There are other online forums that have a great 'sticky' thread that stays at the top of the list all the time. They usually have one that allows everyone to post under the heading of 'What did you do to your 'X' or with your 'X' (classic car, John Deere, pickup truck) today?' That allows for random posts, pictures, thoughts to go in one area without creating new threads all the time.
If such a thread exists on PondBoss then I'm happy to move this one or remove it. Is there a way to create a sticky thread that stays near the top?
As I was trucking out loads of leaves from the pond I thought we need a place to post random pictures of what maintenance tasks, projects, or other random things people do at the pond.
As I was throwing the weighted landscape rake in and dragging it back out and trying to get at least some of the many oak and maple leaves that fall into the pond, I was contemplating whether this work was worth it. Some nice neighbors going by on their walk were laughing at me and said it was far easier to simply cut down the trees that overhang the pond. It gave me food for thought at least... But I'm sure many leaves that end up in the pond are from trees that are deeper in the woods and not only those on the immediate boundary of the pond.
It was heavy/hot work, but hopefully worth it to remove a couple hundred pounds of organic stuff.
I raked on tuesday, let the long row of leaves air out, then raked into piles and went around with garden tractor and utility trailer and forked them into the trailer.
As I dragged in the leaves I saw some salamanders, a few tadpoles, baby dragonflies, even managed to capture one goldfish with the rake. Unfortunately also raked out hundreds of chinese snails again.
Despite sealing the pond bottom, we have had dry conditions and hot weather the last 2 weeks. The pond is dropping from evaporation. I can start the well but hoping that rain will do the trick eventually.
While working around the trees on the edge I noted these vines that have leaves that look suspect for poison ivy. The dog charges through the woods chasing things and then brings the poison ivy oil to the kids on his fur. I'm not sure I can always tell poison ivy from other 3 leaved vines. I thought the 3 leafs of poison ivy didn't have the irregular or jagged outlines (like sassafras leaves to, see the top leaf in the first picture) or maybe not? Here are 2 examples.
