Pond in the foothills

[MitchM]

Welcome, Lou!

 

[Big Lou]

Thank you Mitch.

 

[MitchM]

A nice day today, above freezing.
I drilled a test hole through the ice close to the pond breathers and found water 14 inches down.
The ice is thicker in other areas, but I guess with the warmer water circulating around the breathers it's thinner.

.

 

[j.w]

Well that's good news Mitch............don't get many nice day above freezing reports lately from Canada. Maybe the warm Spring is moving ever so slowly to a theater near you

 

[MitchM]

Yes jw,
The forecast is for above freezing weather during the day for the next week, so hopefully we can lose some of our snow.
It will be nice to see the dirt again, although it still pretty early for that.
I'm thinking the pond won't be ice free until April.

 

[j.w]

That's only 2 months away Mitch

 

[MitchM]

Yes, and the poor fishies will have been under the ice for almost 7 months.....

Man, that's hard to believe!

.

 

[addy1]

Yes, and the poor fishies will have been under the ice for almost 7 months.....

Man, that's hard to believe!

.

That sure is a long time, mine get iced over maybe 3-4 months but only in a winter like this one.

 

[j.w]

I could not bear that Mitch.................not seeing my fish for that long and wondering about them

 

[mtpond]

Wow Mitch that is a long time ! Even tho the temps here get cold my pond doesn't freeze over unless we get well below 0. Even then I have a couple feet thats open above my diffuser. This winter its only had ice covering the pond twice and then it didn't last much more then a week. Like JW it would really bother me not seeing my fish.

 

[addy1]

Without the aerator going this winter would have been hard on the fish, the pond would have been a solid sheet of ice for quite a while now. You up north ponders are a hardy group

 

[MitchM]

That's why I'm not going to try keeping koi any more out there. I don't see the point.
mtpond, I thought you would have more ice cover than that.
Are you located in a valley? I wonder if that has something to do with it. We're on a hilltop here and exposed to the wind.
Colleen is in a valley and has houses around her which I think help protect her from the wind, but she gets colder temperatures than I do.

 

[addy1]

I went with gf and shubbies for many reasons, plants, and ease of care. A lot less stress if a one dollar fish dies vs a xxx dollar fish.

 

[MitchM]

Despite the bright sun and around freezing temperatures, the snow and ice on the pond hasn't changed much.
This is a picture from a few minutes ago.
The bare patch in front is from where the Polaris ATV used to sit.

 

[j.w]

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, I think I'm ready for Spring now. Snow lusting is over for this year