The next day, I asked my handsome, helpful hubby, the man with every tool in the catalog, to plug in the pond de-icer for me. So, for a day or two, we had a nice wet spot surrounded by ice. Then the de-icer died and is frozen solid into the pond, which looks rather ironic. Well, as much as I love gardening, I am not going out there every day in sub zero weather to drill a hole in 3 inch ice. The remaining wildlife will have to fend for themselves, and hopefully they will do better than the unfortunate critters at the shallow end. Then again, that anti-freeze God put in their blood may serve them well and have them hopping again at the next thaw! What an amazing world we live in.
Well, the human beings in S.E. PA are not used to temperatures stuck in the teens and 20s almost without break for weeks in December, and apparently, neither are the wild life. Last weekend we discovered that many frogs and a few fish have been frozen solid in the shallow end of the pond. It’s a shame, I would have thought their froggy instincts would have had them burrowing in the mud I left at the bottom of the pond. But I guess one of the drawbacks of being cold-blooded is that as things get colder, the creatures get slower. One poor critter stopped moving with his nose out of the pond. (I decided it would be in poor taste to show that photo, although it just looks like a frog half out of the water. Still, knowing it’s stuck there is kind of sad.) I am not actually sure of the fate of these other creatures. Can cold-blooded animals re-animate after they thaw? Research I have read says they can. Here is a large bull frog right under the ice, and here are a frog and fish stuck in a pot. But the next day I looked again, and the fish had moved! It was completely turned around. I wondered if, since they are close to the surface, the ice might have melted enough for it to reawaken and squirm. I will keep my eyes out to see if they are still there in the spring. But I can’t imagine there is much hope for the one half-out. We could see goldfish moving under the ice at the deep end, so the rest of the wildlife are probably managing, but all the pond books say to keep an opening in the ice so that carbon monoxide doesn’t build up. Someone had suggested putting a ball or stick in the water, and by pushing it down occasionally, it would crack the surface around it, allowing in some oxygen. However, I guess that’s assuming it’s done daily! But it’s just been too darn cold and I’ve been too darn busy teaching and mommying to think to push the ball. So, it’s stuck solid. Still, I wanted to get through that ice, so I put a pot of boiling water on the pond to thaw it. The string was to pull the pot out if it sunk in. Wishful thinking on my part. It took an hour and a half and many, many kettles of boiling water poured into that pot, and directly on the ice, before I reached water. Turns out my little pond had ice three inches thick already, by the middle of December! This does not bode well for this winter. Brrrr.
The next day, I asked my handsome, helpful hubby, the man with every tool in the catalog, to plug in the pond de-icer for me. So, for a day or two, we had a nice wet spot surrounded by ice. Then the de-icer died and is frozen solid into the pond, which looks rather ironic. Well, as much as I love gardening, I am not going out there every day in sub zero weather to drill a hole in 3 inch ice. The remaining wildlife will have to fend for themselves, and hopefully they will do better than the unfortunate critters at the shallow end. Then again, that anti-freeze God put in their blood may serve them well and have them hopping again at the next thaw! What an amazing world we live in.
1 Comment
Ruth
12/24/2010 10:43:38 pm
hi Jeanette and Happy Christmas to you and yours... I just read this frozen pond post and I am guessing that you won't be appearing on Sarah Palin's reality show ( I hear she hunts, fishes, etc. in the wilds of Alaska with whoever is brave enough to go along)!! Sometimes I think working with nature is against our nature!!! I am going to name you the 'hothouse naturalist' ! love...
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AuthorWelcome to Growing Goodness! This website is dedicated to growing good things, both plants and children. It's a gardening blog with maternal overtones, as I discuss the goodness and value of plants, both wild and domestic. In the process I hope to help you pass a love of nature on to your children. Happy Gardening! Archives
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