I just had to come back to boast about my little piece of heaven!
This year my pond has stayed close to full. It is only about 6 to 8 inches down from overflowing, and I have been watering a large vegetable patch from it once a week. It takes it down a couple inches but over the week it has rebounded. It is slowing down a bit now, but considering the time of year I have no complaints.
But here is the best part...
Although the main body of my pond is only 20 feet by 20 and 5 feet deep in the middle, with a 10 foot circle the center the only part that is free of pond plants, the water is crystal clear. I can climb down a ladder into the steep side and avoid stirring up the mud, and with the help of a child's blow up plastic floaty ring, I can float on my tummy or on my back without making the big swimming motions that don't work so well in such a tiny space. The small blow up ring keeps me afloat but with most of my body under the water, not on top of it.
I'm not sure why the water is so clear. It is full of tree frog tadpoles which quickly ate all the filamentous algae which began to clog up the sides in the spring just before they got born. They are now in various stages between being tadpoles with back legs and perfect teeny tiny frogs, in various shades of green and gold. There is also salamander and newt larva who have eaten anything resembling a mosquito larva, and giant water beetles. I don't have any fish and I don't want any, as the pond is full of life as is.
Anyways... it is very hot here and the land around here is now quite dried out, so being able to have a semi submerged float in such beautiful cool clear water is heavenly.
I never expected the water would still be crystal clear and at all inviting in mid August. That part is beyond my wildest hopes. I feel really lucky I have a spot that had the capacity to do this.
When I started talking about this, I thought I had found an easy way to fix some leaks. It actually turned out to be a fair amount of work, and after I solved one problem there would be another one, but I guess with the right situation, persistence can pay off.
Thanks for all the advice and encouragement.
