September 9, 2004
Our Thursday, September 9th, meeting was held at the home of Deb Frese and Kevin Dolan in Cedar Rapids. It was a beautiful night for sitting by the pond and talking and Deb and Kevin’s pond is a beauty to sit by for sure. President, Kacy Novak, opened the meeting by asking that the minutes be approved as printed in the previous newsletter. And, they were. Nancy Baldwin gave her treasure’s report and announced no new memberships for the month.
Carol Sindelar talked briefly about a Cedar Rapids Community Planning meeting she attended entitled “15 in 5”. (15 community projects finished in 5 years) that Cedar Rapids is seeking ideas from everybody on. If you have any ideas for projects of any kind (beautification or otherwise), please contact Carol.
Deb then gave a short talk about her pond. Seems it was already at the residence when they moved in. Deb’s back yard is a hard slope into a wooded ravine. There is barely a flat enough place for a pond, but it looks great in it’s natural wildlife setting. This is their second summer in learning to care for it. She demonstrated some netting that they use to cover it in the fall to help keep out the leaves. The fish seemed happy in their home and a rabbit even appeared to check out the crowd. Deb also fed us some extra yummy treats. Wish I hadn’t eaten so much supper prior to going there.
Tim Nolan shared with us some pictures of how he nets his pond using a support made of PVC pipe.
The Wutzkes are moving south permanently and are tearing down their pond. They have many plants available (mints, forget me knots, water celery, iris, horsetail, etc. ) If you are interested give her a call and make an offer. Jeanette or Bruce 377-2010.
We next did a round robin conversation about what everyone used to keep a hole in their pond with or how they cared for their pond in the winter. Many great ideas were expressed. Some simply take their fish into the house or garage, there were various heating devices being used with pros and cons discussed about each. I felt it was very informative for the new members just going into their first winters. Gave them lots to think about.
Kacy will be starting a sign up sheet for a mass club order of slow release- 1 yearly dose, fertilizer tabs for our plants. Any one interested in getting some, please see her. If we can get enough ordered, we can get a discount on them, making them around 40 cents per tablet.
Door prizes where drawn for with fish food going to Lou Winchip and Roger Thompson and pond clarifier going to Edna Rife.
Respectfully submitted - Jackie Allsup
September 25, 2004
Saturday, Sept. 25th....Our regular Saturday meeting was called to order by president, Kacy Novak at the home of Margie and Roger Thompson. New member, Ron Zimmerman from Langworthy was introduced. Many of you may know him for his lawn ornament business right along the highway.
We began with Roger telling us about his pond and surrounding landscape. If you recall, Roger sold his lawn mower at a garage sale last year and has been enjoying his landscape which is now completely planted in native habitat. He explained that in trying to establish a natural habitat, you look for native plants that are supportive of wildlife, hardy, and drought tolerant. They should provide shelter, nuts, and seeds.
This is their 3rd season for their new landscape and it is quite beautiful. Their 2400 gallon pond is it’s focal point. Roger and friends hauled in 30 tons of rock, to put together his 6 foot waterfall and 4 foot deep pond. Home to plants and many a happy fish, it is easily viewable from his 4 seasons porch. We held our meeting there and everybody chowed down on the great spread of food and drinks that Margie and Julie put together.
Roger also talked briefly about some earlier fish health issues he had with his ponds. A couple fish parasites that were causing some of his smaller fish to die. Roger shared with us the types of medications he used to get rid of them. Namely Anchors Away for fish lice and Prazi for gill flukes. ( A lot of people don’t like to talk about fish problems. I think they don’t like to admit they’re having problems. I commend Roger for sharing his experience and know members will learn from them.) Fish are live animals, sickness and troubles are very, very common. Dogs and cats get fleas, fish can get parasites easily. If your dog gets fleas we don’t take it as something we personally did wrong, we just fix it. It’s part of pet care. Fish should be the same way. Early detection, again is the key to fish survival. (Sorry, off my soap box and back to the minutes.)
After Roger's brief talk, Kacy commended the newsletter and the people and articles that have been going into it. She again mentioned that if you have something you’d like to contribute to the newsletter, please e-mail or send it to Carol Sindelar, our editor.
Kacy shared with us some pictures of Quinn in his wet suit and some great frog pictures that he had taken.
A treasure’s report was given and approved. The club has received several Koi Nutrition II books that are free to members if you are interested. Also, samples of KOI magazine, which is published by AKCA were available for members to view to see if they’d like to subscribe to.
Julie Thompson then presented Roger and Margie with an anniversary cake. They have been together 34 years! We all sang Happy Anniversary to the Happy Birthday music. Roger also had a birthday last Tuesday, so they have had much to celebrate lately.
Door prizes where drawn for. Roger and Margie had purchased a cement statue from Zimmerman’s and Harry Allsup(me, me, me!) won it. Then he drew my name for some fish food! Pat Bueter also won some food and Elana Morley took home some Water Prep.
It was a beautiful fall day for a pond meeting. It was great to see Karen and Roger Inman again. Many thanks to Margie, Roger, and Julie for their hospitality.
Respectfully, Jackie Allsup, Sec.
|