THANKS so much everyone! I apologize for not answering. I thought I had set this site up to notify me when anyone posted responses to my questions, and I NEVER got an email. Finally today I came back to the site... OK, I will try to answer questions. First off, I THINK the problem may be due, at least in some part, to my accidentally pulling all the underwater elodea out of the pond back in the winter of 2003. My Mom had just died and instead of 'pruning' the elodea, I was angry and just yanked at it, thinking that I was just breaking off the upper branches. Instead, when the water settled, it was all gone. Until then things had gone, well, swimmingly! I used the formula of covering 2/3rds the surface area with floating/emergent vegetation and 1/3 the area with underwater plants. That worked wonderfully, but I can't get elodea to grow in the pond now! I've tried restarting it every single year and it just dies on me. ...and I'm even getting it from a nearby pond whose elodea was a start from mine! My pond's water is very acidic as our well water is very acidic. I've wondered if that was the problem, but the water was acidic when I started and the elodea grew well then! And, my friend's pond where I'm getting the 'replacement' elodea is acidic too. The pond is ~24 X 20 feet with a deep end of about 3' and shallow edges (preferred by all critters). My pond still has the swimming pool liner under the black plastic (not the thin plastic of plastic bags, it's PVC sheeting). The swimming pool liner was at least 15 yrs old and one of the reasons I wanted to get rid of it was I kept having black algae growing on it and it was a pain to scrub off, so I'm not certain if it had any algicide impregnated in it or not. I waited 6 years to start cleaning the pond from when I started it; I wish I'd started at 3 years because by 6 years the muck was nearly 6" deep. The reason I waited so long is because the dragonfly and beetle nymph hide in the muck at the bottom of the pond during the winter. I'm passionate about dragonflies, having become an author and lecturer on them because of building a pond and learning about them and discovering how little was known about them. (I apologize for having to mention this - it's not advertising here, it's to let you know what my pond is all about). I've tried to drain the pond each year of the last 4. But I've had a problem: the pond has a leak, and finding it is impossible - because of the high water table in the winter, water starts flowing INTO the pond when I drain it and I can't tell exactly where it's coming from because of the dual liners. I would not recommend using plastic PVC sheeting to anyone else who was converting their pool to a pond for this reason. When I suck up the debris off the bottom, it goes into a children's wading pool and I check for 'critters' there before allowing the water and silt and debris to be just thrown away. Yes, there are rocks on all of the bottom of the pond. I had to add them to hold down the PVC liner when I built the pond. And, they are the perfect place for critters to hide, but it does make cleaning the pond much more difficult. There are ~2400 gallons of water in the pond and the waterfall pump recirculates 550-600 gallons an hour. There is also a small 'frog spitter' in one shallow end. The source of the water is our community (6 house) well. Because of the leak, we have a constant drip going into the pond. The water is very acidic (pH of only 5) and non-treatable. We have had several large water companies TRY to neutralize our water over the years, to the expense to the community of about a thousand dollars, so I really can't change that. The only filtration is that we have the pump in a bucket with a sack of river rock over it and a layer of filtration medium over the top of the bucket. I have to manually clean the filter every couple weeks. There is no foul smell of sulfur or anything, just lots and lots of little bubbles forming on the bottom that then is 'pulling' the debris up with them when they come to the surface, usually in the early evening. Also, the Pacific Tree frog eggs are dying - they just start to develop and then turn fuzzy white (mold?). I fear I have some pretty serious problems! Anyway, I feel like I'm baring my heart here, and I sincerely apologize for appearing rude - I just thought I was going to be notified when anyone posted an answer to my question. I know this group is WONDERFUL and it helped me before when my pump broke and folks, within 7 mins, told me to float the floating oil that came out of it off the pond. I want you to know that I recommend this forum in the talks I give about building wildlife ponds. I guess I'm hoping that I won't have to take this pond completely apart and start again. For so many many years it was perfect, and it's been OK the last 4, but after I tried to muck it out this year, it just got worse! Kathy Biggs bigsnest@sonic.net Here is a link that might be useful: Bigsnest Wildlife Pond.

I have two, one is adjustable so you can lay on your stomach as well... I found the best price on ebay then had cozydays.com match the price with free shipping... they have a few nice recliners depending on what you are looking for.... GL http://www.cozydays.com/pool_beach/pool-lounge-chairs/super-soft-adjustable-recliner-469.html Here is a link that might be useful: Lounge link

I can read anywhere. But like all of you, I too, have favorites. In nice weather (NOT this hazy hot and humid mess we have at present), I like my back porch, covered, with a ceiling fan, listening to the birds. A big pitcher of iced tea or water nearby with, hopefully, freshly popped popcorn. In winter, on the giant beat-up leather couch in the family room with a cozy fire in the woodstove and a dog on each side of me and a big bowl of the afore-mentioned popcorn. NEVER microwave, always popped in a pot on the stove top with peanut oil - not that I am picky or anything. Last week, I took a book with me in a plastic baggie while I was sailing on a northern lake... a book and a granola bar. Just in case the wind died, I would be neither hungry nor bored. PAM

Just coming to the end of Edna Healey's Emma Darwin: The Inspirational Wife of a Genius. I think many readers would find it turgid and rather heavy going but I enjoyed it. Emma was born a Wedgwood of the famous 'pot-making' tribe and that family and the Darwins kept intermarrying for several generations; Charles was her first cousin. The book is about so much more than Emma and there is lots of info about all the various branches of the combined groups with the difficulty of working out who-is-who as many of them had the same Christian names eg six females called Francis/Fanny. Without Emma, Charles' great scientific works would probably never have been published as he suffered chronic ill-health and needed her near him at all times . . . which might account for the huge number of children she produced, many of whom were 'delicate' but much cherished. A little while ago I read a bio of Catherine Dickens and the contrast between the two families (much of the same age) is very marked. Mrs Dickens also had a huge family but her husband 'tired' of her and had her physically removed from her children and home, whereas the Darwins were loving, with children who went on to 'do well' in later life. Dicken's sons, except for the oldest, did badly and wasted their lives while his daughters were kept at home to wait on him and stoke his ego. Darwin led a quiet life of study and enjoyment of nature while Dickens was a great showman/showoff who burnt himself out when middle aged.