Sounds fun but please note GW's terms 'Don't advertise. Your site, your business, your lawn mower... If you aren't sure, read our advertising policy first.'

Toofast,I made an executive decision yesterday and dismantled the cover and support frame from over my ponds. I lost two fish over the winter. One a beautiful Shabunkin about five years old and a small goldfish from last years breeding frenzy. All the rest look good and of course have grown over the last five months, since I covered the ponds over. This is the earliest I have ever uncovered the ponds, but since the long range weather forecast seems fairly good, I went ahead and opened it up. If we get more snow it will not stay long and any ice the may form on the surface should melt pretty quickly now the temperatures are rising above freezing during the day light hours. The winter bubbler/aerator, I will leave in place for now to continue doing it's job. Depending on, how the weather actually turns out, will determine my next moves. I may start up the filter and waterfall next week, we will see? It is not the day time temperatures that are my concern. It is the low night time temperatures, that could still possibly freeze a line and bring on much gnashing of teeth and tearing out of hair. If it all goes west! The main pond is due a complete emptying, so as I can cull out some fish and do a general inspection of the liner and pond in general. I will not attempt that for a few weeks yet and allow the fish to build up their immunity and stamina after going through winter. I'm going to take it one day at a time and keep an eye on the weather forecasts as they come out. With this lovely weather we are having at present,living in the "Banana Belt" of Southern Ontario, it is tempting to throw caution to the winds and go full speed ahead and get everything done in and around the pond. Remember that the fish are at their most vulnerable state, after coming through the winter. Stirring up gunk from the bottom of the pond can release all sorts of parthenogenes and other evil doers, that can harm winter weakened fish. "Horton"

If I were to relocate my first concern would be getting people to find me in order to have a chance to get their design work. (this is not a problem for you?) 2. Setting myself up to be a better option than the next guy when I get that chance. That is where the portfolio comes into play, but you can overcome not having a local portfolio. It is not easy, but if your knowledge is deep and you can convey how your design sense displayed on your old turf (existing portfolio of built work) can be applied on your new turf, you'll be alright. Building relationships with contractors is easy IF you have work for them to do. That won't be a problem at all. If you have the idea that you are going to get landscape contractors to bring you design work, that is a lot harder without an established reputation. There is no incentive for a contractor to bring in a designer unless it gives them a better chance to upsell and there is next to no chance of losing the potential client - not a circumstance that lends itself to tryin out the new guy. How you get paid is up to you and the other participants (client and contractor). One thing that you can't do is charge your client to oversee the project including selecting the contractor and then getting money from the contractor without being up front in writing to the client - that would bean illegal conflict of interest. As far as establishing relationships for buying wholesale, that is a matter of individual nursery policies. Most require that you have a resellers license with your state that shows that you are properly established to mark up product and collect sales tax. Many will discount based on annual volume of sales to you after a smaller first year discount. Some will have a straight discount or only sell to wholesale clients. From whom or where are you getting your job leads? The rest does not matter until that is established. People going into the design field often overlook this. There is considerable value in being the initial contact in the design/build process. If contractors are getting work for designers, the designer is not as valued (read that as not paid so well) as when the designer gets the work on his own. If I were in your shoes and were to relocate, I would investigate busy nurseries to see if they have staff designers and whether or not there is some opportunity there. Again, they own the value in being the source for design leads, so they may take a significant part of the design fee. It also matters who else they can use to move their product. Designers and want-to-be designers are a dime a dozen unless they bring something more to the bottom line. I'd look to see if I could independently sub out the build to make my money if it was not there through plant commissions or design fees.

it sounds like your most likely problem is a bad wire connection on the common wire. the best thing is to go to the valve boxes and recheck all the wire connections and redo them as needed.