Hi friends! It has been way too long since I have written you on my blog. Too many things seem to have gotten in the way of my getting time to write. But here goes....
The pond project took lots of time in the past month. We finally got the liner in and the fish moved. It was much easier than I thought. With the help of several friends, we rolled out the liner, lined it up side to side and front to back on the ground...each took a spot and walked it right over the hole and dropped it in. There you have it, the liner was in!! Of course, nothing goes right the first time...the liner was fine, but the koi toilets (bottom drains) ended up leaking. When I checked the water level the first morning after adding some water, it had gone down quite a bit....oh, no....a problem...We finally figured out we had a leak, so had to drain all the water, take out the koi toilets, and re-seal them....we added lots more silicon sealer, and tried again. This time the water didn't leak! YEah....
It took several days to get the pond about half full, and thanks to our neighbors letting us use their water and ours, we got the pond full enough to add the fish...
My hubby's boss lent us his waders and a special net for catch and release....it worked really slick and didn't hurt the fish. It was a great rubber net. THe waders were amazing..you don't get one bit wet. What an amazing invention. So I caught the fish and hubby ran them over to the new pond and dropped them in. Surprise!! There were two new fish in the pond that we had never seen....a baby catfish about 3" long and a little butterfly fish, that I hope is a koi. We cannot figure how they got in there....maybe the butterfly is a baby from eggs the fish laid, but the catfish is another story. We only have one catfish in the pond and he is about 1 foot long and 3 years old...what a mystery. I named the baby catfish SPike, and the little orange butterfly is Pee Wee. They come up and try to hold their own eating food with the big fish.
Well, we have been busy working around the edges of the pond, and trying to figure out about the waterfalls and stream. It is still a big job to come, but we are so happy to just have the fish moved for now. By November we will no longer be feeding the fish, and they will begin to hibernate till spring. For now it is such fun to watch them. I think they are growing already in their new home. I posted pictures from the big move. Next time I will write about the RIcky Tims' Seminar, and the case of the missing ducks....till then....have fun in your neck of the woods...judy
