Toofast, I'm over to the other side of London,Ontario, so not so far from you and our winters are much the same. I don't run the main pumps over winter, I'm wary of ice dams being created and water being diverted away from the pond. I shut the waterfall and statuary pumps off for the winter, but, because of where my bottom drain sump is located,I run a small 500 GPH pump all winter to circulate the pond water and create a vent opening in the ice. The 500 GPH pump is located in the 50 gallon bottom drain sump, and pumps water through a 1/2" hose to the pond, where it keeps the surface water moving and allows for gas exchange. I have a 1200 watt deicer as a stand by in case of pump failure. I also totally cover my ponds over, first with a leaf net for a month or so, then with a translucent tarpaulin supported on a frame, for the winter months. That keeps the cold winds from blowing across the water surface. Your plan to use an aerator and a small deicer, with your large wattage deicer as a stand-by sounds great to me. As far as keeping your pump in a bucket of water, there is no need to do that, as mag pumps,unlike oil filled pumps do not have seals that will crack, if they are allowed to dry up over winter. But that is up to you. March would be a tad too early for start up,I should think. I push the envelope a bit by getting going at the beginning of April. And that is dependent on weather conditions. The main clean out the pond, I do in the Fall, rather than in the Spring. That way I'm not stirring up the "nasties" from the bottom of the pond, when the fish are still very susceptible to disease after going through a hard winter. You mention a check valve "sticking out of the water". As long as it is not filled with water, that could freeze and cause the valve to split open, it should be okay. If you could remove it and take it apart for cleaning and then store it, that would be a safer solution. Check valves should be cleaned out at least once a year, as the are a real collector of gunk and that can cause them to stick open or closed. The same goes for your pump. Take the impeller cover off and clean it out before storing for winter, whether it is kept in water or not. The gunk inside the pump can [and will] set up like cement over winter and cause the pump to overheat and possibly burn out when you try to use it next Spring. Hope this helps. "Horton"

I agree with the layering. I plan to add cardboard and newspaper directly on top of grass/weeds then compost, garden soil/topsil then layer of fine mulch. I saw someone post this method here last year. This would add nutrients and moisture for you and you could probably plant right in the mix. Since you say your soil is bad I would make the layers nice and thick. Maybe each spring you can add new layers of compost, soil then mulch? I did this in one bed for 2 years and this year I have really soft soil. I had rock hard clay in that area. This year as I plant my WS babies I have richer soil with worms everywhere. (if you add nutrients the worms will come, i also added coffee grounds for them when i could get them) I still planted in the area just each season I added what I could and topped with mulch to help hold moisture and fight weeds/grass. Good luck! I hope the WS works. In the meantime can't you plant stuff that likes dry soil? My creeping thyme would work for you. Karen

dreamgarden, Here's an old NYT article I dug up from January 1981. It's discusssing the Feds policy changes during October 1979. It's a time I'll certainly never forget! In October 1979, I was at Notre Dame University attending my first American Bankers Association class of a 3-year program. We attended Notre Dame for a week's worth of intense classes & then peformed work at home for a year; then back to another university & another year of home assignments...then, one more year at another university followed by a presentation given at the end of our third year. Prime changed every few days...sometimes more frequently. We were studying the secondary market. Trading terminals had been set-up for our use. We were each given $1M of Monopoly money to trade with. Every single one of us was wiped out totally within TEN MINUTES because of the prime rate changes. It changed 3 or 4 times that day alone!! I was doing construction lending at the time. My borrowers paid a rate that floated over prime, usually 3%. I can clearly remember construction loan interest rates hitting 15%+. One of my builders told me it would be cheaper for him to build the house on his VISA card! He wasn't far wrong. Permanent mortgages were 12%+ on the open market. I had a subdivision to sell out in Thornton, CO of over 400 homes. We offered 'special' financing at 10.5% in an attempt to get those houses sold. I also remember the 1970's recession & gas shortage. My ex-husband & I took turns taking a day off work to wait in line for gas. I was in line at the station just off Alicia Parkway in Laguna Hills, CA mid-week...the line was probably 1/2 mile long. Suddenly, we all heard a sharp noise & knew immediately what had happened. Frustrations had reached critical mass & somebody had shot another person who had gotten gas just before the station owner put out the "No More Gas" sign. During the 1970's recession & housing bust...REITS failed by the hundreds & the market tanked. That's when I first learned about work-outs. The world is not ending today. We're going through a tough time, sure, but it's not time to buy wheat in 50 lb. buckets. The sun came up today & it will go down tonight right on schedule. In a few years you'll be looking back at this timeframe & remembering where you were when the Dow plunged. By the time you've been thru a few recessions they aren't as unnerving. Each has its own characteristics. IMO, this one will be remembered more for banking hitting the skids than subprime. Just like we remember the 1980's for the S&L crisis rather than the policy changes that precipitated the problems. Yes, I've assumed you've not been through many recessions. If you have & have been this skittish...I don't see how you've survived?? Deep breathes. This too shall pass. /tricia PS Your posts are very hard to read with all of those strange characters. How & why does that happen?

Two stories: We had a cat with an inoperable tumor on her face. It wasn't a huge tumor, but it caused blood to pool under the skin, and it would ooze from her face all the time. It got to a point where I was draining her face 2-3x a day to keep it from swelling with blood. I was miserable doing it, but my husband insisted he wasn't ready to put her down because she was still eating, drinking and had a lot of personality. For three more months I drained her face, until I finally talked him into putting her down. It was the best decision I made. A couple years later, our dog was diagnosed with an inoperable tumor on his backside, just below his a**s. We kept an eye on him, and the tumor. He was a very happy dog - just a lovely, lovely animal. When the tumor got large enough that it was starting to interfere with his ability to go to the bathroom, I told my husband I was putting him down. I said, "I'd rather he go now, when he's still happy and enjoying life, than to wait three months and have him be miserable like the cat was." He acknowledged I was right. As much as I loved our animals, I did right by our dog, and did NOT do right by our cat. That poor cat didn't deserve to bleed from her face just because my husband couldn't let go, even if she was still frisky and eating/acting normally. I will NEVER let a pet live like that again.