Knitting in the Shadows: MONDAY! Mermaid (and other aquatic issues) Report

Well, it seems that after managing to get in a post a day for a solid week, I totally blew you off yesterday. I blame proof reading.

But that job is done! Done done done!
Yay!

And since I turned it in this MORNING, I had time for a visit with Mermaid, and thus can make my obligatory Mermaid report (thus leaving you in suspense yet another day about why Saturdays aren't for shoes, and what else they held).

I didn't have quite as much time with Mermaid as I'd have liked, since I had other waterly duties to attend. Even though the man-made pond in my back yard isn't big enough for a Mermaid to swim in, at least not an adult mermaid, I do like it a great deal. And watching the water in its water fall move under the ice in the winter is quite neat.

Yeah, Ice. It seems that when it gets really freakin' cold (like say, in January in the Midwest), the water in our pond starts to freeze on top -- making a pretty icy surface all over the pond (and creating a sort of lid under which the waterfall continues to flow). But creating that lovely icy lid is, as far as the water level in the pond is concerned, equivalent to some serious evaporation. And that means that while the ice thickens, the amount of water available for the fish to swim in and the pump to push around is getting smaller and smaller.

Today, it occurred to me to check the water level in that pond. It was low. Really low. Pump burn-out low. So I grabbed my trusty five-gallon bucket, and filled it up with water, and hauled it out to the pond, and poured the water in. The pump sounded better for a second. So I did it again: I walked inside, closed the door, filled the bucket, hauled it out of the sink, opened the door, stepped outside, shut the door, walked over to the pond, poured in the water, walked back to the door, opened it, ... and repeated the whole process about ten times. (It was kind of like knitting that way -- only colder). Thereafter, I began looking at the water level in the trap upon emptying the bucket into it to see if I could detect any sign of the water I'd just poured in. I repeated the process another ten times or so before I began to see any difference that lasted longer than, oh, five seconds. I repeated the process another ten times or so, this time looking at the water level upon arriving back at the pond to see if I could notice a difference in the water level that lasted long enough for me to make that round trip. After another eight trips or so, I finally began to notice a difference. A wee one. It took from the time I poured the water in to the time I came out again to disappear -- it wasn't just instant.

Then I thought about chlorine. After dumping some 75-100 gallons of water in the pond, it dawned on me that I'd not put any de-chlorinator in the water. This is bad for the fish. Very bad.

So, I began flapping uselessly around the kitchen and laundry room looking for the de-chlorinator, finding none, and freaking out for a while. I needed to keep adding water, or the pump would burn out. But I needed to stop adding chlorine or the fish would die.

Luckily, after deciding that I could risk ten more gallons before making a mad dash to the fish store for de-chlorinator, I found some. Phew. It only took another thirty or so gallons of water to make the water level look like it was supposed to after that.

I'm adding a repeating task to my Outlook Calendar now. Every two days. "Add five gallons of water to the pond (repeat if necessary)." I do NOT want to do this again. Next time it might be four degrees instead of today's balmy 27.

But... all that trudging about with water buckets took up valuable knitting time. So I'm only about 1/3 of the way through the second under-arm panel. (Yep, I did get that gusset done). I'm hoping that tonight's TV session will finish up the under-arm panel and get me to the gusset on the other side.

I'm having high hopes for the next Mermaid Report! Now if only I could get that dratted needle cable to quit curling during the photography sessions!

Comments

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Your Mermaid is so gorgeous! Mine is still sunning itself on some wave enveloped rock somewhere. Have finished the Fox though. Hope to find that Mermaid in amongst the stack of UFOs, and soon.

Posted by: Bev | January 22, 2008 at 11:52 AM