I was surprised to see Joe last night. As dusk settled in I noticed that Joe was on station. I had not seen her all day. The warmest part of the day was around 6:00 PM. That might have roused her from her hidden safe haven. What ever drew her out must have ended as she was not to be found this morning. The morning low temperature was again chasing 40 degrees.
I don't think I will see her in the next couple of days because we have started work on the waterfall that failed this past winter.
Apparently the mortar used to secure the stones in the waterfall couldn't stand up to the water and started to disintegrate. With the cycles of wet to freeze and back again, some of the flat stones of the waterfall fell into the 6 foot deep pond. It exposed some rusting re-bar and changed the desired water flow. It wasn't very attractive.
Today we removed the flat stones, all the re-bar, a bunch of the mortar and wire mesh that was used to try and hold things together. I have an expert from the local pond store advising me as well as helping... maybe I'm helping him. Yep, I think it's the latter.
We started placing new flat stones to form a waterfall. We lay a stone, shim it so it is secure and fairly level. Then we go to the other side of the pond and look at it. We then tweak it and look... tweak and look. That is where we left it this afternoon and will continue on tomorrow afternoon. Once we get the stones like we want them we will take it all apart and put it back together but this time we will use foam as a filler and adhesive. Once we finish, the area under the flat stones should be protected from the water and the stones quite secure.
So Joe will have to tough it out for a while. If she subscribes to the 'ol adage of "the early frog gets the bird" then she will be fine. If she puts off hunting until the afternoon then I'm afraid the day will be a bust for her. Of course as it cools her need for food also diminishes.
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