I don’t know about the rest of you but the heat is beginning to get a little old with no relief in site. It is really surprising just how quickly water evaporates from the ponds. All of mine need to be topped up every couple of days. I have timers on the faucets that are used for this job but even they are not 100% foolproof and I have to keep reminding myself that I need to check them after I have set them filling the ponds. Trouble is, we are back into the old “memory” thing and I sometimes forget to check. Usually, moments of panic when I realize that the water MAY have been running for 2 hours or more. I drop everything and rush out the door and most of the time, everything is OK but there are the odd times when the timer didn’t  shut off and then I’m rushing around adding water de-chlorinator and praying that none of the big fish don’t start to float.

I have figured it out that our water flow is about 75 gallons over 15 minutes so in a couple of ponds, I set the timers for 15 minutes and on the others, 30 minutes. You would think that 150 gallons into 5000 gallons and 3500 gallon ponds respectively would easily be absorbed but in both instances, I have lost big Koi following the fill up. Other times, no problems. So, now I fill in 15 minute increments and hope for the best. On the pond with the 2 streams attached, I can run the water for 30 minutes without any problems. I guess the water flow over the rocks and stuff in the streams neutralizes the chlorine.

My latest episode was with a 15 minute fill in the double pond which in theory, should not have created any problems but as I watched, one of the big Koi, easily 24 inches long, suddenly started jumping and racing around. When it finally quit, it was swimming upside down with the nose to the bottom of the pond. I left it for a couple of days and then moved it to a 350 gallon pond that I have in case of emergencies. This pond has been treated with sea salt. Currently, the fish is still upside down but has calmed down. I am not too hopeful that we can save this fish.

None of my fish have names. For one thing, there are probably more than 80 of them. For another, they are not like my dogs or cats that are affectionate and give me attention. It’s hard to cuddle up to a fish…

Fall is coming early this year especially with all of this heat. I have to water by hand, my fairly extensive garden, every couple of days. Even then, a lot of the plants are stressed out and are getting to where they are already going into their winter hibernation. It’s so sad to see the stuff die off or shut down early even after all of the TLC that I give. I can only hope that a lot of it will come back next year if we ever get any rain, that is.

Here I am complaining as is the human nature, about the drought and as it affects me. There are many others whose livelihood is affected, farmers and others that work the land and who may well be out of business because of it. In the end, it will hit us all in our pocketbooks as food becomes scarcer and therefore more expensive to buy.