We woke up about 6:30 this morning to calm and serenity after a night of thunderstorm after thunderstorm. My husband went to the front window to check the water level of the pond. (We've been very anxious after each rain to check our pond level since our big leak problem recently.) He came back through the house and "whisper yelled" for me to come quick and look outside.

I hurried to the window to see a great blue heron standing in the flower box that sits on the old fish-cleaning bench on our dock. Of course, I rushed to get my camera. My husband said "You'll never get a shot", because "our" heron has ears like a radio telescope. If we talk or even move within our walls that will spook him/her and he'll/she'll fly off. But I was lucky enough to get four really good pictures. (Oh, Marian, would you do me the pleasure if I e-mailed a couple to you?) The morning mist was rising from the pond in the background, and even though they were taken through very dirty windows,I thought they turned out pretty good.

After watching for a few minutes, my husband went into the bathroom (which is in the front of the house towards the pond) and turned on the water to brush his teeth. That was enough movement and noise from the house to cause the heron to fly to the dike and land for just a moment then head on off over the pasture. The funny thing was our three dogs were all asleep on the front porch and didn't even know the heron was there, or didn't even care.

Then later this morning, as my husband was heading out to get in his truck, we saw a heron come flying in from way over the tree tops. It acted like it was going to land in the treetops, but then another heron came out of the treetops on around the pond and they both flew off out of sight together. I'm glad they have each other. They always seem so lonely when I see just one.

I'm beginning to think something has happened to one of our wild goose pair that has mated and nested here since we've lived here. About a month ago we started seeing only one goose every day. We thought that mama goose was nesting on the other pond. But we've been over and investigated and can't find a nest or goose anywhere. We thought maybe they decided to nest elsewhere nearby. But the goose that comes to our pond sometimes spends the night and I just don't think a male would leave his female alone at night. He was always such a good sentry. So since our neighbors have seen a coyote around in the past few weeks, I'm wondering if it had goose for dinner one night. Our goose that does come by is here everyday for breakfast and is usually here when we get home from work. I don't know if it stays all day or not. Although today it didn't. Whether that was because we're here today or because it's going off to be with its mate,I can't say.

Blossom the duck is still sitting on her nest these days, but she comes off a couple times a day to feed and bathe, and get tackled by the males (poor girl). Our other nesting duck hardly comes off hers at all. So I'm thinking her eggs are very close to hatching. I'll keep you posted. Dusty Duck's third nest this year was raided again. That girl just needs to learn to nest close to the house. But I must say I'm not too disappointed.

BTW, with the recent rain storms this past week we've gained about 6-8 inches of water in our pond. Which means there's about a 2 foot rim of mud exposed around the edges now. So a couple more good storms like last night's will put us just at about normal for this time of year.

Lois, did the draining problem right itself or did you have to replace the pipes or whatever it was, I forget now. I sure hope that things are fine now and that you got lucky in avoiding what might have been a far more serious problem at your pond!

I can't wait to see your heron photos!!

My husband pounded a log up inside of the drain pipe that had a large hole rusted in it. The log went up inside the pipe about a foot past the hole. Now it has swollen and fits very tightly inside. No water is draining out of the pond. Once the pond fills to normal level, hopefully drainage will commence again but through the overflow pipe and not the drain pipe. Eventually we have to find the upper end of the drain pipe and fill it with concrete in case any other rusting occurs within the part of the pipe that's either under the pond or under the dike. That means drainage to some degree. We will wait until fall some year.