Pond Spring Clean

 Our pond has been looking a total mess for quite some time now and I found it too overwhelming to try and tackle the cleaning of it ourselves.
The last time, Anton cleaned it and that was about seven years ago I think.
So I went to the web and found Rob who specializes in pond cleaning.....
He arrived Monday morning at 9.30 am and looked at the pond and said something under his breath about the fact it seemed somewhat overgrown and dirty.....I had to agree of course and feeling very embarrassed offered him a coffee to ease my conscience somewhat ....

Rob changed into his waterproof gear which reminded me of our trout fishing days in the Snowy Mountains at lake Tantangara and Tom and Mollie Taylor's Currango homestead where we stayed in the autumn and caught amazing rainbow trout.....Rob hopped into the pond and started lifting the massive root systems the water lilies had established for themselves....did I perhaps have a saw he could use to cut the mass into more manageable sizes. In the top photo you can see the fake crocodile behind him and that was the first to get the chop....then all the green weed which , once it is established goes feral

After some heaving and tossing which took quite a while, the pond was ready to be pumped out.
This proved to be quite a difficult job as well as of course the Holm oak has been dropping acorns for years into the water and they sit on the bottom of the pond and block the filter of the sludge pump....
Meanwhile Rob was fishing out the Gold fish which, miracle of miracles, the White faced Heron had missed. There were also some fat tadpoles which was good to know as I thought the Gold fish ate all spawn and tadpoles which might have had a chance to metamorphose into frogs.

By about three in the afternoon the pond was down to only a little puddle and we could see headway. I thought to fill the pond up again with the rainwater from a tank we have and use mainly to water out summer garden. However, Rob says rainwater is too soft for Gold fish so we had to use mains water. Later though he said he had some stuff to harden the rain water so we were able to compromise and use half and half.
We had over an inch of rain out of this last weather system so the tanks were overflowing and it was good to use some of the water for the pond.

The pump we have in the pond and use to circulate the water through the fish fountain, turned out to be a septic tank pump and not a proper pool pump with filter.
Rob thought to bring one down for me and install it till we realized I would have to get into the pond to extract it to clean the filter....
That would have been fine in my young days but now I am the age group which has learned caution and carefulness and timidity and all those sad terms one despised when one was young.....
Ah, well, the fish pump will have to do and I will buy a swimming pool scoop net to get any debris out before it starts to rot and become sludge once more.....

More Spring Flowers....

 Here are the Black Ducks back again as a pair perhaps having a spell away from the children. The male ( I assume it is the male) sitting comfortably on the fake Crocodile's back sunning himself while the female is busy finding bargains in among the weeds. Also there are two pink water lily flowers to add to the sense of spring. We haven't had that much additional rain so the pond is not as high as it can be at times.

The next photograph does not capture the beautiful light of the early morning. As I sit in my favourite possie, looking out past our gumtrees  to the far Adelaide hills, the rigid lines of vine yard posts in the foreground, all golden in the rising sun, remind me of the organ pipes in the Reformed church in The Hague our parents used to take us to each Sunday morning.
As a five or six year old, I could not understand the sermon being thundered down from the pulpit and so I would count the golden church organ pipes-so many small ones and so many larger ones....Having counted them I would then count how many ladies had feathers in their hats and how many didn't. Poor God must have despaired at the little girl later thinking He was angry and punishing for such inattention....It has taken the little girl a lifetime to realize the opposite is true. And so I photograph the wonders of our garden and the constant reminder that Spring is resurrection in concrete form,

the Plum tree flowering and the Willy Wagtail renovating last years nest ready for its little mate to lay her eggs and start a new generation....
How could we doubt so......

It was very exiting to see so many bees in the Canary Island lavender this morning. Bees are so much on our minds these days as their numbers have declined too and my local bee keeper had to give up her stall at the Farmers Market because of the drought and not honey to sell...
Frogs too, give us some indication of the havoc humans are wreaking with sprays and polluting our creeks and water ways. Mind you, the White faced Heron has a good go on our frogs in the pond too......