What is your weather like ... today

[sissy]

I found that my heater got frozen in the ice by the waterfall after it broke loose from where it was wired too .It was not working and thought it was broke but once ice started to thaw a little around it it started to work again .It happened during the polar vortex and guessing the wire broke that I had tied to the pipe over the pump .I saw it was in ice and turned the switch when I got home that night but it did not melt anything and I thought it was broke as it was frozen in a block of ice .Next day ice started to melt a little from the sun and after it got a little loose I moved it a little and it started to work .Yep jw they still have dummy buttons on the tv's ,that's what my son calls them when I can't figure out the new remote that I got from the cable company .

 

[j.w]

Dummy button for dummy me.....................next time I will use it,thanks sissy :cheerful:

 

[addy1]

With the power off don't think it will work jw, just unplug the sucker.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Sissy My pond heater quite frequently gets suck in ice and snow, does not always mean that the heater is not working. My heater is placed in the flow if the water channel comming from the top pond. The heater can appear frozen in the ice most of the time in this location, because the warm water from the heater is going down stream with the flow, and this heats the pond evenly. If you look at some of my videos in my winter thread, you will see that my pond heater is almost always hidden in the ice, but still working, just that the open holes tend to appear down stream of the heater.

CE, I have not been sick like this with the flu in at least 15 or 20 years ago for sure. I have worked at the superstore for over ten years now and the only time I was sick off work was when I had the blood poisoning from a spider bite over five years ago. This flu is different, it is a virulent strain of the H1N1 swine flu, and many are hospitalized, and many of these people were healthy otherwise, and in the prime of their life. The swine flu is pretty much a pandemic right now in Alberta, and today at work there was a young girl that was very sick, and when she was in the bathroom she lost her vision and passed out. Ammonia is very very common with this swine flu, and province ran out of vaccine on Friday, as everybody is rushing to get vaccinated. Last few days my chest felt so heavy I swore a swine was sitting on it!

I had an extremely high fever and I was so cold I was shivering under the blankets with my pajamas and my coat and my thermal underwear and with the heat cranked out to full blast, and I was still cold!! If this pig flu comes your way, RUN for your life, and get the vaccine! trust me, it is bad, and many people have already died this year (2014) in Alberta!!!

 

[mtpond]

Looks like daytime highs are going to be any where from 38 to 43 degrees for the next week. This morning 37 degrees and the wind is really blowing. Not looking forward to going down the hill today. Hubby went down yesterday and said the road is pretty much all ice .

 

[addy1]

81 sunny, dropping to a cold 60 on thursday, then climbing back up in temps

 

[CountryEscape]

Dang, Colleen, that sounds like an awful flu! The H1N1 came to the States a few years ago, and the vaccine was out of supply that year, limited to only the very old and the very young. I never go that vaccine. Now it's not prevalent in the U.S., so they don't even give the vaccine. Glad you got past the major part of it.
Very warm this morning here. I looked closer at my goldfish pond yesterday, as the heater I put in there before the arctic blast was a sinking kind, with a "cage" around it, safe for plastic water tubs. Anyhow, I had it elevated in the water, so it would not sink, but not sure where it is now. Checked the extension cord, and it was "dead". So, retripped the breakers twice and it is now working again. Got the stream going and it's fine, so the skimmer has flowing water into it, meaning the ice is not that thick after all, and the water bubbler shooting towards the water surface. This morning there is a 12-20" diameter hole, and water moving everywhere. I'll wait to start the bog, don't want any water to go over the edge, and right now, I would have no idea if that was happening, since I can't see most of the bog edge, still covered in snow. But, pretty sure that would get up and running just fine, too. The excess water in the goldfish pond could be used to fill the bog to full again, too.
And, the heater in the koi pond quit working yesterday. Went out and checked, and the cord was IN the water! Yikes!!! Pulled that out of the water/ice, and dried it off, plugged back in, voila, working again. Those heaters are TOUGH!

 

[callingcolleen1]

I placed my cord inside a heavy clay pot, just so it does not get knocked around. Sometimes I put a heavy brick over it as well.

The weather has been very nice, but I still get chilled easy, swear I was fighting off ammonia too, which is very common with this pig flu. I am feeling Much better, but not 100%, but I did work yesterday, just a short 4 hour shift, and did not move as fast as I usually do....

Yesterday on the way to the dog park, I stop to get a coffee at Tim Hortans, but the drive thew line was insane, so I went inside as there was only one person in line..... it still took me at least 20 minutes to get a coffee, cause they were so short of staff, apparently many had called in sick!

 

[j.w]

Gosh it stopped raining and just a slight breeze now at 48f. Hope I don't catch a bug now that I just got back from my annual medical checkup. Just think of all the nasty germs crawling around in there. Have to go get a stress test next as I told doc every once in a long while I get a little really sharp stabbing pain where my heart area is. They did an ekg and all was fine but they don't like to take any chances I guess. Actually I was more concerned about how to get rid of the nasty little foot cramps I get when laying on the couch watching tv. Only happens there and in that halfway laying down position. He said drink more liquids, exercise your feet before sitting down and when you get them stand up and move around and drink more liquids right away. I had already tried taking potassium and magnesium but one didn't work and the other gives you the trots. Still going to try some of the magnesium oil that one can make from magnesium chloride and water and rub that on my feet or take nice baths w/ the flaking kind.

 

[CountryEscape]

It was 53 here today and so pretty by afternoon when the sun came out. Very windy, so that made it feel cooler, and I had to work so couldn't enjoy it anyhow. Nice big hole now in the goldfish pond, so unplugged that heater as well. Stream running fine, hole is in front of the skimmer (which feeds the stream), and turned on the bog tonight, after I scraped the snow away from the outer walls, just in case the water could not find the opening at the other end, and tried to go over the edge. Dug down the snow on top of the end where the bog is supposed to overflow into the pond, and it was not even frozen there! Ice nearby, but no ice at the opening, how cool is that? I guess when the arctic freeze came and I lost power, the snow had already covered the pond with 8" of snow, and that insulated the water there from the deep freeze, and it never maybe did freeze. The snow that was on the pond, over 3' drift the length of the pond, is now sinking into the pond. Very funny looking. Again, I think the ice was not very thick, it got insulated by the snow before the very cold temps got here. And, how the snow is staying together, and sinking is beyond me, but it's about 8-12" below the surface and also still above the surface. I will try to take pics tomorrow.
But, as the temps were nice and warm and sunny today, tomorrow is going to see our high in the a.m., and then drop to 20 tomorrow night. Up and down .... up and down. It can't seem to make up it's mind!
I'm going to try winter sowing this year! Have several milk jugs about ready to plant seeds in, so we shall see if I am a success at starting some flowers and tree seeds I have gathered!

 

[mtpond]

Winds have been horrible came home to find branches with pine needles in the pond. Stop blowing! Two days of strong winds are enough!

 

[mtpond]

Winds are still blowing and 38F.

 

[addy1]

83 and rain here, slight chance rain, dropping to a cold 60 on thursday..

52 at home dropping to 38 on thursday, possible snow on wednesday, friday night.

 

[CountryEscape]

Here's the snow drift that is "sinking" into the pond. Wondering if I should plug the heater back in to keep water a little bit warmer? Read where someone said that if no ice on the ponds, and frozen stuff from the air (snow, sleet, etc.) goes directly into the water, it makes the water temp colder. Thought there was a good 2" of ice on pond before the snows came, but evidently not!

This pic shows the length of the drift that covered the entire goldfish pond. The snow came first, then the arctic blast, so makes sense the snow insulated the pond. Positive there was frozen stuff under the snow at one point, though, because there was not an opening, and I could not push through the slush to get to the water, used water fountain under water and heater to open the ice.

 

[Big Lou]

46 & Fair, 66/35

Question.
Lot's of leaves and some bottom algae in the pond. With no fish would it be best to drain the pond before cleaning it out?