My bride & I managed to reach our place on the pond, after some adventures with snow & ice roadways and we found...birds. Lots & lots of birds. A week ago, we had one pair of Canada geese, now we had 12 pairs. Last week, a few cormorants, now at least ten.

I hadn't really thought about what the birds would do when the ponds iced over, as most of the smaller ones did. Mine did not and became a primo destination as a result.

The good news is that we did not suffer any burst pipes, which kinda surprised me. But being in extreme east Texas, we didn't get the long power outages people suffered from other parts of the state.

Didn't see any buzzards, which I guess is good news re fish kills. Still, I do not expect my CNBG to survive in the little forage pond.

All in all, we were very fortunate. Lost power only briefly, water pressure was fine the entire time. Hope all the Texas pondmeisters are okay.

Went to my place yesterday and just looked around. No obvious signs of problems but decided not to restart my well and/or check for leaks from busted pipes. I’ll give it another day before I restart the well.

When expecting a nasty freeze, I drain the pipes in the well house, then the pump. Next start a thermostatically controlled heater on low.

Then to the house. I shut off water to the house, blow water lines as good as I can, dip water from toilet bowl and tank, and add windshield anti freeze to toilet bowl and tank plus traps in sinks and tub.

I’ll go tomorrow to actually start the well and look for leaks.

Changed antifreeze in tractor. Didn’t do 4 wheelers that stay in a shipping container.wishing I had.

As far as the birds, I watched a Bald Eagle perched in a cypress tree just a few feet from my deck here at the Caddo lake house. A real good close-up 20-foot look at the Eagle as he set perched on a limb. Reminded me how large these birds truly are. Also watched a female circle our cove. Guessing they were looking for food. Also watched a group of White pelicans circle the cove and landed just outside the cove entrance where the water was not frozen. I am betting they were also looking for something to eat. It was a great day for birdwatching. Not so much for fishing.

Dave, how is the plumbing going to and coming from the water tank and the tank itself?