This morning when I awakened the temperature was in the 20s. Normally I try to shut down the pond on Thanksgiving Day, but this year Thanksgiving is late. I made my coffee, fed the birds, and then decided to go out and shut down the drip pump. This pump forces water through layers of shale to the side of the falls, then out over the surface so that it looks like a spring seeping and dripping over the rocks. I lifted the large planter that I invert over the electric box to hide it, and pulled the plug on the little pump. As I do so, I notice that on top of the electric box is a little pile of shredded leaves and fluff like milkweed seeds and dryer lint, all mixed together into a mess. I realize that it's a nest.. and just as this realization hits my brain, movement draws my eye toward the pond net where a white footed mouse with large eyes is frantically clinging about halfway up the net. Poor thing.
Now what. It's too cold to get rid of the nest, but soon I will need to turn off the pump and get the deicer and aerater going. I guess I'll wait until the the temperatures rise a little to do all of that and maybe he'll find his way back after the work is done. It's a really smart spot for a nest.. warm from the electric, covered by the planter, and much better than inside our ski bags and boots like last year.
