Happee posted this in the Discussions area, so I'll move this one down. Brenda

Hi Mike, OK, Im glad I understood its the red one. Something right! Whoo To Mike, buyorsell888, and calamity_j, The kitties are totally stressed out right now, but I think they'll be OK. The one black cat seen in the pix above, had some teeth pulled, but he seemed almost fine the next day. His brother on the other hand - totally freaked out. The anesthesia didn't wear off, he was scared, and probably in pain all night, so I stayed up with him. Ever since, he's been sleeping in kitchen nightly, which is unusual for him. (The outside boys aren't allowed in any further than the kitchen - long story). The girls indoors - well the one with recurring cancer is acting very needy and wanted to be close *all the time* *every minute of the day*. I cant blame her, shes stressed. Shes had a several surgeries and doesnt like the vet much at all As you can imagine. The other girl had to have some tests, but after a few days, we found they all turned out all right. Shes still feeling a bit crabby with us about having been taken to, The Awful Place. (She holds a grudge, as many of you with kitties will probably know what I mean!) Thanks for asking and well wishing. :) Even though the girls are in their senior years now, theyre like my babies and I stop everything when they are ill. Its so hard that they are getting old! As to the pond, our plan is like something out of a slapstick movie, though we are hoping it might work anyway. Were going to hook up the hose, as Mike suggests, and weve got a tarp weve put a slit in and will place the fountain through, then duct tape, so that any runoff from inside the pipes and fountain gets funneled over the tarp and out to the trees not into the somewhat clean pond water. Its about 105-110 degrees out there today and neither of us are looking forward to working on it!

A filter is the easiest and most effective way to keep the pond clear. Floating or stem plants will help but fish do best with a filter especially if it is more than a couple. If you cover the water with floating plants than the water should stay relatively clear and on the good side you do not really see the water that way. once you get a filter going the water should start to clear fairly quickly, couple weeks. If there are no fish or plants than dosing with an algicide will get rid of it for a while, but only if there are no fish plants and read the label to ensure that critters passing thru that take a drink won't be hurt

Hey there, Deborah. I still have no ice on my pond and it is two weeks since you posted last. Your weather leads ours so maybe your water has frozen since then. I thought I would add a comment or two. The Barley straw ball is not going to do anything to keep the ice open. It will just freeze in place. The tennis balls might work but I always found them on the bottom after they broke open and sank at the first hard freeze that lasted long enough to close the ice. They hold up just fine when you are hitting them around in hot weather but cold makes them brittle. You need something that can be compressed like an inflatable pillow tethered to the bottom so it stays in place. Ping pong balls work if you don't mind the dents that appear. You need to confine them to a small space so there is not a lot of water between them.If the ice gets thicker than the diameter of the ping pong ball the hole will close up anyway. I tried to keep a pond the same size as yours open all winter with a heater and wound up with a heavy frost layer on everything around the pond. It looked like the worlds heaviest fog. I wound up removing the fish on Christmas day. What a mess. I kept the fish in the garage in the winter after that until I could dig a bigger pond a couple of years later. Horton's wood cover sounds like it could be a lot safer than a plastic sheet. The potential problem I see would be if the wind could lift it up. A cement block would solve that problem. There have been a number of threads on keeping the frogs alive during the winter. Lots of failures too. I haven't tried because frogs don't manage to get to my pond. However, after reading many threads on the subject I think I can suggest a solution to the problem in the future. By the way, this is not my solution, it is suggested by someone else who has a web site elsewhere. I just can't remember where it is. An area close to the pond should have a hole dug 12 to 18 inches deep that is backfilled with loose compost or chopped dried leaves or even sand. The frogs will go to the bottom of this backfill and hibernate until spring. Material such as quilt batting can strangle or suffocate the froggie as it shifts around. Otherwise, if you have a properly maintained garden area, the frog will be just as happy there since it would be easy to dig itself in. Freezing does not harm a frog. They produce their own anti-freeze. They are killed by dehydration. I once found the dissicated remains of three frogs who made the mistake of using a bag of lime in which to hibernate. I have also found a seemingly dead frog in the bottom of a ball of soil in a flower pot that broke. I left the ball of dirt in the sun frog side down and as it thawed the frog thawed too. It found a new spot to dig in since the soil scattered. In a deeper pond they would be safe in a bucket or pot of sand or clay such as you would use for a water lily. Sandy