A Problem, A Party, A Pretty Penny, and Peace

I think that I've posted several times about how much I love our pond.  Krissy used to say that Grammy tells Pappy what she wants, and Pappy gets it.  Such was the case with the pond.  About 10 years ago, I wanted a pond, and Rod and the twins worked really hard to create the pond as my Mother's Day gift that year.  Sometime over the last two weeks, our pond liner sprung a leak.  And this was the problem. We ordered the liner, and a new filter from Lowe's online, and through ebates.com, we saved nearly $20.00.  In order to replace the liner, the pond would have to be drained, the fish and plants removed, and the liner pulled out and replaced.  That also meant moving all the stones around the pond, and that in itself is a job.  We filled the canoe we have with water on Thursday evening to let the chlorine evaporate out of the water.  Friday evening, Rod began to drain the water from the pond.  As it drained, we realized how dirty it was and that this was a good time to clean it.

Saturday morning, we had some errands to run.  When we returned home, we called the twins and they came down to "go fishing".  Those little buggers are hard to catch, especially when you don't have a net.  Pam solved the problem by using a large leaf rake.  But it picked up the fish and a lot of crud.  Pat and Rod were a bucket brigade, taking out the water that the pump didn't remove.  These are the two of the pictures from Saturday.  In the photo on the right, you can see some of the crud that rake picked up.  Pat ended up "going in" at least twice, shoes and all.  And soon Rod was in there too.  Not intentionally, mind you.  We laughed really hard at trying to catch the fish, people falling in, and putting the fish into the clean water in the canoe.  And thus, our problem became a party.

This morning, Rod and I took a road trip to Elmer's Aquarium Store in Monroeville, PA.  We were waited on by a great young man.  Not only was he knowledgeable, but he patiently caught each fish that I wanted.  And when we decided to buy bullfrog tadpoles for the grand kids, he made sure he got ones that hadn't grown legs yet so the kids could watch them grow. We ended up buying five new fish ($10.00), three tadpoles ($4.50), a water hyacinth ($4.99) and a parrot feather ($2.99).  Oh, and we bought a new water lily.  And when we checked out, our bill was $69.00. Say what!!!  Well, what we didn't know since our clerk picked out the water lily (the last they had) was that the water lily was $36.00.  Yep, a pretty penny!
We ordered two catfish to be picked up next Saturday, and stupid us . . . we didn't ask how much they are.

Rod had picked out a wonderful filter.  It is a floating filter/pump combination, so there are no unsightly hoses like we had before.  It also has 4 LED lights on it and a fountain, and is just beautiful at night.  If it ever gets warm enough to sit outside, we'll enjoy it from the deck instead of from the bathroom window.  So, now the fish are in, the new plants are in, the new filter is in, and the pond is nearly full.  In the photo on the left, we are floating the fish to acclimate them to the water temperature, and are preparing to pump some more water in.  In the photo on the right, you can see the fountain, and the pond is nearly full.  We had to fill the canoe, and will be able to pump that water in tomorrow.  The Japanese iris at the far end, aren't looking so good and I'm hoping they will snap back.  And now this evening, we are at peace.