Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss The Drought

Good time to get some "before" pictures so we can post the "afters"....ahhhhh, after.

Don't jinx it.

The middle and Southern portion of Indian needs the rain. The new track shows us up in the North getting a lot less.

Lets hope Scott the ones that need it get it. But then again it's too early to accurately project the exact path from what I'm reading.

If you got 6 inches would that fill yours and Fritz's ponds?

Mine, I doubt it. Depending on how much runoff there was, maybe, but with the sandy soil a lot goes straight down quickly. Even with the well going into it 24/7 since the end of May, my pond is down 36"-38".

Fris's? No. His are down close to 96". It'd raise them maybe 6". His ponds are constructed so there is absolutely no surface runoff into the ponds. It was planned that way, there is a ditch nearby that has GSF in it. When there's a lot of water, the whole woods floods, and the GSF swim all over the place. Only one pond will have LMB in it, and even then GSF are not on the "want" fish management plan.

Another 3/4" so far today. Ahhhhh..............

Had record rains in my area, broke several long-standing single-day rain events all over the area... except my little private desert in Bloomfield, NY. We had about 0.4" though my rain gauge bit the dust and reported 5+ inches just to tease. The tried and true "bucket" told the truth not to mention the pond didn't even gain that 0.4".

Rain went to the south and they got 1-2 inches for a 50 mile swath missing us by about 1.5 miles. Went to the north and dumped 3.5" in places about 10 miles away. It would start to form directly over our house, then strengthen while it moved off to the north like it was robbing us and running off. The two swaths spit just 5 miles to our west. Isac remnants.

Seriously, this is getting ridiculous. Spent good money the past three summers repairing washouts in my driveway. Then i got a pond... not enough rain in one shot to get any runoff. All piddly stuff. Puddles don't even fill. At least no washouts to fix.

Us and Buffalo, NY are probably the last places in NY with a serious deficit in rain and beginning to worry about wells. We may get some rain this weekend, but I am NOT holding my breath. I am expecting all our precip to come in the form of white stuff just to piss me off even more.

I feel your frustration LS and I sympathize. While my area is still very much in a severe drought, we have received some much needed relief here recently. I think I know how you feel though....you reach a point where the continual lack of rain becomes hilarious, in a sickening, maddeningly aggravating kind of way.

Hang in there.

It has become a fact of life for me.

At least it is good harvest weather.



http://journalstar.com/news/state-and-re...c64c6197a6.html

As of the most current map, my area has improved to severe. And I'm very thankful for that. It appears that Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma are in desperate straits, with Nebraska being the worse.

I sincerely hope that everyone who needs rain receives it very soon.

Wow. That's just terrible.

40% of Oklahoma,61% of Kansas, and 70% of Nebraska is in an expectional drought.

My little neck of the woods continues to be missed by the storms. It is so local as to be laughable. Down another 5" since I last wrote on this thread. A lot of ponds in my immediate vicinity are way down and never have been before to this degree (been here 10 years now). However just 3 miles to the north, standing water in some yards and high creeks. 3 miles to the south, the same thing!

Heading into late fall now, it will be interesting to see if this trend continues. It is somewhat topology as I live in a transition of geography from lake plains to the Bristol Hills. It takes a certain wind direction during storms for us to get nailed, and that has not happened all summer :-(. Past 4 years by this time I couldn't take the mower down trails without getting stuck.

I hope others here are getting filled back up after this crazy summer!

I am actually considering getting a well dug, but am going to wait it out a little longer. I never thought a pond would provide such a combination of joy and aggravation.

We've had a couple of inches of rain in the past few weeks, but the water table is down so far that the ponds only come up for a few days then start dropping again. Even with 20+GPM going into the pond 24/7 I'm still down 53".

Wow, still down that much? Even though I get really ticked off when I see a storm dissolve on our doorstep and give is a few drops only, I have to remind myself that you folks far to the west of me have it MUCH worse.

Now that the Pacific Ocean has flip-flopped in temperature unexpectedly, maybe the dire predictions for continued drought will lessen up and you guys can get a little (hopefully a LOT) Gulf moisture. Praying for you guys since it is so much more important than our ponds.

Good luck.

According to radar, I got light rain for about 3 or 4 hours yesterday. That will definitely help the wheat I planted but won't do much for the ponds.

50-50 shot of a tropical system up here this weekend.

Today I am getting roughly 0.5" or so, hoping for more, but it is that slow easy rain that just soaks in.

If that tropical system does make it here, I am going to have a different set of problems. A few of the projected paths have it right overhead on Sunday. Luckily I have my grass growing pretty well on the spillway and dam so I don't have to worry much about for erosion unless we get spectacular amounts of rain.

Since I WANT the rain, it means I will get nothing, but it will rain extraordinary amounts 3 miles away.

If by some miracle we get the rain in that system, I will have to worry about my fish getting washed out. I have no means of keeping my little friends contained, and really have no clue how to without worrying about a screen getting clogged with fall leaves. Any ideas? I will re-post this Q somewhere else.

Getting closer to 80-20 shot at the start of next week and for the ENTIRE WEEK. I have to be careful what I wish for as now I have to worry about all kinds of crazy outcomes of too much rain, heavy snow, high winds, etc. Totals right now are forecast in the 6"+ range, something we are not accustomed to, and really bad news in our hilly area. I now have to figure out how to protect the pond from too much water too fast.

At least I don't live in the cities on the east coast, but I really feel bad for the folks that do. This storm that may develop is downright scary in its far-reaching effects and the coastal flooding in such densely populated areas. They are talking a 15-20 foot storm surge during astronomical high tides, which means Manhattan will be inundated, rivers backed up, etc. Just a monster mess is a possibility.

I was thinking of finally getting a generator, but honestly I think people in the Eastern part of the state will need them a lot more than us. We can deal without electric for a while since we heat with wood. Just my 6yo will drive me nuts with no video games.

The real problem is I have to travel Sunday evening and come back Tuesday... in the height of the storm. I don't really want to be stuck away from my family in an event like this if I cannot get back.

Buy a generator. If the power goes out, even tho you heat with wood, what about the refigerator and freezer? You on city water or a well? Water heated via wood?

It doesn't have to be a huge one, just enough to power the essentials, and have ethanol free gas for it. Shell V-Power 93 octane is ethanol free. After all the problems that I went thru with 90% of my gasoline powered "accessories", I'm not using ethanol fuel any more.

I know they are a little more expensive, but I go diesel. It remains stable longer, provides better power, and the equipment tends to lasts longer.

If you can swing it, a permanent unit set up for running on natural gas is very hard to beat.

Ah, we are kinda used to loosing power for several days. We are after all usually in the center of ice storm events. Of course then we had lots of ice to stuff in the freezer and fridge to keep food cold.

I may pop in to the hardware store, but I will have a tough time even swinging a hammer. Kinda broke right now.

Finally...after months of waiting and wishing.

Nearly there: Another inch to go.....

Sprkplug,

Be really careful! I hope you didn't walk out on that ice! You're farther south than I am and my ice is nowhere near safe yet!