I hope this is the solution to the pond problems. It’s a killer unit. Literally. It’s sposed to kill algae, by exploding their cells. It’ll do in some of our beneficial bacteria, but we can add more. I want to see the fish.
I got the unit, saw the 1 and 1/4 inch outlet on it, knew I needed plumbing, but did bright me go to the Lowe’s a block upstream of the uncrossable traffic? No, I took the downstream course to Ace, only to be told by this sane sounding old guy it was special, and I should go to this pool place. Ha! I got there, several miles away, and it had been out of business and overgrown in weeds a long time ago.
So, exiting the twilight zone, I head for Lowes, several miles the other way, get the part, after some head scratching and creative plumbing, and got it assembled, with Jane’s help.
Crossing my fingers—this should do it. It’s rated for a 6000 gallon pond and we’re a bit over 4000. It should also give us a way to get ahead of harmful bacteria in the spring, which wake up before our fish do.
Toes crossed! 😀
I am amazed at your patience and perseverance. Many people would have just given up. The whole project of the pond in your backyard, the way it was dug, and how much you’ve put into it in time, energy, and not a few bucks. I really liked sitting under the arbor next to the irises and hope that next time, the wisteria will be climbing up the sides and top.
*bangs head on your behalf in frustration*
Glad you got it up & running! How are the 4 new babies doing?
Well. Fat as pigs. Did you go river-running? BEautiful day for it!
No kayaking at all, although we kept talking about it. Weather too yukky, at least what we are seeing here. We haven’t moved from the house all w/end. I’m working now, doing monthly reports. Bah!
Really? It’s been glorious here—we just got a little rain; now it’s looking more overcast, and I had better go pull saltshaker kitty off our patio table before she ends up drowned twice. But it’s been strange temperatures for the 4th of July—in the low 70’s at noon.
Windy, cold, & rainy here most of the weekend. Overcast.
We have new wisteria now: the other was weather-damaged. We found some at a bargain, and it is now up to the top bars.
Hey, if you are going to go into something watery, you just figure out it’s going to be some work until it achieves equilibrium, until it ages, and until you get through the learning curve. As long as you have built it well (and we did) it will get there. Losing the UV filter was bad. Listening to advice from companies that are selling ‘natural’ remediation was worse—and worst still, their methods weren’t working. So I have got the detested ‘unnatural’ uv (something like our very natural sun) and am blasting the algae even as we speak.
we’ll get there!
I wonder what was ‘special’ that Ace couldn’t help? Normally I’ve found them to be much more akamai than their big-box competitors.
In this case it was needing a step-down PVC adapter between a one and a half screw-in with a 1 and 1/4 outflow, down to a 1 inch hose barb. At Lowes I found a 1 and 1/2 screwin with a plainbore one and 1/4 outflow that let me use a plainbore adapter to the 1 and 1/4 adapter to a 1 inch hosebarb end, which let us do the very simple job of putting a 1 inch hose pump outflow onto a 1 and 1/2 inch filter opening—nothing critical, pressure-wise, no restriction on the outflow, but a PITA because of the 1/4 inch step. The oddwad size is because it’s a pool pump/skimmer kind of line size, and if I’d thought, I’d have gone to the pool supply only 2 blocks from Ace—but one thing and another, we got it.
Here in New England we are having a heat wave…..very difficult for those in cities….cooling centers are open. Here in the woods it is lovely. I go our and do yard stuff between 6 and 9 in the morning….when it gets hot I come inside and do studio stuff….manage to spend ‘siesta hours’ out by the pool. The fuchsias are beautiful and the hummingbirds are visiting. 🙂 😀 😆
Profound sympathy for the cities in the heat: advice from a former southerner: if you are really hot and getting sick, wet a scarf and tie it around your neck, and wind a wet turban around your head if you are stuck out in the sun. Works like a pith helmet. The scarf cools the big vessels in the neck. Same thing with the armpits: big vessels are near the surface. I know in the city you are not so willing to fling windows open at night, but keep the air moving, drink 8 glasses of WATER, not just liquid, a day—and NOT soda or coffee or alcohol, which can dehydrate. If all else fails, go sit in the tub for a while. THere were nights when I was a kid with no air conditioning that I slept in soaked sheets in the tub.
OSG can tell you a lot more. But wear a hat, and wet the hat down at every opportunity, never mind your hairdo. Choose the shade, do NOT let yourself sunburn or tan, (overheating), and keep drinking water.
The countrywomen in Outback Australia used to sleep on the verandah in a “nifty nightie”; cotton lawn wet down and wrung so that it didn’t drip. Some probably still do.
My mom tells me about when she was growing up in St. Louis, and everyone in the neighborhood would go sleep down in the park because it was cooler outside than in. I have to quiz her some more on that… did people set up tents/beds, did people have spots that were “theirs” or was it first come first served, what did people wear? It just seems amazing to me to think of people doing that. But you know the saying: the past is a foreign country!
If you can find a band with the hydroscopic crystals inside, soaking that in water for about 15 minutes, then wringing it out and tying it around your neck will also help. The crystals release the water slowly so you don’t have to keep wetting the band. I’ve got one (if I can find it again) that’s got chili peppers as a cloth pattern. How appropriate. I’ve worn it under my bee veil when I’ve been out in the hives during the summer months. You have to work during the hottest part of the day, because otherwise, the foragers are inside the hive, too. So instead of 10,000 young bees, you’ve also got an additional 5 – 10,000 older bees and they are a bit more defensive.
Remember sleeping porches? They were fairly common even here in the northeast ‘where it doesn’t get hot’! 😉
@joe…I think a pic of you in bee-keeping outfit w/ chili pepper neck band is in order. When I was still in the chrysanthemum growing business, we planted fallow areas with buckwheat. At bloom my then brother-in-law would bring his hives up. It was quite a sight….a sea of white with thousands of humming bees. Unlike paper wasps, yellow jackets, and white face hornets I have never found honey bees to be a problem. I remember my Nanu used to pick them up and move them if they were in her way. 😀
If you have a couple of hours to spare before going out in the heat, wet a thin dish towel (the plain white “flour sack” type work best), twist it into a u-shape wide enough to fit around your neck, and freeze it. Place the frozen towel around your neck before venturing forth. This works wonderfully well to keep you cool.
@smartcat, I have mislaid that band, but I know it’s somewhere here in the house. I don’t take it anywhere but around the farm. Honey bees and buckwheat are a very good match. The honey is dark and quite strong in flavor, but it seems to be not so popular in the States as it is in Europe. I’ve also heard that alfalfa left to bloom makes a great honey, as well. All too sadly, though, in the modern commercial markets, alfalfa is cut early and often for hay, nobody plants buckwheat any longer, and it’s hybrid corn, soybeans, and maybe wheat.
@OSG, where were you vacationing after the grueling ordeal of organizing ShejiCon3?
@CJ, all good advice. Too many people think drinking a cola is going to help. I think maybe lemonade would be fine, except the frozen concentrate is loaded with HFCS. I’m glad my parents have central air conditioning and they have it maintained every fall and spring.
And remember that wet clothes and a fan equal blue-lipped cold in very high temperatures. In my teaching days, two of my students showed up from lunch break on a hot day having run through the lawn sprinklers at the school. They were soaked. After a little while in class, though everyone else was sweltering, they were shaking with chill: WE had potent fans, though no ac. Noting that they were turning blue around the edges, I sent them across to the restroom with a couple of our standby Roman outfits (I taught Latin)…and they were able to warm up rather quickly after that: the catch was their clothes weren’t dry by the time the bell sounded and it was time for the next class…
If you have a sewing machine and can find the polymer crystals at a local garden store, you can make the neckbands Joe describes. The crystals are often added to potting soil to help retain moisture. We made about 20 neckbands a couple years ago, sent most to a friend’s son serving in Iraq and have some spares to use. They do not last forever as the crystals will decompose with extensive use, but are wonderful for yardwork and walks when the weather is brually hot.
http://www.ridemyown.com/articles/other/pattern_coolneckband.shtml
OH! Seriously awesome! My mom bought some of these years ago and they kept us from getting heat stroke at some amusement park somewhere. We were never able to find them again. THANKS!
Neat! I had no idea that was what the crystals are. You can buy those by the bag at Lowe’s.
Very Cool! 😆 Instructions look clear and easy to follow!
I sound like I own buckwheat futures but it is *really* to bad it isn’t more widely grown. Flowers make wonderful honey. Hulls make great therapy pillows and mulch, buckwheat flour is delicious (Pancakes anyone?) and it does wonderful things to the soil when it is plowed under
Climbing off hobby horse!!
I luv buckwheat pancakes!
BTW, the pond is improving. We can now see fish at a depth of 4 inches, as opposed to 1 inch yesterday. We’re going to win!
Thank you ever so much for the name of the crystals! Polymer crystals is what I needed to tell the local hardware stores! The one store I went to said they had them last year, but not this year. I’m wanting to make a few cool ties and knew how the crystals worked, but not the name! Someone I lost track of bought them mail order year ago. I found a place online with free shipping, so I may end up with a lot more than I’d ever need.
A co-worker told me to turn the A/C on in my house because it’s too hot for her “baby.” I keep saying the kitten (14 mos.) can go to the basement if he gets too hot. I was thinking how it would be to try to make a cool vest for the furry runt. I guess you could make a cool pad, if it was heavy enough so that claws couldn’t rip holes.
Is heat really that much of an issue for cats? I know my Rana-cat loved nothing as much as jumping up on the hood of car after I pulled in from a multi-hour trip, when the temperature was already in the 90s, and curling up for a nap. I swear she looked at me like “finally, it’s the right temperature”! Unfortunately with the current set-up of the new house, she can’t do that. No easy way to get to the garage.
Frankly, I’ve never seen a cat with a heat issue except if left inside the car. They’re very good about finding a cool spot.
Mostly, keep a well-shielded fan going for ‘baby’: air movement cools; and if you have a concrete floor in the basement, ‘baby’ could lie on it.
I do not think you will have too much luck getting ‘baby’ to wear a wet vest. 😆
I brush all the hair I can out of my cat, and then dampen her with a wet paper towel. If you do it fast enough, she doesn’t realize the towel isn’t the brush until it’s too late…
I keep trying to use the comb thing that removes the undercoat on Houdini (my itty-bitty boy who will be a 14 lbs. cat in a few months) and he fusses. The older two cats will lie on the bed in the basement. This fuzz lays on the concrete floor. We’ll see how long that lasts after I get a gallon of cheap vinegar for mold removal and spread it around! (The co-worker fostered Houdini, mom cat and sis for 5 weeks before I got him last year.)
For the record, I’ve tried human combs and hairbrushes. It’s like combing a child’s hair. I do like the idea of using a wet towel on all three. He laid in the bathroom sink and refused to move, so I turned the water on and wet him down somewhat yesterday.
Glad to hear the pond is clearing!