Article - Trick or Treat

Protecting your pond on Halloween... Boo!

Time to start planning for the fall holidays. Before long it will be Halloween and for that day we have to be especially watchful for anybody traipsing through our yards. We don't want visitors falling in the pond. We wouldn't want any "tricks" on our ponds either. It was one thing when teenagers would "toilet paper" a house, or throw raw eggs at your house (which don't wash off the next day) but to play a trick on our ponds would be murder.

I can never get the picture out of my mind of the overflowing soap suds which was once someone's koi pond about 15 years ago in my neighborhood. It sickened me then and it sickens me today. I have 10' hedges around my yard to somewhat prevent something like that from happening to my pond, but the fear is always there.

Once you have seen the terrible things people can and will do, you cannot return to blissful naiveté, no matter how much you would like to. I personally was never that sort of child but I suppose I knew ones like that when I went to school. Better to be safe than sorry.

I suggest you remain watchful, have the pond well-lit and fenced. On a night like Halloween, I can't tell one child from the other in my own neighborhood. I can't watch both gates at once. What I do is stay at the front door and hand out pennies, nickels, and quarters which seems to keep all the children happy. It also keeps them focused better than candy. So, keep your yard lighted and remain vigilant. It may prevent a really bad experience.