Thank You!

To everyone sending in their thoughts and prayers in response to our recent hurricane announcement, we'd just like to say 'Thank You!'

In case we don't respond to your emails directly (there were a LOT of them), we apologize. We'll do our best to reply, but if you don't hear from us, then just know that it meant a lot to us to receive all your support emails... (from all over the world).

We were very fortunate here, especially in light of some of the pictures we've been seeing from the last hurricane (IVAN) that destroyed many homes, and caused widespread destruction.

It's been a very stress-filled several weeks, but we're happy to report that we're ok and back to business as usual.

Our thoughts go out to everyone on the West coast of florida, and the southern states in the Florida pan-handle. For all you Northerners (smile), we recommend you go to weather.com and take a look at some of the pictures from hurrican Ivan:

Here's the link:
http://www.weather.com/newscenter/topstories/ivanslideshow.html?from=home

One in particular that really hit close to home, was this picture of a man on his knees praying, and the pile of debris behind him that used to be his home.

http://image.weather.com/web/multimedia/images/slideshows/ivan/beachhouserubble.jpg

To give you an idea of some of what our other readers have experienced, as well as some of the wonderful comments some of you have sent in, see below

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Here are some comments that some of you have sent in:

"Thanks so much for your info with regards to your fish surviving for 4 days without aeration, etc. I live in New Port Richey (on the west coast of Florida) and I have 5 acres on a bayou to the Gulf. I lost power for 2 days and my husband has a small generator so we were able to keep the pond going but now I know that they can last at least 4 days as my pond is not over crowded (at least for now until my koi babies grow up). My question, since I live near the Gulf and have brackish water on 2 sides of me, do you have any suggestions other than getting the fish out of the pond, should we have a storm surge and saltwater gets into the pond. Any hope for the koi? Any chemical to counteract the saltwater. I appreciate all you are doing for us pond owners.

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!! Stay safe and pray that Jeanne goes away."

Thanks again,

Leslie

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Well Hello, I'm so glad you guys are ok.

Sherry

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Glad you had some better luck then others. Ivan hit us here in ohio last night pretty hard and everything is flooding. Luckily I am high enough. We lived in West Palm Beach for 5 years about 5 years ago we moved back to ohio (stupid move) and wish to go back soon, so all of your pictures look familiar. The question for the winter up here in ohio can I take my 2 fish out of my pond and put them insude in a tank for the winter. They are shabumcans (spell ??). If so should I use pond water and a normal filter?

Thanks
Robert

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Hi Brett,

I am sure happy to hear you all came out fine and in one piece from that hurricane. If you need anything from out here in Texas just let me know and I'll send it over immediately. Thanks for the pictures and I'm really glad to hear you are all fine.

I've got my small pond going very well and I'm hoping to built a bigger one this coming spring. Well take good care of yourselves and don't hesitate to call if you need anything or if we can be of any assistance.

Ruben

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I just want you to know we enjoy getting your emails about water gardens and ponds. Out thoughts and prayers are you you. Linda

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Glad to hear you survived the third wave of hurricanes, and hope no more will develope.

We live in NW Oklahoma............thanks. Stan Murphy

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Glad you all are safe .. 'tis the season, batton down the hatches and all that. thanks for the pictorial. Fish probably think it's just another day :) -sarah

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I was here i live in Gulfport South Mississippi, we are ok, just had a mess, NOW WE ARE LOOKING AT THE OTHER

Joan

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Dear Friends of the garden ponds Iam happy to know that your'll were able to just weather the storm and no great losses or lives were taken it was good you took the time to do what was relevant to secure your homes ,I am aware of the next one on it's way, be vigilant and have god and faith close to you ,make sure there is lots of water and food...

As i am writing you on our local radio the news has just informed us that anther hurricane has developed in the atlantic it's name is "CARL" so it seems they are coming fast and furoius , so my friends i will hold you in my prayers for your safety and your families and may the father shelter your homes with the palm of his hands .Hope to hear from you soon .

LESTER

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Dear Brett,

I really dont know how this email thing works when you send your adress and someone writes back to you, I cant imagine that the owner of a company can have the time to answer all the emails he gets, if it is like this, let me congratulate you!

I am very happy that you are okay with the hurricane thing and I thank you for showing us with pictures how it is over there. Here in Guatemala we dont suffer from that, just earthquakes! :)

Your dog Max is nice. In the store we have three small schnauzzers, Daisy, Mussaka and Thula. They are own by my nieces & nephews.

It is a nice page you have and it is nice to receive your news. We'll pray to the Lord that everything goes okay for you with the hurricanes,

Ana Guatemala

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Hi Brett,

Nice to hear that you survived so well during Frances. Well this is the price we have to pay for living in the paradise. Sometimes you ask yourself if this is the paradise. Especially during hurricane season. But then the nice warm weather is back again, you forget about all and just enjoy. We have had 3 hurricanes here in Nassau the past 5 years. Put up a new fence four times on the sea side. "Lost" the garden tree times and have just boarded up for the next - Jeanne. But this morning it looks as she will take a more easterly track so we are keeping our fingers crossed. I hope she will not turn west and visit us or you on her way to the north. Talked to our son in Sweden yesterday. They had Francis on Wednesday night - but a much weaker lady of course.

Take care, board up in time and buy some Home Depot shares in time for next season.

Best Regards

Lars Bahamas

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Hello Brett, Happy you survived Frances.... Looks like a lot of work to board up those windows, but necessary .

Thanks for your monthly letters. Very helpful.

Ron Harwood, Brockville, Ontario, Canada

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thanks for sending letters after all you've been thru...max is darling!

Laura

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nice to read your pages. and good luck.Hope you guy will do good and survived the coming Hurricane.

Jackson Chen

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Thanks for the news that you survived nasty Ivan reasonably well. Fish are sturdy as long as there is oxygen. Do you have a generator hook up to your pumps? I misunderstood once how much the temperature pushes out oxygen and lost some favorite koi one day.

In the Puget Sound area the time of year to buy generators is in the spring when they are an out of season item at the home improvement stores. There are also ways to set up your breaker boxes to prioritize what your generator does.

I was amazed that people other than you had not bought plywood ahead or saved it from before. There are always the chronically naive.

Best wishes, Sharon Sloan

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Hey guys i am so glad to hear you guys made it thru these storms ok.

Charles

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God be with you Brett. I can't even imagine what it is like to live in a hurricane area. I don't even like the infrequent 30 mph wind gusts we get in Denver. We stay pretty calm most of the time with tornados to the far east of us. A lot of building going on and many people wanting the peace and tranquility that ponding brings to a home. I had my coworkers out the other day and they were just amazed at the beauty of our pond and what it added to our landscaping. Last winter we had 2 inches of solid ice on our pond. I had two small heaters in the pond itself but the biofalls and stream froze over even with the pump running. I turned the pump thinking it was the wise thing to do.....wrong. The water backed up, froze and burst the pipe in our skimmer. We lost all but one fish and don't want that to happen again. My new fish are beautiful and all have names. We may have a harder winter this year because of all the moisture we have had during the summer.

Carole Lakewood, CO

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Here in Fort Lauderdale, in spite of the fact that Frances really passed safely to the north of us, we still had debris in our pond and no power for perhaps a total of 6 days. We lost power at 2pm on Saturday. It took only 4 hours for the fish to begin coming to the surface of the pond hunting for oxygen. OK, so we turn on the generator and plug in our big bubbler!

At 10:45am on Monday the power came back. Yeah! We sent our generator off to Palm Beach to help a friend with her nursery. At 6am Tuesday, the power left, not to return until late on Thursday. Quick, go to Palm Beach to get the generator!

Our inverter was not up to running the bubbler. We borrowed a regulator from a friend to hook up to our 2 dive tanks. No air! OK. Go rent a tank. We bubbled air into the pond...not really good enough. So, every hour or so, I sat with the hose, jetting water into the pond to create turbulence...and hopefully a little oxygen. The generator returned that night, much to my relief and chagrin (the NOISE!). We also discovered that in addition to running our beer fridge (now full of food) and the laptop, it would run the pump for the pond. Fortunately, in the end, the fish were fine and the mess wasn't too bad.

I think our problem with oxygen may have been due to the fact that my 2200gal. pond is 3ft. deep, the better to discourage the great blue heron that hangs out occasionally (the '747'), without as much surface as your pond appears to have. When we had a larger, shallower pond, it was easier to be without power. I'm already planning for the next outage and will lay in a much larger inverter and a marine battery to run our bubbler which takes more power than our small 100watt inverter and the car battery!

Wish us all luck with Jeanne! Garie Blackwell

PS Will send a picture one of these days and am looking forward to tomorrow's article.

Garie Blackwell

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Brett, Just got your email detailing your adventure with the hurricane season. I think if it was me Virginia would be the perfect place. Now my problem. I do plan on purchasing the filtering system from you but,can't swing it now. I have what are called the Green Machine from Hozelock Cyp. They are not doing the job at all for me I have two of them and the water only rises up about eight inches instead of all the way to the top. I was told that they are supposed to rise all the way before they can do the job in these biological filters. Your mentioning it in the news letter prompted me contacting you today. How does yours clean the water? Thank You Joe

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Thanks so much for your info with regards to your fish surviving for 4 days without aeration, etc. I live in New Port Richey (on the west coast of Florida) and I have 5 acres on a bayou to the Gulf. I lost power for 2 days and my husband has a small generator so we were able to keep the pond going but now I know that they can last at least 4 days as my pond is not over crowded (at least for now until my koi babies grow up). My question, since I live near the Gulf and have brackish water on 2 sides of me, do you have any suggestions other than getting the fish out of the pond, should we have a storm surge and saltwater gets into the pond. Any hope for the koi? Any chemical to counteract the saltwater. I appreciate all you are doing for us pond owners. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!! Stay safe and pray that Jeanne goes away. Thanks again, Leslie

Leslie Hudson Clearwater, Florida

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Fist I want to say, I love your newsletter emails. They are very informative. I have a very small pond, 90 gallons, but I adore it and have learned a lot from your articles. I have actually built my own filtration system that is working fabulously. My question is my boyfriend bought me a submersible ultraviolet clarifier/sterilizer 10 watt. I have never used one before and my water is very clear since I made my new filter system, but to keep it clear this was recommended to us. I don't know what time of year I am supposed to put it on and where in my pump system. I guess what I am asking is it too late in the season with fall coming? I am in Massachusetts. Could you help me?

Sincerely,

Cindy Lavine ====