Was wondering if anyone knows if there is a Desert Boss web site. We are closing in on the end of Zephyr Pond, without any rain real soon.

Try www.scorchedearthboss.com

I probably have less than a month left on one that I recently stocked as a forage grow out pond. I'll trap and maybe seine next weekend.

Another one that I stocked about 2 months ago will be down to a foot of water over about 1/2 acre. That ain't good but I hate to overload my remaining one.

Sad to hear guys!
We've had a very wet summer. Had one 2 week period without rain. My new pond came up 42" in one 6hr rain.
Hope your drout ends real soon!

I put $25K into a sand pit a year ago.

Here is a detailed summary and outlook on the drought in Texas: http://www.srh.weather.gov/fwd/productview.php?pil=FWDESFFWD&version=0&max=25

...looks like it wont get much better anytime soon.

Gator

I'm starting to worry about my pond too. Down about 14 inches which is lower than it's ever been. Since it is only 7.5 feet deep I'm getting kinda worried that if it doesn't come up before winter I'll lose my fish when frozen over. Pray for rain.

When the pond gets really low and one has eaten all the fish he can, any good suggestion on what to do with the remaining fish. No one around has any water left in ponds. I don't think seining them and dropping them in the river is probably a valid idea. Will fish suppliers take them or will they be too stressed?

Centuries old Post Oaks are dieing in E. Delta County.
My son has lost four on his place - as well as dangerously low ponds.

heybud- I would help you anyway I can. I sent you a PM with my name and phone number. What is the estimated size of the remaining pond?


heybud needs some real help here now. Should he shut off aeration with only six feet of water left and loosing a foot every week and a half, to slow evaporation?

Gator, the part about the evaporation rate and amount of 75 million gallons per day at Eagle Mountain Lake is staggering.

Heybud, now is a pretty stressful time to relocate fish. My surface temp is in the middle nineties and I expect yours is too. Coon feed?

Ranchers are dumping cows. I talked to a guy yesterday who took some middle aged red angus cows to auction. They were all between 3 and 5 months bred. He averaged $400 per head and they went straight to the slaughterhouses. A year ago, they were selling for about $1,000 per head. Nobody has any grass left and thy have all fed the hay that they put back for winter. There is no hay available in the area except for the stuff that has been trucked in $$$$$$$$$$$.

Ranchers and pond owners all depend on fall rains. Lets hope they come or some of us will be vicarious pond owners.

Dave,
I was reading an article in Bownwood paper about pasture grass turning toxic ,having a lot of prusic acid in it. Man can things get much worse!

My brother sent this photo today of Lake Tyler. This is one of the primary boat launches down there...high and dry.



Gator

heybud - I would gladly beam you Texas guys a million gallons of water from Bremer Pond every week. It is discouraging that the transporter has yet to become reality!

Dwight, I apprectate the thouhgt. I once read an article where they were talking about digging a big canal from Minnesota to Arizona and that everyone in Minnesota would get like a 20000 bucks a year from the sale of water. I know I'm not the only one hurting, but it doen't make me feel any better. I told my wife I'm not sure I can go back to Zephyr Pond until it rains.

We finally got an inch of rain last night. Won't help a lot but combined with cooler temps I expect my evaporation to go way down. I have been losing 1/4 inch per day. Supposed to be chance of rain tonight as well. We'll see. I just built the new pond several weeks ago and it has nothing but ground water in it so far, maybe 8 inches in the deepest part. I hope it fills this fall so I can stock something next spring.
I like the $20,000 buck per year idea. I've often wondered what it would cost to build pipe lines from MN to other states and ship some Lake Superior water down there. That's a big lake with lots of fresh water.
Just looked it up, there is 3.2 trillion gallons of water in lake superior. Sounds like a lot but according to USGS this would last 8 days if it was the only water the US had available. Imagine that, we'd drain it in 8 days!

heybud - I don't think a canal from Minnesota will ever happen to anywhere. We can't even replace an old township bridge around here for fear that the Topeka Shiner will be affected.

A Transporter will be developed long before the regulators could organize a canal project that crosses state lines!!!

bz, your being an engineer, I hope you can appreciate my being over analytical. I am quite sure that Lake Superior has many, many more gallons of water that 3.2 trillion. Isn't it a very deep lake? I am sure the statistic you sited is incorrect. A 1 acre pond with 10ft ave. depth has 3 million gal. 1 million acres at 10ft ave. is 3 trillion. Superior has to be way bigger than 1 million acres and ave. depth of 200 ft?

What comes after 999 billion?


Lake Superior Facts and Figures
home

-- Lake Superior has 10 percent of the surface freshwater in the world

-- Lake Baikal in Russa contains the largest volume of freshwater in the world (20 %)

-- Lake Superior is the only Great Lake with a sustainable spawning source of Lake Trout

-- Lake Superior could contain all the other Great Lakes plus three more lakes the size of Lake Erie

-- The lake's level, controlled by gates on the St. Marys River at Sault Ste. Marie, may not exceed 602 ft (183 m) above sea level. Each year a small percentage of the lake's water flows out through the St. Marys River, and it takes almost two centuries for the water to be completely replaced (retention time).

-- Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes in surface area and volume. It is the second largest lake in the world by volume.

-- The shoreline length of Lake Superior is 2,938 kilometers or 1826 miles. This distance is comparable to driving from Thunder Bay to Orlando, Florida.

-- Lake Superior is the cleanest lake of the Great Lakes.



LENGTH: 350 miles / 563 km.

WIDTH: 160 miles / 257 km.

AVERAGE DEPTH: 483 ft. / 147 m.

DEEPEST SPOT: 1,332 ft. / 406 m.

VOLUME: 3,000,000,000,000,000 gallons

WATER SURFACE AREA: 31,700 sq. miles / 82,100 sq. km.

DRAINAGE BASIN AREA: 49,300 sq. miles / 127,700 sq. km.

SHORELINE LENGTH (including islands): 2,726 miles / 4,385 km.

TRIBUTARIES: 336

LARGEST TRIBUTARIES: Nipigon River (Ontario), St. Louis River (WI)

ELEVATION: 600 ft. / 183 m.

OUTLET: St. Mary’s River to Lake Huron

WATER RETENTION/REPLACEMENT TIME: 191 years

NUMBER OF FISH SPECIES: 78

AVERAGE UNDERWATER VISIBILITY: 27 feet

AVERAGE WATER TEMPERATURE: 40º F / 4º C

MAXIMUM WAVE HEIGHT RECORDED: 31 feet


University of Wisconsin Water Resources
University of Wisconsin Extension
Cooperative Extension

that is what I was thinking it must have been 3 quadrillion gallons. Or...3 thousand trillions.
3 X 10 to the 15th power. We would use it up in 8 days if all of the 300 million of us used 1500 gal per day each.

ewest - you are somewhat of nerd yourself! I went out there and found the same info about Lake Superior, but you beat me to posting it!

I now fully understand why you are the moderator and I am still learning…..

We are all equal nerds here. And btw all still learning -- me especially.

Fish nuts rule !! - at least they do here.

Seriously there are some very smart and talented people on this forum and they do care about their kindred spirits in the pond journey.

OK, I miscalculated. I found the volume in cubic miles and tried to quickly convert and probably made a mistake. I came up with 3 time 10^12 but must have been off 3 decimals. That means the lake would last about 8000 days until we drained it. Does that sound better?

bz - phew! That is a lot better!

bz, if you figured that on a quick calculation...that is pretty impressive. The fact that we could drain it in 8000 days is pretty scary. I think that is only using it for drinking water.(edit...That is 10 million gallons for every man, woman, and child in the US...ration it as you like) Let's get the field tiles laid. I see how the lake is staying filled lately...you guys have been getting hammered. How does it normally stay full, and who all uses the water? How much does it fluctuate? Does it get a lot of melted ice from Canada? Maybe Ewest's link has it. Will look again.

Here's the scary number:
"The total water use in the US is estimated at 408 billion gallons per day, which includes both freshwater and salt water, withdrawn for all uses." from USGS.

If you assume 300 millon people that's about 1400 gallons per day per person. I hope I got that correct! Burger, I sure don't mind someone checking my math. BTW I have an excuse. I found a button on my calculator that doesn't work. The stats on this big lake are amazing aren't they. I was just reading about the watershed and such. "Lake Superior could contain all the other Great Lakes plus three more lakes the size of Lake Erie. Water flows into the lake from many small rivers and streams. The Long Lac and Ogoki diversions in Canada channel water into Lake Superior that would otherwise flow into Hudson Bay." (from great-lakes.net) As far as I know there is no one other than local lakeshore residents and towns that draw any water from that lake. I've been to Isreal where they almost drain the Sea of Galillee every summer as they pipe water all over the country. I think we've got a resource here that we just haven't tapped. If you've never seen it you should visit MN some time (in the summer). It's like fresh water ocean.

BTW we just got 4.5 inches rain over the past two days and my pond is up about 6 inches. Thank you God! I think my fish are saved. Oh, and my new pond has gone from nothing to 2.5 feet. I'm happy again!

Just think Lake Baikal has twice as much water as Lake Superior. I understand it creates its own weather .

and shotguns.

I have Tahoe right up the hill from me, but it aint helping my situation either.....I'm down 5 feet and still going......probably have to wait til October.

I'll depress myself and y'all w/ some before and after shots sometime this weekend, you indeed have kindred spirits out here heybud. The decreased water level has created massive large shallow areas. At least the Gams are loving life, I never thought nine fish could turn into millions in almost 4 months. After it fills back up this fall/winter, there will be an awesome forage base.

Hi Theo,
just noticed yer new signature......you gonna join me in voting for a centerfold?

C'mon Mr. Lusk....hear us.

Not sure I understand the connection between Lake Baikal and shotguns?

heybud- we have some rain chances:

Tonight: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 76. South wind between 5 and 10 mph.

Sunday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Partly cloudy, with a high near 96. Heat index values as high as 99. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph.

Sunday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 74. Calm wind becoming south southeast between 5 and 10 mph.

Monday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 91. South wind between 5 and 10 mph becoming calm.

Monday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 70. East northeast wind between 5 and 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.

Tuesday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 87. North northeast wind between 5 and 10 mph.

Tuesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 69. North northeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming east southeast.

Wednesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 92. Southeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm.

Wednesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 70.

The best forcast in months!

We got a little shower the other day. I got out and walked in the rain until it quit. It's been awhile.

PFF:

You can find anything on the Internet: 44,400 Google Hits

Seriously, all the dry pond talk makes me hope you guys all get enough rain to get your fish through OK - and appreciate the rainy July we had here.

PFF, Thanks for the report. I need some good news. My wife cut her hand opening a can of catfood last night and we were at the emergency room 8 hours before someone finally stiched her up. Wonder what the source of the big Russian lake is?

They added a 20% chance for this afternoon also. Sorry to hear about your wife. Hope she is recovering. I hope you had insurance or the bill might give you a heart attack. I went to the emergency room around the first of August and was there for 2 hours. I have received $2800 worth of bills.

I know you were planning a trip down here to the pond before that happened. I had thought you might call me this weekend to try and help save your pond. Maybe some rain will do that job for us!

heybud- The first report was from the conservative NWS. This is from my loose goose weather channel gold page:

Tonight
Aug 26 Isolated T-Storms 75° 30 %
Sun
Aug 27 AM T-Storms 98°/75° 80 %
Mon
Aug 28 T-Storms 95°/71° 80 %
Tue
Aug 29 Isolated T-Storms 89°/68° 30 %

Hope that cheers you up some more!

As promised......Russ...remember you wanted to put yer dribble bib one when you first saw this pond, now you can pull the handkerchief out for yer tears...

Before and now

Early May 2006


Late August 2006


May 2006


August 2006 (like i need to explain the date again )



Gluttons for punishment.....





The good news is, the leak was fixed (before renovation it was bone dry by every June), it still has about 10 feet of water in deep end, still supporting fish and a million other critters, and is still my beautiful pond...the real test.....to see if it holds out til October w/ no supplemental H2O.

That looks to be 4 or 5 feet down, D.I.E.D. It's a very good thing you got the leak.

heybud- I just received 1.3" of hard rain and the forecast from the NWS looks good for both of us:
Today: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 89. Calm wind becoming north northwest around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Tonight: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 69. North northeast wind around 5 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Tuesday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 89. North northeast wind between 5 and 10 mph.

I imagine you are just returning from Zephyr. Did you get any rain there on Saturday or Sunday? You had some radar that looked real close.

PFF, We didn't go to Zephyr this weekend but are headed down for labor day. Thanks for the update and finally some good news. Did your pond fill us some?

I am now at 2.15" and the pond has come up about 4". If I can get 1.5" more the creek will run and it will go over the spillway.
Brown county is now under a flood watch!

FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR A PORTION OF WEST CENTRAL TEXAS...
INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...
BROWN...COKE...COLEMAN...CONCHO...CROCKETT...IRION...KIMBLE...
MASON...MCCULLOCH...MENARD...RUNNELS...SAN SABA...SCHLEICHER...
STERLING...SUTTON AND TOM GREEN.

HEAVY RAIN SINCE SUNDAY HAS SATURATED SOILS OVER THE WATCH AREA.
ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINS WILL OCCUR TODAY...AS MONSOON MOISTURE
INTERACTS WITH A LARGE COMPLEX OF STORMS MOVING SOUTHEAST. AN
APPROACHING FRONT MAY PROVIDE FOR ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAIN TONIGHT
AND MONSOON MOISTURE CONTINUES TO FLOW OVER THE WATCH AREA.