Ponds and Projects

by Darrell Rhoades

Thank You again for all the wonderful pictures and questions of your Pond and Projects. Here we are at the top of the calender again with a brand new year ahead of us. Any resolutions set for this year? I’m working on system to answer your questions and provide an easier way to get information, coming out in a few weeks. Let’s have a fun, prosperous New Year and make it GREAT.

WhatPond, Your Pond Specialist
555 Donation rd. EriePa.16509 USA 
 • 814-440-1790

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The Present

by Darrell Rhoades

Live in the present. In the day and time we are in this is a good day for all it’s meaning.

Have a great Thanksgiving Day!

There is always something to be thankful for. I know some folks are not happy at all.The weather forecast can set them up for the day. But hey you’re alive, right?

Maybe you think your day is bad or nothing goes right for you, take a moment and think about what is going on? What have you accomplished today even the little things, like slowing down in the construction zone, hold the door for another person, thank someone for doing a good job or helping you out. Use your imagination there are things to be thankful for even though it seems you can’t find anything. Have a roof over your head? Have a Job? Friends or family to talk to? Food on the table? Maybe you have a special talent or special ability and ok even a pond that you could share a few hours with some who doesn’t have what you have. Tell you what the feeling is priceless.

On to the story I can’t remember where I found this maybe in an email or a forum post I came across. Very compelling. Please take a minute to read it.

Change Your Thinking:

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room.

One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs.

His bed was next to the room’s only window.

The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.
The men talked for hours on end.

They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation.

Every afternoon,  when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.

The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake.

Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

As the man by the window described all this in exquisite details, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine this picturesque scene. One warm afternoon, the man by the window described a parade passing by.

Although the other man could not hear the band – he could see it in his mind’s eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Days, weeks and months passed.
One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep.

She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the his body away.

As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside the window. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window besides the bed.

It faced a blank wall.

The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. She said, ‘Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you.’

Epilogue:

There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations. Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled.

If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can’t  buy.

‘Today is a gift, that is why it is called   The Present.’

PS. Have a great Thanksgiving Day, be safe, and thank someone today. Just don’t eat too much at once, save some for later. Ok like they say just pace yourself ;-) shouldn’t every day be thanksgiving day? Al rights go to the original author of the letter. Feel free to comment their always welcome.

PPS. Why fight the traffic shop on line a save yourself the hassle, gas and frustrations,
Tractor Supply Company

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Fall Pond Again

by Darrell Rhoades

Fall PondFall Pond again, I guess it happens every year and we should expect it kind of like clockwork but each year brings new colors and the scurry of getting ready for winter. Squirrel’s gathering food, bird’s flocking up and heading south, Koi have stopped eating for a while now as the water temperature is dropping. Then seeing new life from this summer’s offspring as they head into a long winter under the ice. There is a video below showing the new offspring, too cool.

Here in Erie, Pa. we never know what the weather will do, 75 degrees by day and 40 at night, so when there’s a nice day get as much done as you can and enjoy the weather as well. There is the problem when we are starting to think about bringing in the pond accessories but hoping for another nice day. It could and does happen that day never comes and you’re left in the cold to put things away or worse snow.

So this year we took a nice day and got the ponds ready for winter. One of the items is move the bottom diffused fall pond sunsetaerators under the deck to keep ice away. Not only keeping the ice away but is placed in shallower water so there is no chance of super cooling the water and possibly killing the fish. Actually the last thing we did was take out the Evolution Fountain, wow the pond looks naked now.

pond sunsetNow that the water is cooling down the algae, leaves and plants will die and sink to the bottom of the pond creating nutrients for algae next spring when the water warms up again, be prepared and have an aeration system ready to install, whether it’s a Fountain or Bottom Diffused Aeration either way can save the day. Learn more on water quality and how you can raise yours at My Pond Aeration.

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Mother Earth News Fair

by Darrell Rhoades

Darrell Rhoades and Cary MartinWelcome Mother Earth News visitors. Wasn’t this an awesome event? It was an honor and a privilege to be a part of the Fair and have the time to talk with you 1 on 1. Whether you spoke to myself, my wife Wanda  or Cary Martin we want to thank you for your passion, questions and concerns about cleaning up your ponds in a natural more permanent way by working with mother nature and not  using harsh chemicals. Take a minute and fill out the contact form found at the top right of the website, let us know the approximant size, depth and location of your pond. With this information we will calculate the proper size unit that fits your pond water quality needs.

Even those of you who have a dream to one day build a pond, feel free to browse around the website and blog for tips and information even sign up for the free “Definitive Guide to Ponds”, what types of ponds and different equipment use to build these ponds are included, with follow up articles about building a pond. Simply fill in your name and email on the right under the video. If you don’t want to wait for the weekly articles you can get all the information in an easy downloadable format that you can reference at any time. This is “The Complete Guide” How to Build a Farm Pond.

Now if you missed our booth or not quite ready to improve your water quality. Please feel free to attend our free email workshop on water quality. Well over 2 hours of video discovering what is below the surface and how install a fountain and bottom diffused aeration with more to come at My Pond Aeration.

Again we want to thank You for attending the fair and stopping by our booth. And also a big round of applause to Mother Earth News with their first very successful fair. And a big thank You to Mother Earth News for all the hard work you put into making the fair a success. See you next year!

Talk to you soon.
Have a GREAT day and take care!
Feel free to leave a comment, they’re always welcome.

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Evolution Fountain Spray pattern can be changed pretty easily.

Before we get to the video showing how to change display patterns let’s back up a little bit and ask a question. What if I don’t have a pond or maybe don’t want a pond? But it would sure be nice to have a display to drown out the noise from the neighborhood and even have display to attract customers to my business. There is hope with the Evolution Fountain.

The picture to the left is more of a classy or elegant water feature where there would be retaining walls dressed to suit your surroundings that holds the water in place above ground. The picture on the right offers more of a ground level approach. Both require water proof liner to keep the water from either soaking into the ground or leaking out the retaining wall.

Before you watch the video I want to warn you, I left the blooper in. Yes I could edit it out by why? There is a valuable lesson to learn and if you run into a situation similar this could help out. Just keeping it real we are all human and sometimes have mistakes. And my lil woman asked to remove her from the video but I told her that is the best part, the excitement. Learn more about the Evolution Fountain.

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Big Waterfalls

by Darrell Rhoades

niagara fallsThere comes a time to stop and smell the roses, but I’m allergic to them so every day we spend time at the ponds. Taking time to relax and enjoy the peaceful oasis while listening to the fountain, frogs, feeding fish and our boys (the 4 legged kids) and just plain lose the days stress’s by soaking in nature and the beautiful sunsets. (video below)

Folks are always telling to take a break, take some time off to relax and rejuvenate or you’ll get burned out. You know take a trip or a mini vacation, something that can offer new insights or experiences

So let’s take off on a day trip, one day vacation. We meet up with my friend Phil Mutrie, his little woman Vanessa and her friend. Phil is from Canada, eh! My wife loves his accent. Phil and I met a little over a year ago online and formed a great friendship.

Oh come on, let’s get to the story. Ok here we go to Niagara Falls, hmm waterfalls does give me ideas to connect our 2 ponds so that was part of the trip. The rest was sightseeing, chatting, eating and lots of walking. At first we took our time walking along the river trying to figure out what we would do for the day stopping every 25’ or so to poke our heads over the bank and see the falls at a little bit different angles. It was a lot more exciting than the last time I was there being a young guy but did remember the flower clock.

erosionWe ended up buying the all day pass, yes the absolute best way to go if you plan on hitting all the attractions. We went under the falls in the tunnels carved out many years ago and the Maid of the Mist was cool too. Yes when you are given a rain coat to wear… wear it, it means there’s a good chance you’ll get wet.

The falls themselves was a great experience as well with the amount of water flowing over them, too much to comprehend and just like the energizer bunny they just keep going and going. Ok so I think the next or maybe the biggest attraction that got me going even more was the Niagara Furry, how the falls were made. I really want one of these at home but could be expensive. This is a 4D experience no cameras allowed and way too involved to try and explain in this post. But I can say it was absolutely amazing from 70 degrees to 50 in 30 seconds was impressive and then it started to snow… really cool sights sounds effected both mentally and physically. If you only want to spend for one attraction I would recommend going to the Niagara Furry is an absolute must to see and feel.

Finally we get to the part where part of the reason I went was to check out the water falls to get ideas for future plans at WhatPond. If you didn’t know we slipped in another pond last year and at some point will connect them with a stream ending with a waterfall. Lots of work and planning but that is what I do when I’m out feeding the fish and boys. Just stop and look around, look at other falls and try to picture them. Should it be like this or that, how big, how wide? The list goes on and on but be sure when I take little breaks I’ll be thinking of those questions and throughout the winter months. So take some breaks in everyday life and at least one day a month to just cut loose.

Oh the day trip to relax and take it easy ended up very exhausting, man I was beat and didn’t get home till after midnight. Sure did sleep well. Just like Aqua Control says on the website “ the Possibilities are endless” which gives me more ideas as they do have the Niagara Series waterfall pumps, 1hp to 7.5 hp.

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Living Life

by Darrell Rhoades

Life is exciting, isn’t it?   (video below)
Living Life is what we make of it. From waking up in the morning to what our day has in store for us we just never know what can happen. Good things and bad but it’s up to us to work thru them and come out on top. Sure we all have problems but what if you changed the word “problem” to challenge? Puts a little different perspective on the situation and now the challenge can be broke down to smaller steps and worked out. Instead of panic mode running with around with problems.

Wake up every day and say “It’s a Beautiful Day” even if it’s -15 degrees and snowing or 95 degrees and humid. Your alive so keep living life.

Ok not totally about ponds but I got a email this morning and it had a slide show attached about the “Philosophy For Old Age”. In the slide show all the pictures are of ponds and lakes, very inspiring to see but also the captions that go along with the pictures. Click the video below and enjoy. It does move a little fast so hit pause to read or watch again.

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WhatPond updates

by Darrell Rhoades

pond fountainWhatPond has been a busy place this summer so far. And what a summer actually warm to very hot and muggy, not like last year when we only had 3 days above 80 degrees. Since the last post of my parents 50th we’ve had another party at the pond. At least this time we did not put up any tents because it was already windy. Then ½ hour before the party started the warnings came for severe thunderstorms and tornado’s. The day ended up great and a tornado did touch down but it was miles away from us. Oh the party was the July birthday party for my wife Wanda, her sister Tina, my brother Jeff and mom Jean who turn 70 this year hmmm I better leave that one alone, for now.

Finally finished up writing a book on How to Build a Farm Pond, the cool thing is it’s a down loadable book and when there are any updates or additions you’ll be notified to download again plus 2 interviews that have not been posted anywhere else. The book is on the special offer page and set up with PayPal be sure to click the return to merchant after purchase.

WhatPond’s website has been rearranged a little to help those who have ponds currently and need help with their water quality and to help you when planning your new pond. A couple videos and pages have been put up about pond bottom-aerationaeration. Starting with the Pond Fountain and showing one small power house of a fountain called the Evolution Fountain.  Next up is bottom aeration. We also have another site set up where you can learn what is happening below your water’s surface and how to improve your pond water quality. Well over 2 hours of video sign up and grab a pen and paper, a real eye opener.

Coming up is a report on a new pond dye we have been testing this year and why would you add microbes (bugs) to your pond? Comments are welcome, feel free to leave yours below.

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50th Anniversary

by Darrell Rhoades

The morning of the 50th Anniversary party forecast was 70% chance of rain mainly after 2:00 pm, yep that’s when the party started. As 2:00 got closer it got darker and just waiting for the rain to start but after a little while the clouds gave way to sunshine and the weather was perfect for the duration on the party. Family and Friends came to celebrate this mile stone in life, love and the long journey to their Golden Anniversary. As everyone arrived we did the greetings talked about old times and then proceeded to mingle off around the pond to check out all the life that is in and around the pond and explore the life the pond has been able to sustain.

Then about 3:00 everyone got called in so we could start eating and of course you need to know when to say when. But with all the food there was so many different things to try it was hard not eating too much. I can say all us kids did a great job on putting this little shindig together  from preparing all the food, lawn care and setting up 2 different areas in case it rained and pulling it off as a picnic type event. Our parents I believe where very impressed with all that we have set up for them and in putting this event together, from the food to the poster board of their wedding pictures, wishing well card catcher even the wedding cake was reproduced from old pictures, I thought that was pretty cool. Oh we didn’t do the cake.

After a while folks started to head out to their homes others helped in cleaning up and putting away the tons of leftover food, making small packages for folks to take some home with them. The last thing to get cleaned up was the chocolate fountain, not in the pond, but the one you can dip anything into and have chocolate strawberries, chips, banana’s, cherries and anything that goes with chocolate. Once that was cleaned up it was time to relax, it’s dark now and a fire going at the pond… Then it started to rain on and off, just a light sprinkle. After awhile we all headed off to bed. The weather seemed calm with the light sprinkle and there was hardly any wind so we figured it would be fine if we left the canopies up overnight and hope they would dry the next day.

Guess what… Woke up to Tornado warnings… Said hmmm wonder if the canopies made it? When I first got out of bed I looked in the back yard to the small pond and saw something weird looking in it. Yep it was the 10’ x 20’ car canopy. Well ok how did the other three survive? They didn’t the white carport played bulldozer after breaking the ropes and just crushing the other 3 on its way up the yard losing its legs along the way.

Having the party at the pond was a good idea as it seemed everyone enjoyed the life the pond had to offer, not to mention the relaxing atmosphere and entertainment of the Koi. The kids and some adults had a blast feeding the Koi by hand and getting their finger’s kissed.

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Mile Stones

by Darrell Rhoades

With everything in life we want it to last a long time, a great job, home, family and life in general. Oh yes of coarse this means are ponds and lakes too, but you can learn more about how to save your waters at My Pond Aeration.

I wanted to bring up a couple mile stones that are happening. These 2 mile stones are something that seems be falling by the way side as our culture, economy and government change every time we turn around.  Jobs and lively hoods are being lost to downsizing,  companies moving to find cheaper labor or just closing their doors, but I really don’t want to get into politics. In Our culture we are fast paced and want it now. If it doesn’t work cut your losses and try again.

Ok so what am I getting at? Something must be wrong or there must be a big secret that gets exposed when a couple get’s married then divorced one month later. My Dad jokingly said during our rehearsal that we should change the one vow to “for long as it should last” Wanda didn’t go for it. And it seems they must have started using that line for the modern weddings.

Here at WhatPond we have been getting the place mowed weeded and cleaned up for another event. This event has a Gold theme to it and happens to be my parents 50th anniversary. Having a small get together hopefully at the pond but back up plans ready in case of rain. My parents deserve it heck they had to raise me and my brothers and sister and well gotta hand it to them we all turned out pretty good. Plus all of other life issues they have had.

Happy 50th Anniversary to my parents

Memorial Day is another mile stone over 140 years, so take a minute and remember the military who has fought in and for our country. The day after Memorial Day is my anniversary to my place of work and I goofed on the math and thought I have been there 30 years but turns out to be 29. Still a long time and hope the economy holds until I retire.

Have a GREAT Memorial Day and be safe, sit back relax, take your time and enjoy what you are doing.

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