The polar vortex from the north came in on November 11 with a wind storm that packed quite a wallop! The sound of the timber bamboo being slapped against the greenhouse was quite unnerving so I didn't stay out there long. Fortunately, we didn't loose power and had no damage to any of our trees although there were a few trees down in the neighborhood. Some pots blew over and a few things were broken though.
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Here is the view from the back door before the storm.
And here it is the morning after.
Since the cold has settled in, things are looking a bit more brown now.
On the night of the storm, something happened which caused the water level of the pond to lower quite a bit. The electric fence lines that protect the pond from predators were covered in ice in spots and were also twirled around each other which may have caused the fence to short out.
Before the storm.
After. I'd filled the pond back up but you may notice that while there is leaf debris on the surface of the water, there are no fish.
The raccoons took advantage of the combination of low water and malfunctioning equipment and ate every last fish. After four years of no predator visits, the fish had grown large and friendly. I'll miss their beautiful and comical presence in the pond. It's best that we are done with fish until I drain and enlarge the pond. No more shelves for water plants as they acted as steps down! Straight sides all the way down to the bottom (6 - 8 feet.) Can't blame the raccoons, they just did what it's their nature to do. It was surprising that they chose the most miserable, windy night to do this. If the wind hadn't been howling, we might have heard them at the pond. So, what would you do, lave the pond as is for the sound and reflection of light, rework the pond to make it too deep for the raccoons/safer for fish or get rid of it altogether? I could punch holes in the liner and make a bog garden or remove it, fill the hole with sand/gravel and plant agaves - maybe even use the rocks to make a crevice garden. I'm leaning towards making a deeper, steeper pond.
On the bright side, the storm cleared the leaves from the pathways.