That's a bunch of geese, Colleen! I agree with Sissy, when I walk under any flock or single bird and look up, my thought is "don't poop!" And, 3 years ago, I told the story (and had the pics to back it up!) of a flock of Snow Geese flew by my house, south to north, and the lead goose must have said, "1, 2, 3, ...POOP!" cause the south side of my house AND barn was covered with bird poop. Now, come on, there is no way all those geese decided to poop at the same time. I literally thought someone had thrown mud on my house. Washed it off, and not kidding, 2 days later it happened again, but not nearly as bad. Stupid geese! LOL
Since I got both ponds totally thawed out Fri and yesterday, I decided to see if insulating the Skippy would keep the top from freezing even with the water running. Not sure when it froze if it was because the pump quit, or if the ice that formed on the top kept the water from getting out, and that caused the pump to stop.
Anyhow, among all the "stuff" left at my house when I bought it were 2 partial 4x8 sheets of Tuff-R insulation board. I cut up pieces to go on both sides and the back of the Skippy. The front of the Skippy is kind of "blow ground level", so figured the sides and back would be as much as was needed. I have the pieces pushed in and tight, so they more or less seal one to the other. The piece of driftwood was handy, but I'm going to put a better brace on it tomorrow.
Then I cut up 2 pieces that fit snugly into the top, and both are above the water line. I had to cut a slot for the pipe, but the top piece I pried that piece back into place. I was happy how tightly the pieces fit, especially the top one. I put the flat rocks on the edges, mostly to deter any wind that may try to pull up a corner.
I will probably pull my large pump tomorrow (totally didn't think of it today, and am chilled, so not going back outside) and make sure it's not plugged up at all. That could have been what caused it to fail before when the waterfall froze, but I think the ice played a bigger role. I realize the water should have kept flowing, but since the top was open to the air, I figure the elements froze it faster than the water could keep it thawed. That's my hope anyhow, and now with the 2 layers of Tuff-R above the water, I'm hoping no more ice will form. The Tuff-R pieces are in the area from the top edge of the weir to the top of the container, so the water level is about 2-3" below the bottom of the insulation board. We'll see if this works. I can keep the pieces to reuse next year.
We got lots of Canadian geese here too all winter, flocks of geese or ducks flew over my head yesterday while at the river. You can hear the sound the wings make as they fly overhead, got a couple shots of them flying over the cottonwood trees down by the river yesterday evening.
