Apples and Algae

This past year was a great one for gardens in that the weather conditions were wonderful for growing vegetables, fruit, and mushrooms.  I've never seen as any apples and mushrooms.  Here's a nearby apple tree laden with fruit in the fall.

Good growing conditions for plants include sunlight and moisture.  Lots of rain fell this past spring and summer.  We had a huge storm around Memorial Day that caused a small landslide onto Route 4.  A few other storms were almost as severe.  If we were in Virginia, these storms would be called "gully-washers".  Unfortunately heavy rainfall causes erosion, which contributes to phosphorus loading in our pond.  The same weather conditions that gave us a great vegetable year, fed the alga in Quimby Pond.  The gleotrichia alga from last year was replaced by another species of blue green alga.  We are not doing anything wrong, in fact most of us on the pond have made great efforts at lessening runoff into the pond.  This past summer, the Quimby Pond water clarity was less than 2009.  Our cloudiest water had a Secchi disk reading of 1.05 meters.  That's lower than it has been for years, but the clarity hasn't been as low as the readings in 1983 and 1984.

The image above is a Secchi disk in Quimby Pond.  Water clarity in our pond is measured (in this way) every 2 weeks.  A Secchi disk is lowered into the water column and the depth at which the Secchi disk disappears is recorded.  A scope is used to prevent glare from affecting your vision.  It appears that this Secchi disk is suspended by a rope, but actually it's a plastic measuring tape, which makes it easy to determine the depth of the disk.

I welcome 2012 in hopes that we are a little luckier and mother nature is a little kinder in limiting those "gully-washing storms".  Here's hoping our pond water improves this year.

Happy New Year.

Here's another of Gayla's images from the past summer.

It seems a little more like the Christmas season. 

After much freezing and thawing, Quimby Pond finally froze last night (hopefully for the winter).   The temperature has not been above 17 degrees for the past 18 hours.

Here's a photo that almost looks like waves, but it's actually ice with a little blown snow.   The image was taken at 2:30 PM today.  Take note that the sun is pretty darn close to the horizon.  Ah, it's winter!

All is well in Rangeley.  The town is abuzz with Christmas concerts and Saddleback opening today.  The cross country ski trails should open next week. Snowmobiling has not begun, because we have too little snow (about an inch on the ground).

When the weather is this cold, it's oftentimes nice to reflect on this past summer.   Here's a "flashback" photo from this past summer from Gayla Ellis.

Happy Holidays from Quimby Pond

December 5, 2011

I've been away from the blog for a very long time....over a year. My shortcomings are obvious, but Quimby Pond and it's people are deserving of more effort on my part.

I thought that I would post at least two pictures about a couple of times per month.  One will be Quimby Pond now (this winter) and the other will be an image of Quimby Pond during the summer.  A neighbor, Gayla Ellis, has offered to use some of her images.  Gayla is a wonderful professional photographer who spends a month on the pond during the summer.  I'm grateful for her donation.

Here's an incredibly beautiful image of a Quimby sunset from Gayla Ellis.

The pond has been "trying to freeze" for most of November and early December.  The water will form a skim of ice nearly covering the pond at nighttime, then EVERY day the ice melts. This freezing and thawing happens every year, but I've never seen it last quite this long.  It's unusual in that even if the temperature remains in the 40's during the night....in the morning there's ice!  It seems as if the pond is trying to make up its mind.

Mystery Picture

Do you have any idea of the picture subject? The answer is at the bottom.

On May 13th, the watershed survey was done. The results are at Kristin Feindell's office. Kristin works for the "State o' Maine" and she will analyze the results. The final results will be available this winter, but she promised us to get a preliminary page (that we can distribute) at the beginning of the summer.

I can tell you that we didn't have any huge problems. There are a number of non point phosphorus sources that could be addressed. These are mainly on the shorefront properties. It would help the pond if we could make our driveways so that they do not head straight downhill and they should have a crown or be slanted so that water flows into vegetation (not the pond). If we could make sure that trails and paths (to the water) are not eroded at all, it would help the pond. And if we could increase the vegetative buffers (that area of shorefront properties directly on the pond, which ideally is left undisturbed) are as wide as possible, it would decrease the phosphorus input into Quimby. Although I promised that I would not broadcast individual recommendations on the web, I can tell you that we need to address the boat access area, which is owned by the state. These areas are typically the worst for most ponds, because they head directly downhill and are oftentimes eroded by pushing boats into the pond.

The answer to the mystery picture is: It's a time lapse photograph of those small, white flies that swarm in the sunlight.

May Snow

Just a quick post today. The weather has turned cold again and it has been "spitting snow" (which I've learned means flurries) for about a day. It's too warm for the snow to really "stick", but we got a dusting last night. It's too late in the spring for this! The Watershed Survey
We have been busy preparing for the watershed survey, which will be done on Thursday, May 13th. We have had an amazing response from the questionnaire. According to other associations, there is an average of about 15 percent return of the written survey. Ours is over 70%. We have had an a low number of owners, who don't want us on their property. Only one has given a definite NO (but I had a broaden definition of the watershed and that owner is likely outside of the watershed). And one owner wanted to be home, when the watershed survey was done. This is so low that it is "unheard of".
I am so pleased with the response and my neighbors. You all are wonderful. As I've said before, "I wouldn't want to live anywhere else!"

For those of you with homes here, expect to find a little plastic bag on your doorknob with instructions on its use. It contains a small bottle of septic dye and its use is voluntary.

My hopes for Thursday are:
1. We find a few sources of non point phosphorus (run off) to correct (to help the pond) and none of these are expensive to fix.
2. The owners, who are here, don't object to the team.

Wish us luck.

The Loons are Back

This is the first common loon that I saw. I arrived back at Quimby Pond on April 14th and they were here....most likely the loons arrived before me. Some of the summer folk wonder when the loons arrive. It looks like they arrive within 5 days after "ice out".

This one (below) is a little more "loon like.
And I received a picture (below) from Marcia Baker of her in their canoe on April 10, 2010.

Ice Out ! April 9, 2010

Although these pictures look like they are in reverse order, they are not!

The first one is this morning at 6 AM during some rain.
The ice floated again a few hours later.

I was hoping for a loon, but a seagull was apparently the first to find open water. (You can barely see him.)
Thanks to Sandi Andrews for the photos!