Good Morning Group! Thanks so much for being gentle to the newbie
questioning the thread. I thought for sure someone was going to give me the
ol "Jane you ignorant slut." line (SNL) Lest there be any question I
think this group is just flat out terrific, both for the knowledge gap they
try to fill on a constant basis and the people in general. I am a goofball
but it pleases me to think in some very small way I am a part of it. Yes,
in trying to research specific subjects I have come upon several groups that
were just innundated with immature banter. Here the banter seems most often
to be whether you drop that WH into the pond with your left hand or right
and what temperature the beer in the other hand should be I have met
several local ponders and they have been good people. My pond is filled
almost exclusively with plants that they have thinned/divided. Several have
droped by to see 'my problem' first hand. But the local message board often
is not very helpful, because most of the 'pros' there often will not reply.
I think they dont want to end each message by saying 'this is what worked
for me, you may have to modify it somewhat for your pond' - or - 'I dont
know but my guess would be....' I probably was just overreacting to a
misinterpreted inference that if you do such and such you WILL get this
result. My experience has been rarely is there a clear cut, cant miss
solution. But there are some clear cut if you do such and such you will
kill your fish rules. It is frustrating because every time a fish dies I
feel VERY badly it was probably at the hands of my ignorance, and yet I am
trying so hard to do good.
You guys are great! Thank you, thank you, thank you.............
Isle b'bac
Bill Brister - Austin, Texas

ps Inquiring minds have wondered what this secret handshake porgies thing
is


"Ka30P" wrote in message
...

A lot of answers, and experience, depends on the pond.

I have a messy, wildlife type pond. My main goal is to see how many
critters I
can attract and have been known to be thrilled to pieces over carnivorous
bladderwort and mayfly larvae.

Some folks have koi ponds. They actually know the names of the various
types of
koi and can pronounce them. Koi have been called living jewels and they
live up
to their names. Keeping koi is very exacting and watching your water
parameters
is so important to keep them healthy and thriving.

Others are more plant oriented. They know the names of their lilies
(unlike moi
who knows pink, white and yellow ;-) And they can actually grow
lotus (sigh, another goal I have yet to achieve).
And they can tell you the latin names of all the other pond plants.
Keeping
plants healthy and thriving is a different operation too.

Some ponders combine all three. That's a juggling act! And combining all
three
is again another specific set of skills.

Some of us like birds in our ponds,
others net the birds out. Some of us wish for
frogs, others buy earplugs. Some of us think snails are neat in the pond,
others prefer them with garlic and butter. Some of us drink beer by the
pond,
others are coffee addicts
(raising hand).

We try to stay away from politics... and we usually succeed.
We sure would like you to hang out with us.
Besides we haven't explained PORG to you yet...


kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A