© 2009, Joshua Stark

This is a great device.
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This pump saved me at least a hundred bucks. Let me explain:

In my time raising three little ducks, I decided that they needed some sort of pool or pond to play in, and as luck would have it, a local Rite-Aid store had those hard-plastic blue kiddie pools on sale for $10. My idea was to occasionally pump out the duck water into our garden, thereby reaping at least some benefit from the terrible devastation the little bast... the little duckies had wrought on my cabbage patch. As I was to learn very quickly, my boss (who raises fowl) told me these valuable words: Ducks abhor clean water.

That is not true from the ducks' perspective, mind you. Ducks LOVE clean water. They take mouthfuls of dirt and mud, and joyfully spit them into the water. They also splash about and dive, and sleep, and poop, poop, poop in it. I quickly realized that I'd be needing to either buy something that would eat duck poop (about 200 catfish came to mind), or be replacing that water more frequently than I'd planned. I started looking for a big pump, something that could move water pretty quickly and about 40 feet to the garden, and with a filter that could handle that much debris without requiring cleaning every day. No luck, unless I was willing to sell an organ to cover costs.

Enter OSH. For those of you outside of the West Coast, Orchard Supply Hardware is a chain store ala the big box stores, but without the size, and with expertise unmatched outside the local hardware stores. I have almost never been disappointed with OSH or its folks, unlike some other places I could mention. They know their stuff. So I enjoy poking around the store whenever I get a chance, moving up and down aisles (oh! nice smoker... man, look at that pressure canner... I wish I could get that table saw...). I was looking at some pumps with trepidation, because the pond pumps I'd seen had given me sticker shock, but then I saw this box. I about squealed like a little girl. I took it home, plugged it in, and now, every morning or two, my garden gets flooded with what my brother-in-law calls the, "nutrient-rich water" of our duck pool. Over time, as I build my raised beds, I will incorporate this nifty little device into my plans. What a find!

Oh, I almost forgot. It was twenty bucks.