Ponds in Canada

[j.w]

Brrrrrrrrrrr,frozen tundra!

 

[callingcolleen1]

OK, while I was busy this morning, the neighbor cat was "at large" and stalked the pond!! ...... darn!! Where is the fat little Poppy!!!

 

[j.w]

He He pretty little cat and Poppy is asleep on the job!

 

[callingcolleen1]

That's what they do all day, LoUnge Puppies! Poppy said her foot required more rest and she was snuggled into the pillow so nice! .

 

[callingcolleen1]

Their are some people that have things much worse than me, in terms of weathering a pond, would not want to winter a pond in Edmonton, or Winnipeg, where right now it is minus 25c! Right now in Medicine Hat it is only minus 14c. These places have much longer winters than in Medicine Hat Alberta. Never used to really pay close attention to the weather so much as I do now, but with the help of these handy new cell phone gadgets, I can look weather up really quick.

We do see those cold temperures here in Medicine Hat, and much temperures colder too, but it seems that when I am cold here in Medicine Hat, they are way colder there!! Sure you could winter your pond there too, but you would pay much more to heat your pond there than here in Medicine Hat! Fish were out and about swimming around cause heater on in pond for a couple days now non stop, one little guy was eating algae on the side of the pond liner!

Things are still growing in my handy dandy greenhouse, were I still have tomatoes left over from the garden waiting for me to eat them! Might make a sauce out of them for noodles or something soon.
Hubby won't eat tomatoes these days cause his mouth is sore from the radiation....

 

[addy1]

Very nice Colleen! Yes he needs to stick with bland foods. Tomatoes are pretty acidic, I love them, grow a bunch in the summer and jar them up for sauces.

 

[sissy]

poor doggie looks comfy and you bugging him with pics and he says not now no smiles from me .

 

[j.w]

You freeze me up w/ the first cold pics Colleen and then warm me up w/ the green house ones! Love the pix :razz:
Must cost you a bunch to keep it warm in there eh?...............that was my Canadian eh in there........hee, hee
My father was supposedly French Canadian so I'm allowed to do that

 

[callingcolleen1]

Yes it was a cold one last night, everybody just fine. Next month when we get the real cold cold, minus 17c will seem like a nice day!!!

That bad Bear, dug up one of Poppy's bones this afternoon. Now she is madder than all heck and going to tell Dad!! See Poppy mad on top of car, staring bad Bear down!

Big Koi from top pond reporting in that they are just fine.... and in the middle pond the smaller fish and koi and hiding under the large floating yellow flag, their favorite winter spot!

 

[callingcolleen1]

JW our bills to heat, power, water and garbage (all on one bill) no more than 300 per month. With everything running, fish tanks, green house, pond, ect. Small house = easy peasy pay!

 

[addy1]

We are lucky, no water or sewer bill. Our average is 150-175/mo dependent on summer or winter.

 

[j.w]

Ours is more like addy w/ no water or sewer bills and we use wood we get mostly free to heat house. So only cost we pay would be to heat water w/ propane and electricity for lights, stove etc. Might have to try it and see on the green house sometime how much it adds to our electricity. Colleen do you use electric heat for the green house? I have one of those electric heaters that looks like an old fashioned water heater that has some kind of oil in it. I did use it one year out there to keep some plants that I had outside that weren't hardy during the winter. Maybe there is a more efficient type of heater? Didn't keep track of the electric bill tho. Must not have been too bad or I would have seen a big jump.

 

[sissy]

The more you save on electric the more they raise the rates ,so nothing really works unless you go part off the grid and then takes awhile to recoup what you pay out for the system and the tax breaks .

 

[j.w]

Is that what you are doing sissy...........going off the grid?
Electric company guy came here one day and knocked on our door and said he was here to install a new digital meter outside to replace our old one. He said the arrows on the old one didn't match up and the digitals were much better. My hubby thinks he came to do it to our house and nobody else's cuz he yelled at one guy awhile back not to drive on our grass,lol! Thinks it will end up costing us more money and it prolly will cuz somebody has to pay for all those new digital meters! Also we had to run around and shut off computers and anything else we didn't want on when he shut the power off and on again. Took us forever to get that all done while he stood on the porch and waited. I had to beep hubby out in the shop to come and do his computer while I did mine and then hubby had to turn tv and boxes hooked up to that off. The guy had a long wait.........oh well that's what they get for just popping in on us w/o any notification. Wonder what they would have done if we hadn't been home?

 

[callingcolleen1]

Our bill are much cheaper in summer for sure, by half the price. Water can cost lots in summer sometimes water bill 100 dollars for watering lawn etc. Last year we did not need to water much as it rained a lot.

I hate to tell you this.... but half the time my green house is heated by candles that I get on sale. I also save wax and make candles too. Although I do have a round energy saving heater, what is that thing called again.... got to go look, and light some candles right now... OK I'm back now, got some pictures, heater is a parabolic dish. It radiates the heat with no fan. Although the heater is more dangerous then candles if you ask me. Green house is drippy with water from roof when I use candles, no danger of fire, been doing this for at least 15 years. I use heater it drys up quick. Heater scares me more than candles. When I build my greenhouse I used 2X4 wood, poly on each side so I have inch and a half of air insulation that way. Then if it is sunny no need to heat during daylight hours as sun heats it quite well. Sometimes it can be minus 17c like last night, but by 10 or 11am I turn off all heat and blow out candles. Well I time the candles to go out, by 11am sun heats even through it's cloudy. If I light tea lights at 6am they go out by 10 am when I am at work.

Then the candles burn oxygen and give off carbon dioxide, which the plants breath in as fertilizer!

I am obsessed with my greenhouse project, been obsessing with it for years. I sit and plant tomatoes and peppers in early spring for garden, used to grow Johns tobacco too, will still grow some in spring for the flowers and they attact hummingbirds. I can sit in my greenhouse in my "birthday suit" ha ha, and get some sun, ha ha ha, and no one can see me cause I just look like a burry pink blob on the other side! Ha ha ha