Soon, fishing season begins

Sometimes you need to withdraw into yourself to regain some sort of stability. I do believe that is where I am going to go come fishing season. I hope to be out and fishing and using that alone time to dive inwards and lose some stress that I have had building for a year.

Since I was very young, fishing was one of the ways I could reconnect with my center.

I am mostly a catch and release fisherwoman. The Curmudgeon doesn’t like trout. I do keep some on occasion so G and I can enjoy them and save some $$ on our grocery bills.

Even though I had a license last year I never got out to fish. I’m hoping this year will be different.

Yep, you guessed it…

You all have a good one!

Gone fishing…well, not yet but on Monday!

Yes, I plan to sneak away on Monday and go fishing. I don’t like to go on the weekends because too many people invade the park.  Maybe I’ll even fly my kite.

You all have a good one!

 

Even my fish have me trained

 

     The dogs are spoiled.  I admit it they have us well trained.  DH claims that the Koi have me well trained too.  Can I help it if they love worms and I poke around next to the compost bin to find some so my fish can enjoy a snack?  It’s fun to have my lovely finny pets come to the surface and take the worms from my hand.

     Even our new little guy is getting into the act.  He was brave enough to take a worm from me last night.  Yes, I keep saying he in hopes that this new one is a male since the other six are females.  He still looks tiny next to them but he is growing rapidly.

Great day fishing!

 

     At least it was for me.  I couldn’t toss my line in without getting a strike.  Not so, for DH, I don’t think he had as much as one bite.  At least he got some fresh air and sunshine.

     We had the park and river to ourselves except for a couple that were fly-fishing in the rapids below us.

     I caught a lovely rainbow trout in the first five minutes we were there.  Then I caught several brookies and another rainbow.  DH caught the roots of a weeping willow several times.

     It seems it was women’s day on the river.  The woman who was fly-fishing the rapids below us caught a couple of nice trout.  By the time they left, her male companion looked very disappointed.

     Sorry folks, we were over halfway to the river when I realized I’d forgotten the camera.  Maybe next time I’ll remember it.

A perfect day

 

     We had warm sun and a cool breeze.  I played pack mule and hauled all the gear to a favorite spot on the river in the park, all except for DH’s fishing pole that he held in one hand and his cane in the other.  After setting up his chair and settling him in, I walked a little further down river.  There, I set up my campstool, sat down, baited my hook, and made my first cast.

     A minute later, I had a nibble on my hook.  The fish stole half my nightcrawler and swam away.  This was indicative of what the afternoon would be like.  I didn’t mind.  I baited my hook and cast again.

     Three robins came within a foot of me.  “Sorry guys, he has the bait can.”  I pointed at DH a hundred yards up river.  They hung around me all afternoon.

     We had mallards swim by, fly by, and land on the water nearby.  Chickadees sang above us in the weeping willow.  A hawk called as it flew over.

     Joggers, bicyclists, dog walkers, and people enjoying strolls along the river passed by.

On leaky pond

 

 

     How does one find a leak in a pond?  I know we are losing water somewhere but I have no idea where.  It could be around the hose connected to the waterfall, the waterfall itself, or maybe in the liner.  Yikes! 

     We need to find it before winter.  This is going to be one of those (not) fun projects.  What I wouldn’t give to have a strong-backed weak-minded helper.  Nope, don’t have one of those—DH doesn’t count.  His back is weak, his balance sucks, and he’s sharp as a tack.

     It wouldn’t be so bad if the pond were spring fed but mine is hose fed and I have to pay the water bill.  Yikes!  Therefore, while we sit beside our lovely pond and enjoy its serene atmosphere I wonder how much water I’ll have to add by the end of each week.

     We have a month or two left to locate and fix the leak.  This means muscling big rocks and lifting a heavy pond liner always mindful of the fish, moving a cement and fiberglass waterfall to look beneath it, checking hoses…any volunteers?  I didn’t think so.

Relocating a snake, a color changing Koi, and a toad hideout

 

     Last night I removed a rather large garter snake from my garden and relocated him to a distant area of the cemetery.  The snake might have been large enough to make a meal of my littlest Koi and I wasn’t taking any chances.  The little Koi is growing rapidly and turning into quite a character.  He (We’ll use he here because at this age who knows.) never misses a meal.

     When I first got him he was tiny compared our other Koi.  Since then his size has quadrupled.  He’s not afraid of the much bigger Koi either.  He’ll swim right over their heads to seize a prime piece of food.  When I brought him home he was black and yellow and, much to my disappointment, he’s become more black and orange than yellow.  However, his personality makes up for his change of color.  He is a brazen little devil.

     We hadn’t seen our toad since the night my neighbor’s son gave him to us and we set him free in the garden.  Last night I found him quite by accident.  I picked up the green recycling can to put it out and there he was not happy that I discovered his hiding place.  I inverted a clay pot over him and propped one end up with a small clay saucer so he could get out if he wanted.  DH said he was gone when he put the can back in the morning.

Koi are like potato chips

 

     You can’t have just one.  A couple of weeks ago I found I couldn’t resist purchasing one more Koi.  I’ve told myself we don’t need more many times.  However, one of the Koi we lost in the tragic poisoning of our pond a few years back was yellow and black.  I never found one to replace him.  That and the fact that one of ours has a physical problem pushed me over the edge when I saw the little guy.

     I do mean LITTLE guy.  Our Koi dwarf him.  He is a game little thing though.  He’ll brazen it out at night and swim rings around the big Koi.  I’ve tried for days to get a picture of him in the pond.  Tonight I managed to do so.  He’s under the lily pads pictured in the top left of the first picture.

Surprise! A new look.

 

     I thought it was time for a change.  I hope you like it.  One thing I noticed was the print is larger, which I like.  However,  it is lighter, which I don’t like. 

     I may have to play a little.

     The Blogrolls are now on the bottom of the page along with everything else that isn’t a post.  Not sure if I like that, but we’ll see.

     This is going to take some getting used to.  I hope you all like the changes.  If not, let me know.  I do want your opinions.

Short work on the pond

 

     I went to backwash the pond filter today.  I turned it off, set the filter to backwash, turned it on and nothing happened.  I mean nothing, zilch, zip, nada.  Crap.  I fiddled with the plug, turned the switch off and on, still nothing.  Double crap.

     I went inside to the basement and checked the circuit breakers.  They were fine.  Triple crap.  Now, I had to drag DH outside.  He’d just gone up for a nap.  DH wasn’t happy.  He fiddled with the plug, had me turn the switch on and off, and then was going to send me to check the breakers.  I told him I’d done that already.

     He knows electrical work but for him to do it, it isn’t easy.  He checked the wire going to the plug and found a short he fixed that.  However, we had to run an extension cord because there is also a short between the outlet by the waterfall and the switch on the side of the shed.

     I love our pond but I have a feeling that if anything happens to the Koi again we will fill it in and turn it into garden.

Bullfrogs can draw blood.

 

     Yes, I do think that most of the people around here are convinced I’m crazy.  You should have seen the looks I got from a few cars that passed me tonight when I was picking up night crawlers in the alley.  Hey, I’m a gardener.  I also have fish and bullfrogs that love worms.  Who am I to pass by the hordes of huge night crawlers that were wandering out onto the street because we had rain?

     One person understood.  A woman about my age pulled her car up even with me and rolled down her window.  “For your gardens right?”

     “Well, yes.  And for the frogs and fish—free food you know.  Commercial Koi food costs plenty.”

     She pointed back down the street from the direction she’d come.  “I saw a bunch of huge ones back there.”

     “Thanks.”

     She waved and headed on her way.  I went looking for more night crawlers.

     Goliath the bullfrog was pleased with my midnight snack offerings.  Although, at one point, he thought my index finger was more food.  Ouch!  I actually bled.  Ungrateful sod.

     The Koi were happy too.  I only gave them a few worms and then the rest went into the garden.