pond ice art
Nor surprisingly, the pond has built up a layer of ice. A few days ago when it was still forming the sun was out and the frozen pond in sunlight is irresistible to me.
Last year I had just a lifeless sheet of frozen water to photograph. This year though there's a biosystem under the ice, and that makes it so much more interesting.
So this is what I saw:
I was trying to make this a one-word Wednesday post, but I couldn't come up with a single word to describe it. "Ice" wasn't quite right, nor was "pond". Maybe "fishsticks" would have been best, but I'm not even sure if that's a single word.
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Great photos.
Don't have a pond and don't think it would freeze a solid surface if I did here in TX, but I read once where people in colder areas float styrofoam or rubber balls in their ponds to then lift out after the freeze to make holes for the fish to surface. Is that a necessity for them?
Sandy: There needs to be a way for gases to escape the water. I've read that setting a pot full of boiling water on the ice surface and letting it melt a hole is a good method. (Striking the ice to break it sends a possibly lethal shockwave into the water so don't do that!)
I love the pics of the fish swimming under the ice. You must have a sizeable pond. Don't you have a problem with various predators eating the fish?
Jason: the fish are so hard to see in the summer, as they hide whenever I come near. The raccoons don't stand a chance.