The pond dig has begun!

[callingcolleen1]

That is a lot of money! Gee for that price it might be cheaper to come up with another plan... like putting a pump in the trough and keep that running to keep hole open as running water takes much longer to freeze. A small pump will keep water from freezing over for quite a long while before you need to use heater, and would cost way less than a heater.

 

[CountryEscape]

Yep, totally agree with you, Colleen. I have the extension cords run, for the "just in case" weather that IS coming tonight. Freeze warnings for tomorrow 6 a.m. through Thursday noon. High winds and temps in the single digits, wind chills down to -15 to -20. Brr .... The horse trough will get a heater when/if I can't chop it to open it up twice a day. For now, I left one side frozen towards the top. It's like a frozen shelf to help keep a pocket of air, hopefully warmer air, and the rest of the water not freezing as quickly. With temps of 20 all day today, I could easily chop the other half and move away the ice. Also, I have lots of space to add water if it gets too solid in 12 hours that I cannot chop it to find water underneath. Then I can drop the heater in there, but plan to leave it out until absolutely necessary.
So, I'm ready with heaters for each of the ponds and the horse trough, but not turning anything on yet. Temps are supposed to go up to low 30's by Sunday, so I'm thinking this is just a quick cold blast, and everything will be just fine. We shall see!

 

[callingcolleen1]

Hopefully the cold won't stay to long. I am tired now, shoveled tons of snow all day long and then went off to work tonight. Now I am having one glass of red wine and then I think I will sleep really good.

My little Rio is close to 5 pounds now, and she just turned 4 months. I don't think she will get very big, maybe around 1O pounds ? What do you think?

 

[addy1]

Missy was 4 lbs at 4 months, she stopped at 5 lbs. You never know where they will stop growing, she just grew taller.

 

[sissy]

yep only getting to 34 today and then low teens for the next couple of nights but day temps will be back up to the 40's .My chi's are a tad bit fat at 5 lbs each but i think pee wee is over that now .Last time vet weighed them they both weighed the same .When I first got puddles he was under weight at only 2 lbs .He was super skinny ,He sure loves his cheese .He will dance for it .But peewee loves raw veggies .By the looks of rio he may only be around 6 lbs or a fat 8 lbs ,looking at his bone structure and his legs .Small breed puppies seem to grow the most there first 6 months

 

[CountryEscape]

I agree with Sissy. My Quincy pup I got when he was 4.5 months. My guess is he is pretty much done growing tall, may get a little chunkier yet, but that's it. Small breed dogs are pretty much full grown by the time they are 6 months old. Medium breed dogs grow until they are 6-9 month, large (like German Sheps) until they are 9-12 months, and I have personal knowledge on the humongous breeds (like the huge Mastiff dogs), they still are growing when they are 1.5 years old! OMG, my neighbor's "pup" (I think he just turned 1 last fall) gets bigger every time I see him. He must weigh over 150# so far ... I think his parents were over 200# when full grown. Yikes!!!! That's a small horse for goodness sake.
Colleen, no fair, you have warmer temps than me. I don't think we got over 12 degrees all day, our high was at midnight. Still going down, supposed to maybe get just below zero tonight. Brr ... high winds are wicked. Don't stay outside very long to do chores, that's for sure. Crap, just realized I forgot to chop the ice in the horse's water trough. Guess I need to hike it back out there. Takes longer to "suit up" than it does to chop the ice. Ho hum ....

 

[j.w]

CE it's only 7pm where you are and it's already down to 2f. Better where your woolies to bed tonight or is it a 3 dog night?

 

[CountryEscape]

Yeah, it's cold here! My daughter in UT had temps in the 40's today, so hoping that will move east to get to me in a few days. I have a great goose down comforter on top of my regular bedspread, and stay plenty warm, usually toss off the goose down a time or two during the night. I keep the house at 63-65 at night, like it to be cooler. I don't stay outside very long in these temps. Not sure how to keep fingers warm, as never have found a pair of gloves that accomplish that feat. Mittens are great, but you can't do much with mittens on. They are super for snowmobiling though.

 

[j.w]

When I see those cold temps popping up every year from you peeps far from here I count my blessings that I live here even if it does rain a lot. I can't stand it that cold.
I'm gonna be cold here at 28f tonight IMO

 

[CountryEscape]

Funny how, like Colleen said, you get used to it. I don't go outside in this type of weather unless I'm bundled up good. I would typically run outside to the garbage bin to toss a bag of trash, not put a coat on, etc., but not in this type of weather. If I fell and could not get back up, I'd die within minutes. It's not worth that type of a death. Too many chances to slip and fall.
I plugged in both pond heaters, but just chopped ice in the water trough this morning. Will fill the trough tonight, as pretty certain the hydrant would be frozen solid right now at one degree. Don't want to force it and break something. After the sunshine and temps going up to the teens today, it should thaw out.
And, running water into the goldfish pond, as when I got the heater thawed through the ice, I realized the water level was a good 4" below the ice! That's not a good sign this time of year. Could be a leak somewhere, but sure hope not!

 

[CountryEscape]

Funny story ... kinda. Two nights ago, Quincy was barking in his crate, which sits between kitchen and dining room. Went to see what the problem was, and see Grace, my cat, has a mouse ... live. I ponder what to do, but realize that if I try to get the mouse from her, the mouse will get away ... and WIN. So, I tell her "kill it!" and go back to bed. About an hour later, I get up to go to the bathroom (yep, I closed my bedroom door, didn't want any extra "presents" in bed with me...), and Grace is in the hallway. I asked her where the mouse was, and she stared across the hall at the empty tv box leaning up against the wall. I peeked, and sure enough, the sucker was hiding behind the box. Well, without giving any gory details, I took care of that mouse, and then tossed him outside. Woohoo!

 

[sissy]

That is the biggest problem about living in the country the mice .They always seem to slip into the house no matter what you do to seal everything up .A door open a second and mice come in .I put a boxes of mothballs in the sheds just to keep them and the snakes away .

 

[callingcolleen1]

Ya, I am starting to think she will just be tiny little Rio forever! I think she will be around 8 or 9 pounds once she is fully grown. She was last weight at vets was 4 pounds. Now I think she is five, depending on how much she eats... she just ate a whole frozen chicken leg, most of the bone too. I have always given frozen raw chicken legs to big dogs forever and Rio has nicer poops on Raw diet. They say uncooked chicken bones are ok for dogs cause only cooked bones splinter. In the wild they would eat the whole bird, bones and all and I have never had problem.

 

[callingcolleen1]

I have homeless city mice every year that break into basement. Then I have to snap them hard in lots of traps. .. can never have too many snap traps just in case!

 

[CountryEscape]

I trapped about 4 in my basement, but none for well over a month, so this one has been living in my kitchen. YUCK!
Heater in each pond, ice is pretty thick, but stream and bog running nicely under the ice, and dome over the water bubbler and heater in the koi pond.
Hydrant at horse trough won't turn on, so line must be froze. Will deal with that tomorrow in the 25 and sunshine! Hauled buckets of water to the trough this morning.