Messages

91

Pond Chat / Re: Can someone tell me what these plants are?

« on: June 29, 2010, 12:00:04 PM »

It sure is aggressive... it seems to be popping up among all the rocks in the stream, and sends out runners into the pond and even out of the pond. I'm letting it do what it wants this year, it's the 'messy' look (aka I'm lazy  )

92

Terrestrial Gardening / Re: Gooseneck Loosestrife from Cathy

« on: June 29, 2010, 08:31:45 AM »

You can see some weeds to the left of it, but by next year they will be gone. 

93

Terrestrial Gardening / Gooseneck Loosestrife from Cathy

« on: June 29, 2010, 08:30:40 AM »

A few years ago I traded Cathy for this plant. The only thing I could grow under this bird feeder was weeds and grass.
Now, I get no weeds or grass and you can see that it has almost entirely engulfed this bed.
Thanks, Cathy!

94

Pond Chat / Re: Can someone tell me what these plants are?

« on: June 29, 2010, 08:02:21 AM »

Pic not working... fixed.

95

Pond Chat / Re: Can someone tell me what these plants are?

« on: June 29, 2010, 07:43:52 AM »

Is that first one Marsh Betony? Lemme go take a pic of mine...

96

Pond Chat / Re: Fish death....I have more questions

« on: June 29, 2010, 06:38:27 AM »

If it was anything that depleted O2 levels in the water, the big fish would be the first to go, so it would be normal to have babies or some smaller fish survive.

97

Pond Chat / Re: Loud toads and frogs and neighbors

« on: June 29, 2010, 06:33:49 AM »

If anybody complains, tell them you deliberately put the frogs and toads there to drown out the noise from those annoyingly loud chirping birds.

98

Chit Chat / Re: Who Do you call to fix stuck garage door when coil is sprung?

« on: June 28, 2010, 08:14:54 PM »

When my hubby was younger, the spring broke loose and came very close to killing him. He was just walking from the garage into the house when the spring hit the door jamb. He has a very healthy respect for those things. 

Are you in the Midwest? If you are, call Walter Holland. He is our 'official' garage door man.  Gets the job done right every time. Shameless plug maybe, but I speak the truth. 

99

Pond Chat / Re: osprey

« on: June 27, 2010, 08:32:42 AM »

Annette, that looks great! That's a clever idea.

My BIL made a neat cover out of wooden lattice that he cut to fit the curvy shape of their pond. It keeps the raccoons out, too.

100

Chit Chat / Re: Happy Birthday Marie Fisher

« on: June 25, 2010, 08:15:42 PM »

Happy Birthday Marie! Many happy returns.

101

Chit Chat / Re: American Ponders Helped Me Find My Ancestors! (Finally something NOT a scam!)

« on: June 25, 2010, 08:14:20 PM »

What a cool story, Tink!

Esther, yes that's a big problem. So many churches, town halls, & the like were destroyed in Europe during WWII.

My brother got to go to Goethe after the wall came down. He found this church, and the pastor let him browse through the church records. That was a dead end for the family research, but the weird thing was that the pastor served tea while my brother was perusing a book that was at least 400 years old.  He was like "I better not spill any of this tea!".

102

Chit Chat / Re: American Ponders Helped Me Find My Ancestors! (Finally something NOT a scam!)

« on: June 24, 2010, 08:31:24 PM »

P.S.: I can only imagine how many google pages this guy had to root through to find that 2006 post- he was probably attempting to search for Jenn Pianos when he came across that.  We then were contacted by a distant cousin, also researching the line, and everything is matching up.

This is the coolest thing ever! However, my daughter has lots of grand, great grand, great great grandfathers named "Joseph". 

103

Chit Chat / American Ponders Helped Me Find My Ancestors! (Finally something NOT a scam!)

« on: June 24, 2010, 08:06:27 PM »

This is soooo cool!

We checked our email the other day and discovered a message from someone who was searching for their ancestors. As it turns out, they found this thread from 2006:
http://www.americanponders.com/forum/index.php?topic=249.msg2336#msg2336

More specifically, this post by me:
http://www.americanponders.com/forum/index.php?topic=249.msg2336#msg2336:

Interesting. I love reading about everyone's ancestry. I have often wondered about the "six degrees of separation" theory and how it may relate to the folks here on the forum. Maybe some of us are even distantly related and don't even know it.  Cool

Krista, my hubby's father was an accomplished organist as well, and was taught by a famous person who used to play at St Paul's in London, and then his father or brother made Jenn pianos. We'd like to research that side of the family more. I would love the opprotunity to go to England and visit cemetaries and churches. Someday! Kevin's mother's side is interesting, her tree goes back hundreds of years.

My brother has done an amazing amount of research on my ancestry. He's been to England several times, and finally got to go to East Germany after the wall came down. He hit a dead end in Gotha, 1844. So if anyone knows anyone related to Johann Drescher or Marth Weibezahl just give us a ring!
As far as the English side goes, there are lots of pretty common names- like Brown, Bulmer, Wilkinson, Hyde, Allen, Dunne, Hall, Clark, Hind, Palmer, Mowbray, Fitzgerald, Fenton, Lloyd, and Jenn.

Actually, he played at "All Hallows", not St Paul's.

2006! We are so tickled. Kevin re-subscribed to Ancestry.com to hopefully get more information. We'd been unsuccessful there before, but due to the help of this new connection we discovered a wealth of information. We were able to get several generations back. We've been able to go back to approximately 1735- 1803 with a great deal of accuracy.

The thing is, maybe we could have done it with Ancestry.com.... maybe not. What we really needed was a real HUMAN connection. And believe it or not, it was through American Ponders!!!!!

So happy and Sooo endlessly grateful to Jerry and Sean. It's a tough time for all of us, but this is a shining light of happiness amidst economic doom. Thanks!

104

Pond Chat / Re: what could of killed our fish??

« on: June 24, 2010, 05:04:43 PM »

It could also be caused by a pH crash from all that rain. Do have the kit to test your water?

105

Pond Chat / Re: Fish death....I need opinions

« on: June 24, 2010, 05:03:14 PM »

Send them a link where they can get you more Wakin, would love to see their face when they see the prices w/shipping.

Yes, and info about the Koi, too. Sometimes just mentioning the "Lawyer" word is enough to make these ilk wake up.

Sorry about your fish.

FWIW, it happened to me once but I was lucky enough to be home when it happened. I did a 30% water change and added a ton of activated carbon to the filtration system. I don't know if you remember Kevin (the pond supply man who passed away), but he used to sell carbon pads specifically made for my mechanical filter. A few more water changes over the course of a couple weeks and no fish death.

106

Chit Chat / Re: Brownie type cake

« on: June 24, 2010, 04:51:08 PM »

If I ate that I'd probably go into a diabetic coma...  I remember making it back in the day, but I mixed the chocolate chips into the batter. Or maybe I wasn't supposed to do that? 

107

Chit Chat / Re: Just trying something

« on: June 24, 2010, 04:48:16 PM »

Petal pushers, Pedal pushers... either one much preferable than Pushin Daisies. 

108

Pond Chat / Re: TurtleMike --suggestions on small hardies?

« on: June 19, 2010, 07:09:25 PM »

Turtlemike, you are not pushing your own stuff- you are legitimately pursuing just reward for your hard work! They are all so beautiful.

I also second Perry's Baby Red and Walter Pagels. They're what I call "well behaved" lilies. Helvola is another great small one, as is Joanne Pring and Pygmea. I have Indiana and Aurora, both pretty small, but they don't bloom very well and it's hard to tell which is which. The pads are nicely mottled, though, so they make a great little thing you can stick into a corner or wherever you have empty space.

109

Pond Chat / Re: Finally a bloom

« on: June 19, 2010, 07:00:38 PM »

So pretty! I saw that on your facebook page too. 

110

Pond Chat / Re: Who used to be on AWGS.org?

« on: June 19, 2010, 07:53:20 AM »

I was there too. Cliff and Joann haven't posted here lately but I know they were here. And yes, Jerry was Kayak Kid.    jclements is still around, maybe her username changed? Tammica once posted an awesome recipe for adobo chicken. Funny the things you remember.

Oh yeah- Gander had a huge pond with huge impatiens in the stream and concrete goose statues. Wasn't he in Mo?

111

Chit Chat / Re: My funky weather predicting super powers....

« on: June 19, 2010, 07:42:19 AM »

I don't have any superpowers, but my mom does. She was a labor & delivery nurse for 45 years and always "knew" when she was going to have a busy night. She is 80 now, and I think she's still got it. Barometric pressure is what I think it is, but she thinks it's got to do with the moon. Full moon= lots of new babies. 

112

Pond Chat / Re: My first Lotus bud- Thank you all:))

« on: June 18, 2010, 08:29:34 AM »

Great!  I LOVE the pot!  Very cool 

Me too... isn't that a pretty pot!

113

Chit Chat / Re: See this video on Fish you wouldn't want to eat

« on: June 18, 2010, 08:27:25 AM »

Wow. Boy am I glad I don't like catfish. Yuck!

I think farmed fish in general can't be a good thing. I think Michael Pollan was talking about that in his book- Omnivore's Dilemma. Fish farmers are slowly genetically changing fish so that they can eat cheap corn and soy- things that nature never fed to fish. All Tillapia in the US is farmed.

I try to feed my family only wild caught seafood. But even that is tricky... there was an Alaskan Salmon crash threatened a couple years ago where the population was over-fished. Trader Joe's has wild caught Alaskan Salmon. It's frozen, but reasonably priced.

All Salmon labeled as "Atlantic" is farmed. And most of the time it has artificial colors added.

Another interesting little tidbit is that fish store pollutants in their fat cells, and the pollutants accumulate over time. So larger, fattier fish will have more pollutants than smaller, leaner fish. Sardines will have fewer pollutants than Shark.

114

Pond Chat / Re: Pictures: Lynn Ellen, Avalanche, Bull's Eye

« on: June 16, 2010, 09:20:28 AM »

Nice! Good to see you posting here again.

115

Pond Chat / Re: Osmocote??

« on: June 15, 2010, 04:13:46 PM »

Karen, what's the difference between "fertelizer" and "micronutrients?" 

Julles, I was going to hack my way through a poorly written explanation when I decided to simply steal the explanation from the AgSafe agri-tabs website. 

"The most widely used pond plant food tablet to feed waterlilies and all types of flowering pond plants. Unlike other pond tablets that feed for only two weeks - AgSafe Aquatic-Tabs® provide initial quick-release nutrients and consistent time-release nutrients to insure proper growth and longer lasting blooms for 30-45 days.

Special 10-20-10 fertilizer formulation contains micronutrients, humus, organics, sea kelp extracts, 76 trace minerals, natural plant growth hormones & vitamins, and mycorrhizae. No more hassles of getting wet every two weeks to feed your plants. A Copper-Free Tablet that is Fish and Aquatic Life Safe."

That was what I used to use before I "discovered" the cote fertilizers. It's pretty darn expensive. 

116

Pond Chat / Re: turtlemike and his horses.... Photos from my visit....

« on: June 15, 2010, 08:46:37 AM »

Love the pics... the people, the horses, and the AP shirt too! A thousand thanks for posting them. Means a lot. 

117

Pond Chat / Re: Osmocote??

« on: June 15, 2010, 08:40:05 AM »

I've been ponding for about 20 years, and I think Sean is right on: use any fertilizer you like, just do it. I am a perfect example of forgetfulness when it comes to fertilization and it aint pretty.

That being said, I've noticed that adding a pond tab every now and then is very beneficial because of the micronutrients. I'm a skeptical person so I'm not 100% sure of anything, but it seems that micronutrients round out the nutrients available to the plants when kept in pots. I do have some lilies that have jumped their pots (I'm lazy) and are perfectly healthy- growing in a clump on the bottom of the pond getting their nutrients directly from the muck and water.

I think this topic is really interesting because I've lately been obsessed with how healthy things are "in the wild". Why are wild cats (cougars, tigers, etc) healthier in the wild than they are in captivity? Nutrition. Why are plants healthier in their native habitat? It is because they have carved out their niche in nature and get all the nutrients they need. We have to correctly nourish our water lilies for the same reason that a zoo has to correctly nourish a cougar.

None of that would be possible without the sun.  But what do you think about the micronutrients? Is it that much of an issue? Do any of you notice a difference when you add micronutrients to the equation?

118

Chit Chat / Re: name of website to check internet related scams?

« on: June 12, 2010, 10:01:39 PM »

There was a good article by David Horowitz (sp?) in the most recent Costco magazine, and he said never to click through an email link or website link. His advice was to Google said link instead of cutting and pasting into a browser. If you Google it, you'll get tested results that will reveal whether these sites have malicious intent. I don't really know how that works, but hope that helps.
If your friend warned her friends (including you) on her facebook, I'd probably take that seriously.

119

Chit Chat / Re: What's the temp in your area?

« on: June 12, 2010, 09:49:54 PM »

I've been so afraid to damage the soil by digging. We got ONE tomato plant planted this morning before the downpour. Couldn't plant anything for the rest of the day cuz the soil was too wet. Now I'm thinking that the plants have become too rootbound and will stagnate.

It's 62* here. It's either too hot or too humid or too rainy. Shoulda planted in April when it was perfect!

120

Chit Chat / Re: World's laziest cat!

« on: June 09, 2010, 11:26:39 AM »

Wow, that was really cute. And look at those other videos! I've just spent the last hour watching them. The man on the helicopter, the cougar vs the bear, my lucky day, classical comedy. They're all great!