Friday, March 25, 2016

Time to clean the stock tank

It'd been nearly two years since we last cleaned out our stock tank pond so I had it on my mental to-do list. James had a funeral to work today. Why not tackle it myself? The day was beautiful, and I had the energy. I was going along just fine until I tried to lift out one of the limestone rocks. Uh, nope. A little too heavy for me. So I called our neighbors across the street because I happened to know that their son and his family were in town for Easter. Matt gladly came over and lifted out the rock for me. The cinder blocks, too. I was a happy girl. Thank you, Matt!

Here are some "before" shots of the stock tank before I got to work this afternoon.
  Last week, I cut back the lemon barcopa so that was done.

  The horsetail rush desperately needed some cutting back!


  I hope my dwarf water lily (bottom) comes back.
 LOOK WHAT I FOUND AT THE BOTTOM OF THE TANK! AN HONEST-TO-GOODNESS REAL LIVE EARTHWORM! I couldn't believe my eyes! I didn't know earthworms could live and survive in water. I let it go in a flower bed. 
 This time, I didn't dump out all the water. Instead, I used a fish net and mucked out the bottom and sides. I only accidentally caught minnows twice (and let them go). They did a good job at staying out of my way. 

  Nearly done!
 After an hour and a half, I was ready to start putting everything back in. 
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
As a reward for a job well done, I gave the minnows some goldfish flakes. They were quite elated.  

1 comment:

Rock rose said...

Well done.It's task, and no mistake. I emptied one of my tanks last week, scrubbed the sides and replaced all the water with captured rain water. You are right about lifting out those blocks-they weigh a ton. I have yet to divide and repot my water lilies. Another big task.

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