OMG! Lee!

Beach shoes (swim shoes, socks, whatever they call them), but you know, if
you had to get up to your waist, when you bent over you were gonna get all
wet anyway.... right?

So as mentioned, the hook method. In my case I purchased two long handled 3
pronged rakes, that look just like the short handled types for hand digging
in the garden. Then I use baskets with rims, or for tropicals in round pots
I put those round pots inside baskets with rims. ~ jan Brrrr

Lee Brouillet wrote:
So, there I was, standing by the pond, surveying my domain:

The lilies look a little shabby from the last frost, and they're putting out
new shoots, and they have to be repotted and fertilized, so - I should pull
them out of the pond, yes? Checked the water temp: 70*, not good - but not
too bad. Gotta find my swim suit so I don't scare the neighbors . . . ahh,
here it is. Step in, start to pull it up: tug, tug, YANK, pull some more -
damn! how do these things shrink so much over the winter??? Stuff, stuff,
stuff some more . . . well, at least everything's covered. Back out to the
pond; call hubby to "spot" me while I'm in the pond (you're gonna do
WHAT???), check the temp again (yep, still 70* - it didn't get any warmer!).
Start to ease into the water . . . up to my knees (not too bad!), up to my
thighs (ooo! this is a bit colder than I thought it would be); fish curious
and checkin' me out . . . one more step down (careful, the bottom is
slipperier than goose stuff!); water above my waist (Damn! this stuff is
COLD!), one more step over to the lilies and . . . ker-splash! under I go!
Back up to the surface, arms flailing, hair plastered over my eyes,
expletives exploding from me and blistering the air in the most imaginative
and impossible arrangements - hubby rolling around on the porch *howling* at
me, fish spooked and stacked on top of each other at the far end of the
pond, and I STILL had to get the bloody lilies off the bottom!!! Gathered
what was left of my composure (not much!), reached down . . . a little
farther down, ahhh, there's the rim - hook my fingers on the rim, drag it
over a bit, there it is - got it now! pick it up . . . and it slid outta my
hands right onto my foot! (repeat expletives!) Hubby now wiping tears from
his eyes, he's laughing so hard (hmph, I'll take care of him LATER!). Got
the pot back up to the surface and reached for the edge (peooey! what
happened to the "sweet" smell???), hubby grabs the pot and takes it from me,
promptly dragging all the long, cold, wet, algae-encrusted leaves and stems
all over me! ACCCK! And there's still one pot to go!

Eventually, I was able to crawl out of the pond . . . Please tell me there's
an easier way to do this????

Lee




See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
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