Backyard Pond

So despite it being a three-day holiday weekend, we did not go for a three-day motorcycle ride this year as has become our habit. Reena worked on Saturday, and I took a solo day trip to Pewit's Nest (see post below). On Sunday it really seemed like it was going to storm at any minute, so we quick mowed the lawn and started doing some long-ignored weeding and removal of last-year's stalks. One hour became two, and it STILL looked like immanent rain, so I started the truly disgusting task of emptying and mucking out my small backyard pond. It's under part of our neighbor's sprawling silver maple tree, so it gets a lot of fallen leaves, twigs, helicopter seeds, and other gack in it. Compounding this mess is that my pump failed last year so the pond was stagnant for a month or so last fall, and was full all winter. I got the pump working, so draining the pond was pretty easy, if smelly. Once empty of most of the water, the pond had a two inch layer of muck. *sigh* Nothing for it except to wade in and scoop it into a bucket, lug it to the compost bin, and repeat until it's mostly empty and I'm covered in foul smelling splatters. I did NOT touch my camera during this process!

The end result, though, is an awfully pretty little pond, with a newly invigorated waterfall. The birds love it, and it is a late afternoon pool party for all sorts of avian visitors. It is also like porn for the cat! This morning before the light got too overhead, I got out there and took this shot:

My backyard pond - 1/2 second at f/22, ISO 200 using a 4ND (neutral density) filter and a tripod.