near catastrophy

[zydia]

My husband is in the hospital since the 11th, and I have been staying with him, neighbors have been checking pond daily. Yesterday morning I snuck home at 4am to gather a few belonging and check out the wet and dry pets. I was shocked to see the low water level in the pond. The hyacinths had been disturbed in the skippy(I expect by  a critter of some kind) and were plugging the return, water was overflowing over skippy sides. Part of water comes from skimmer and part from retro fit bottom drain. I think it would have drained pond right to the bottom. Scary,scary when I think of what might have happened if not for a surprise visit.
So what do you have in place to prevent this from happening in your pond?
We need something to assure it does not happen again.
Thanks for any ideas.
And just a heads up for other ponders.

Zydia

[mcp]

Zydia, Glad to hear you avoided your near catastrophy. So sorry to hear about your husband. I will say a prayer for him and hope he gets better. AS far as return for skippy I can relate. Had that happen also. The thing I do with my WH so that doesnt happen is tie a string to them to hold them in place. That way they dont go up and plug it off. Probably others on here with lots better ideas.

[Bonnie]

Wow Zydia that was a close call!

How about putting a row or two of fishing line to keep the Hyacinths from getting near the overflow?


Hoping that DH is improving and gets to come home very soon.

OOPS.. just read the post from mcp! 

[Esther]

So sorry to hear of your DH's illness. Hope he is doing better. This is so stressful for you and the family.

Again, I am amazed at how few ponders use any type of security when it comes to unexpected water loss. I can't stress enough to either buy a pump with a float that shuts off if the water level drops or buy a separate float that does the same thing. Or buy a doodad that adds water in when the levels get down.  Having had three close calls like what you described, I was willing to bite the bullet when the original pump died and pay a little more for the submersible pump with the built in float. I no longer have to worry about that. Not only does it protect your pond from being pumped down but it protects your pump from burning up when it no longer has water to pump. Here's three options.


http://www.amazon.com/Aquascape-Tsurumi-Submersible-Pump-float/dp/B000MWEAUC
Built in shutoff float valve.

http://www.azponds.com/hose.htm  Keeps water level up.

http://www.azponds.com/subpumps.htm  Low water shut off switch.
 

[Ky Kim]

Sorry to hear your dh is in the hospital.

On my skippy, I use a little plastic basket.  Looks almost like a mini laundry basket.  I put that over the water exit and seems to keep the WH away from it.  Still sometimes I have to thin on the WH but that seems to work for me.

Kim

[zydia]

Thanks for the overflow ideas and well wishes and prayers for hubby. We are going home today. Will sit pond side and recover.

Zydia

[barb]

I'm sorry to hear about your husband.  Good thing you stopped in for a surprise visit when you did, too.

[MikeW]

Not a real answer Zydia, but I turn my pump / waterfall off if I am going to be away.

No matter how I stress to a housesitter to be paranoid about the pond, it can drain itself very quickly, especially at  3 am during a raccoon visit. The lilies and goldfish don't seem to mind if it's on or not.

I hate being away, for a good or sad reason, and wondering if the pond is still OK.

Cheers,

Mike

[happyoutsidegirl]

Zydia, I know i'm a bit lat here but trying to play catch up. My heart sunk when I read about your DH. I wasent the least bit worried about your pond. Sorry for that. My heart started pounding again when I read that he was comming home. I hope and pray all is going well for him, and You! I also hope you got the WH secured. You can also make a hoop of flexiable PVC hose. or buy a hoola hoop.

[Esther]

Zydia. How is your DH doing? Hope he's recovering OK.

[zydia]

We are recovering, but is a slow process.
In march during his first colonoscopy they found a cancerous mass. He completed a round of chemo and radiation, then tumor was removed on july 11th and a ileostomy done. Actually surgery part went very well even though they were unable to do it laparscopic(SP) but then he had a bowel obstruction which got him into alot of trouble. They were able to wait it out and it undid itself without another surgery. but from the 11th he has lost 40 lbs, which he did not have to loose. Wt this am was 142 which means we are on the way up, yesterday gained back first pound and today another.Yippey.....And feeling stronger every day, had gotton so weak.
He will do another round of chemo then have ileostomy reversed and cath port removed and life will go on, and 2007 will be remembered as a rough year.

I know this is info overload, and I could have simply said he was doing better, but... if one person reads this and schedules a colonoscpy they have been putting off  it will be a good thing, and one can never get too many prayers.

So here we sit pond side healing, and being grateful for all our blessing.

I gotta share a moment we had on this last saturday. My youngest nephew got married and of course we had to miss it. Well late in the day in pulls a huge limo and the whole wedding party steps out. It was a special moment filled with emotions. We are so lucky to have a big family to get us through this and they never cease to amaze me. And I feel that way also about online freinds I have never met who are pulling for my hubby. Enough mussy stuff.

Happy ponding, and thanks for your concerns and prayers.

Zydia

[Esther]

Oh my goodness Zydia, what a lot of touch stuff you guys are experiencing. Glad to hear things seem to be progressing. Hope it continues.

Yes, you are fortunate to have a loving supportive family. What fun when the wedding party showed up!!

[Pa Nancy]

Glad to see hubby is doing better. What a WONDERFUL nephew you have to think of his aunt and uncle who couldn't be there and to surprise you like that. Warms the heart, and brings tears to the eyes. 

[miguynmkoi]

Zydia you are blessed to have a warm and loving family.  I'm glad your DH is feeling better and thank you for the reminder of very important check ups we all have to do especially when we get older.

I really have to hand it to your nephew for a beautiful gift of love he holds for you.

I  :'( for your happiness.

[rdrboone]

Zydia, I am so glad that your husband is on the road to recovery.  You DID do a great service by posting his health problem in detail.  Maybe it will make at least one person have that colonoscopy that they are dreading.  I was one of those who kept putting off, couldn't get my Dr. off my back.  Finally, last month I had it done and got a totally clean bill of health.  It feels really great to have this peace of mind.

I wish you both the best.

Ruth     

[happyoutsidegirl]

Zydia, I'm glad things are looking a bit brighter. I'll continue to keep you and him in my prayers.