are times when the Jelly fish come onshore. There are some that while pulsate light when they get at the water break. When there are thousands there is a glowing line all down the beach. A very spooky sight but a cool thing to see.

 

[CometKeith]

Our family swam with stingrays in the Cayman Islands and held them. For some reason those are not dangerous. This is the link to the tour. http://www.stingrayc...ngraycity.shtml

 

[callingcolleen1]

Wow, jelly fish scare me now after hearing your stories! When I was at Cuba several years back, I swam in the ocean everyday and never worried aout jelly fish, was worried about sharks though. Watch a documentry on jellyfish in the ocean and they said there was more jelly fish now than ever cause of changing nutrients in the water. Apparently millions of years ago the jelly fish were very very big and even more plentlyfull!
Keith I loved the rock sculpures pictures!

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks Colleen, I explained to our group about the hottest new thing when I saw a pile of rocks made into a sculpture somewhere in Door County. As we kept seeing them around everyone started to believe me! I have to thank you and gpf for making me such an expert on new trends!!!

 

[callingcolleen1]

Who knew that rocks would be such a hot topic! Going on the garden tour with my mom tomorrow, wonder if anyone on the tour will have "stacked rocks"! They sure are showing up everywhere these days, it is kinda addictive playing with rocks, and I think that they look good stacked in the flower garden or by the pond, gives the rocks a new dimension, instead of just laying them flat and in the traditional "circle" around the flower bed. Had to move so many of my rocks when I got the new sidewalk, and instead of putting the largest rocks forward and in front of the bed, I put the largest in between the flowers and smaller rocks and pea gravel in front for a much different look with the "same old rocks"! I'm sure if rocks could tell a story, what a story they would tell, been around since the beginning of time, and in a couple hundred years from now, wonder if my rocks will still be here, framing several holes in the ground that used to be my pond, maybe someone will think the hole in the ground surrounded by rocks was really a firepit or a pond? Wonder if some of my flowers will still be growing in between the rocks... it's almost sad to think about it. One thing for sure, my garden junk will be long gone, but the rocks will still be there...

 

[addy1]

addy those are horrible visions I see in my head now of your being grabbed by that Man Of War! I would have passed out from fear. How did you get away from it?
And then to step on one of those sting rays.............isn't that what killed Steve Irwin?

Never saw the jelly fish, we were swimming in the ocean, the tentacles can go out a long way, think 20 feet or more. IF I had been allergic, I might have died I had red rings around my neck from the stingers and everywhere else it hit. I did not swell up just hurt like all heck.

The stingray was on the bottom, I was bare foot and stepped on it, it reacted by stinging, now if I am in the ocean, I wear shoes or shuffle my feet to scare them away. Both times in mexico.

We were floating in florida last year, 15 feet off shore, I had one swim right below me, maybe a foot, huge sucker. I just held still until it left. We saw one jump out of the water that evening, they sure are neat. Just don't step on them lol

 

[CountryEscape]

Keith, I did the swim with the stingrays as well. But, I was on a cruise with my brother and his family, and he chartered a private boat to take us to a place way out in the ocean, and my simply mind was thinking, "How in the world are they going to be able to FIND the stinrays way out here?" It was an area where it was only 8' deep, and the stingrays knew humans came to look, and they also came to feed them, so they were there. I loved holding them, soooo soft and they would come up and almost kiss you ... but they had teeth, which my brother learned really fast! The captain got into the water with squid, gave one to my brother, showed him how to hold it with his thumb tucked under. The stingrays will grab the squid, and anything else that is "sticking out". Well, in the frenzy, he forgot the tuck the thumb lesson, and it got his thumb, just scratched it with it's teeth. Other than that, we were all holding them, they would swim close, beg to be touched and carressed. Really neat!
Only other time I swam with wild fish like that was with the manatees, which are actually mammals, like "river cows" I think they call them. That was a great time, too, highly recommend it if anyone is on the west side of FL and gets the chance. The babies are super friendly, and they hold out their flippers for you to scratch them and will roll over for you to rub their bellies. Like huge puppies. That was done snorkeling, too. Cows would sometimes lay on the bottom to sleep, my friend asked why they were all dead? LOL

 

[j.w]

I wouldn't swim with the stingrays.............just can't get that death outta my mind of the Crocodile Hunter. Would swim w/ the gentle looking Manatee's tho. Got a laugh outta your friend thinking they were all dead

 

[CometKeith]

Addy, Wow that sounds like a horrible experience. Off of Lake Michigan the biggest problem is the undertow. Unfortunately several people drown each year because they ignore the warnings. The bad part is the Michigan part of the lake.

Colleen, I wouldn't bet your rocks will be there forever. We built our house 15 years ago. We tore down a very cute house that was built in the 40's and not up today's standards. The funny thing is they had a pond but i didn't really give it any thought at the time. The pond and rocks were dug out when we excavated and graded the lot. A year later we found toads in our window wells. It never occurred to me that the toads were probably from the old pond. We ended up bringing them to a nature preserve. Also 4 years ago when I was digging my pond I found rocks and debris from the old pond. It makes you think.... Sometimes things do indeed change but sometimes things do go in cycles too. What cycle your rocks will go in we can't really predict. Maybe they will be used for the foundation of the worlds tallest building.... or maybe they will be used to build a beautiful wall of a renovated mansion... I just brought back some rocks 250 miles from Door County and incorporated them into my pond.

CE. The sting rays were a neat experience. It sounds like you had fun with them too. jW if you would see how the guides let the stingrays rest on your stomach you wouldn't be scarred at all. They are really fun.The manatees are really cool. It's sad when you see a deformed one because someone threw the plastic from a 6 pack of Coke and it got stuck on their head. The areas that have a lot of manatees are very protective of the environment near them. On a few occasions I have found a plastic bag that blew in my pond. One time a fish was caught in it, but luckily it was okay.

 

[j.w]

Keith..................I would be scared, I guarantee you that! I like to watch them or watch somebody else swim w/ them but not going in there w/ them.............not taking any chances,no, no, no :razz: Sad to hear about the stuff that people throw all over this good earth of ours w/o even a care or concern for anyone but themselves. I see it everyday when out walking. Tons of junk thrown in little creeks, lakes, rivers, ditches and the woods and all over the road......................makes me sick!

 

[CountryEscape]

JW, just FYI, stingrays ONLY sting when they are frightened or stepped on. They use it only as a deterrant to a predator. Humans are not considered a predator to them. Steve Irwin got stung if I recall correctly, because he didn't know a huge stingray was buried in the sand, and he stepped on it. They lash their tail up and back at whatever is endangering them, in that case an innocent human. Just like Addy, she stepped on it because she didn't know it was there. They sink into the sand, only their eyes above, to watch for prey, or to hide from predators. They are VERY gentle creatures normally. Swimming in the water table, they are beautiful to watch! I can understand your fear, though. My sister in law and one of their daughters was afraid to let the stingrays touch them, so we gave them all of our attention, and the 2 girls watched from farther away, their safe zone. We were thrilled to get all 8 of the stingrays to ourselves! It was my other niece, nephew, brother and I, so we were enjoying the heck out of the situation, petting and rubbing one then on to the next that swam by. They were searching us for food, obviously, but still enjoyed the gentle touches we gave them as well.
My friend should have known better about them not being dead, but I guess he figured since they get hit by boats all the time (all of the adults had scars of one sort or another from propellers), I guess he thought maybe they were dead. My goodness, there were 4 of them laying on the bottom. LOL He felt pretty stupid when he asked our guide (instead of asking me, cause you know I'm stupid, right?!!) and was laughed at and told they were taking a nap. But, that pup that followed us around, it was really small, and yet was probably as big or bigger than me in comparison to the parents which were maybe 1,000#. I forget the size but they were like walruses. Gentle giants is what they are referred to. Move very slowly, and yes, they are very protected. If you get caught going faster than the speed limit in the area (maybe 15 mph or less), you get a ticket! There was also a roped off area where the manatees could go and not be bothered. Humans were not allowed to go past the ropes. Some were in that area, but most came out to greet us. No one was allowed to feed them, either, so there was really incentive for the manatees, except the human interaction and rubs, which they obviously loved. We were not allowed to "pursue" them either. if they swam away, we had to let them go. That's why it was so much fun to have the littlest guy want to swim WITH us! My smile was plastered on my face, let me tell you! Also, when we were told time to go, there was a manatee that nudged us as each of us got on the ladder. Not sure if it was trying to get us to get out of there, or more likely, trying to convince us to stay longer. It was a wonderful experience, and once I think anyone that loves fish and water would really enjoy.

 

[addy1]

Yep do the shuffle now when walking in the ocean, no stepping.

 

[j.w]

Sounds pretty cool Ce and who knows might build up enough courage to go swim w/ the stingrays but definitely would with the Manatees!

 

[CometKeith]

CE. Neat story about the manatees. They are really special and very unique to that part of the US. I found a few more pictures of the skyline from the other night. One has the fireworks over Navy Pier. The rest are some pictures of the pond I took today and the planter I bought in Door County along with the Hen and chicks I bought at a flee market up there as well. You can see how many plants I have now in the pond. That is even with me removing about a dozen floaters every day. The nice part is the water is still cool even though we have had 21 90 degree days so far this year. I see the fish still spawning in the morning which explains why I have so many babies in there. My guess is there are at least 15-20 babies in the pond. A lot of them are from my black and blue shubunkin and then a bunch are mixtures of other colors. They are fun to watch now but I'll have to decide what to do with some of them at some point.