This past Saturday, Gary and Kathy Ragan opened their home and their yard as host to a party for the Austin Pond Society members. The party was scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. but I arranged to arrive early so that I could take some video pictures in the daylight of the pond and stream that they have built.

What a beautiful piece of art it turned out to be. The stream starts level with the top deck, runs past the lower deck and then into the pond which is set below the lower deck. The pond was home to several very pretty goldfish who obligingly showed off their colors to the guests. The high spot for me was the little rubber duckie that also called the pond, home.

The stream and pond appearance was very deceiving as far as the height between the waterfall and the pump. Guesses ranged from 16 feet to 4 feet, the last of which was Gary’s and as he built the feature, I think he should know.

About 20 or so members showed up to enjoy the food and the excellent company. As I walked from group taking pictures, I heard snippets of conversation about the things that interest pond enthusiasts and as always, there was discussion of Nature’s most feared killing machine, at least to pond people, the majestic Blue Heron. From what I could hear, the Heron(s) was winning most of the battles.

Ragan Party from Francis Allcorn on Vimeo.

I left the party about 9:30 and it was still going strong. Thank you Gary and Kathy for hosting it.