Thursday, July 29, 2010

Pond Trouble

It rained last night. It dawned on me today that I had left the property without checking the ponds. I do that every morning to make sure the pumps are on and the water is being aerated.
I spaced it out because I was checking out the ground to see if it was saturated - would I need to water plants today or not? NO, was the definitive answer.

Not checking the ponds this morning? BIG mistake. I'm guessing those pumps were off since early last night. Trailer tenants said it started raining shortly after I brought the dogs in for the last time last night, which was right before I went to bed - which - was at 8:30 pm.

The point is that the pumps are running on a GFCI circuit - the outlet has it's own circuit breaker which will shut off electricity to whatever right then and there if something is wrong, compared to having to have much more disruption and possibly, yes, even fire, if it has to wait for the main circuit breaker to shut it off.

Well, a little rain will in one of the outlets will shut off that GFCI breaker in a heartbeat. It's actually the recommended setup, yes, but...........then you have fish in water that isn't being aerated. Fish cannot live in stagnant water that has no means for the water to have air circulate in.

I was worried when I got home, went out and - yup, the pumps were off. I had the strip outlet covered, but, it wasn't good enough. The fish, however, were not dead. In fact, they were at the bottom of the pond. NOT moving around, but definitely not dead. Pretty easy to spot a giant, dead goldfish floating around a 165 gallon pond.

The bad sign would be them at the top of the pond, attempting to "gulp" air. That means the air levels are SO low in there, it isn't going to be much more time and they are dead. Ahh, yes, I checked on them, they are moving around as normal again - which for them, is VERY active. They are always moving all over that pond.

Well, that answers a nagging question I have had for a while now: if the pumps go off, how long will those fish survive in there? Should I think about finding a way to get a second breaker going on these ponds to have a failsafe?

Well, I'm guessing around 18 hours on the first question, I'm thinking I don't need anything more since the fish are doing quite fine - now, that is. So, breathing a little easier. However, these are goldfish, a very hearty creature, from what I have been reading and from what I have seen. They can with stand, from what I have read, MUCH more than any Koi will ever dream of being able to accept as livable.

Well, the point is that I want some Koi. I see them advertised for free - frequently. They do not, however, at least from what I have read, endure harsh conditions nearly as well as goldfish do.

Whatever the case, it has started pouring rain, and I do mean, pouring. I haven't seen it rain - well I haven't seen it rain in any amount for 4 or 5 months? 3 months at least. But yes, it IS pouring. The pond with the fish will be overflowing onto the ground. Not a problem, however, the water isn't tainted with chemicals and garbage, no big deal.

What IS good is that the ground is getting saturated. Totally. For free. Don't have to pay the City of Phoenix to do it, Mother Nature is doing it for me : )

Bad part about heavy rain? Satellite goes off, and though I don't watch a lot of television, I recently fell in love with "Kitchen Nightmares" with chef Gorden Ramsay, it's freaking hilarious. He goes into some pathetic, gross, vile places that are named as restaurants and gives the chefs, cooks, managers, owners - everyone - total hell.

So, I'm making frequent trips to the "back, side, door". The door is not used by anyone but me. It opens to the east side of the house - which - no-one else is interested in. That's my future little paradise. It's coming along. The bigger pond is right there, on the cement slab in front of that door. I can still walk in and out, yes. I wouldn't have done that if people were using it, but, again, I am the only soul that goes over there besides Great Danes and Catahoulas that are following me, or, people that are trying to find me. Yes, if I am not in the house and my car is out front, you'll probably find me over there.

I am checking my new setup to eliminate water from getting into electrical outlets, I am pretty sure it is a good setup and I won't have to worry about that again....but.....of course, you never know. Rain all but done. Pumps running. New setup to keep electrical outlets dry - working.

I have other things - especially the stuff that was going on in downtown Phoenix today - all the people being bused in from all over demonstrating against the new immigration law that has had most of it's teeth stripped from it anyway - highly amusing. I was listening to the radio while driving the semi and hearing all the screaming and chanting and - bs - while the reporter was giving his report. I dunno how many of them got arrested.

I was further amused that supposedly, 11 Greyhound buses full of opponents were going to be dropped off. Do you know how freaking unbelievably, miserably hot and humid it was out there? Unless those people have been here before, they were in for a wondeful surprise: Mother Nature handing out hell.

I have no current information to say whether that actually happened - those people all showing up - or not. I'm sure tomorrow, or perhaps even right now, I will find out the end results.

G'nite.

ben

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Friday.

Appears to have poured rain again last night, very nice. Yes, I checked the ponds this morning to ensure the circuit breaker wasn't popped, still in good shape.

I was also - pleasantly - surprised to come into work this morning and find a lot of stuff to do in the truck routing system. Mostly pickups and 1 delivery in Coolidge.

So, the big news? "Hundreds protest as Arizona's immigration law takes effect".

Hundreds? ROFL!!! That's all these mouthy people could muster, 500 or so protestors? If so many people, as they claim, are against this law, then how is it they couldn't even must a thousand people? When the government is taking some eggregious action that "most" people don't like, thousands of people show up to protests, not hundreds.

A bunch of those people were arrested yesterday, they were warned in advance that they would be arrested, good riddance to them. That law's teeth were taken out of it and they are STILL complaining about it.

The funny part about all of this is Sheriff Joe. Love him or hate him, he is STILL out there conducting his sweeps to find illegal "immigrants", basing his activities on 2 state laws. I neither love him or hate him. I love what he's doing with illegal immigration, I hate the fact that he has been sued so many times and lost millions of dollars in damages against him/the county, which, of course, the county has had to pay out. Still, anti-immigration law people hate him and apparently a drug cartel or smuggling cartel lord has placed a huge bounty on his head to kill him.

It's just beginning, there is no end to this nonsense. So, I sit back and find entertainment in it, somehow, though I certainly don't want to see our Sheriff killed by some crackpots - it would still be nice if Mexico, it's president and some of it's politicians would SHUT THE BLEEP UP and deal with THEIR issues instead of wasting time coming over here attempting to influence the inner workings of OUR country.

ENOUGH. Work day approaches. Weekend almost here. A full day's work (which is awesome, I HATE slow days) ahead, no clue what I'm doing this weekend, but I am sure pulling weeds and grass will be in that picture since the ground is saturated and makes for pulling that stuff out much easier.

Perhaps I'll force the boys out there to help me : )
Oh, and, of course, continue on with digging the pond.

G'day.

ben

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