Thanks everyone. I can't believe how clear the ponds look! And all are gorgeous. Beeliz I think you may have hit the thumnail action on your photos. In photobucket it's the buttom tab under the picture. The first one brings up the full size picture--thanks to Jenny's advice. Duddly...you like the pond or the girl? I'm very proud of the girl but she has a boyfriend. My yard has been a 12 year project changing the pond three times. Hauling lots of rock from local farmer's fields and driving my sons crazy by having them move the big ones by the waterfall three times. The yard is kinda crazy right now as is the end of the season and everything has grown so much with all the rain. I think the pond looked nicer last year (the last picture) when it wasn't so overgrown but I did win the local best landscaped yard last year for our community. Most people here don't do much with their back yards. Jenny I've had lots of success with koiclay both for suspended algae and the string algae. The string algae is supposed to be a sign that the pond is balanced. I get it along the waterfall bed too from all the nutrients and just pull it off or springle koiclay on it and it falls off. Gotta go do the working thing. Have a happy day. Patti

Bunnygirl is right on the mark. When transplanting any succulent, let the roots/cut stem dry in the air for a few days so that any small injuries harden to prevent fungal infection. Plant in dry soil and do not "water in". Soil should be at least 50% inorganic materials like pumice, perlite, gravel, etc. Do not use sand. Peat retains too much water and should be avoided like the plague! Commercial potting mixes (including those labeled Cactus and Succulent) have too much peat. My basic mix is about 75% pumice. It looks like they are all are infected by fungus, and will certainly die without intervention. The translucent color is a very bad sign. Pull them up immediately and inspect the roots and lower stem. If they are falling apart, and the stem is dark and soft, the only cure is to cut the stem above the rot. This may not be possible for the pups, as I suspect the leaves will fall off the stem leaving nothing to grow, but the parent plant may still be salvageable. After transecting the stem above the rot, let it dry out in the air for three days or more to callous. Then place in DRY soil. You may need to prop up the plant. Do not water until the plant has started to grow new roots, this will take some time (weeks). During this time, water in the lower leaves will be resorbed by the plant. This is natural. Succulents usually have sufficient water reserves to last for months without any water at all. When you see signs of new growth, start watering. Let the soil dry out completely between watering. There is no proper schedule, everything depends too much on your local conditions (heat/humidity/season/latitude/soil composition/etc). The basic rule is: If in Doubt, Don't! This axiom is true for any action, watering, transplanting, fertilizing, etc. Succulents thrive on neglect. The ideal cultural practice is called Benign Neglect. In your case, there is no doubt that intervention is necessary to save your plants. For more aloe care advice, read the Aloe FAQ page here on the site. Good luck! Brad

White Spruce Picea glauca. Useful pointers: White Spruce needles are longer; Black Spruce Picea mariana needles are shorter White Spruce needles are ± the same colour on all sides; Black Spruce needles are conspicuously more glaucous below than above. White Spruce shoots are (in your area) hairless and pale brown to whitish; Black Spruce shoots are hairy, and dark orange-brown on mature shoots. White Spruce cones are slender, with soft scales; Black Spruce cones are broad, with stiff scales. Resin

Thanks for your replies. The PB (who subcontracted out the plaster work) is trying to weasel out of having any responsibility for the plaster. The owner of the plaster company met with me today and seems like a decent guy. He confirmed that they put down a 50% blue/ 50% green 3m colorquartz mix in our pool. His story is the PB/general contractor issued him a work order requesting the 50/50 mix rather than 100% blue. As I have caught the PB in a couple of other bald-faced lies since starting the renovation, I am leaning towards believing the plaster guys. Also regarding the cemented in spa jets, typically the PB would issue the order to the plaster co. (the subcontractor) to remove or replace the jets before completing the plastering job. In this case it wasn't done. The plaster co. has indicated that they will work with us to get the spa jets resolved. They think we may be able to replace part of the jet without a complete removal of the jet fixture and subsequent replaster of the spa) being necessary. They were also surprised to learn that the PB did not assist with the initial start-up after the plaster was done. Apparently, for this type of application they recommend 2-3 days of an acid bath to remove a lot of the top layer of plaster and reveal more of the colorquartz. Not sure who should have told us about that, but 3 weeks in we are trying the acid bath right now to see if it cleans up the finish. After 3 hours, the spa is looking a lot more colorful (although it's blue and green!). At this stage we are leaning towards living with the blue/green. I really do not want to go through another 3 weeks of brushing 3x per day for a new plaster job. The blue/green is definitely more blue than green. It looks blue from the deck. And who knows, maybe we would end up not liking a straight 100% blue plaster as well as this blue/green mix. Either way, we'll never use this PB again. I'll post some pics of the entire pool once we're done with the acid bath in a couple of days. Thanks again.