Summer amusement

A week or so ago, one of my sons arrived to help me with my garden. He brought with him a pail that is often used for live bait - old-looking. I found out it contained four fish - for my pond, to join the ones that were already in the pond. The bait tin was indeed old, belonging originally to the mother of the woman who works with my son in one of his businesses, I'd love to know its history.

Four years ago I finally got around to digging out the mess left behind by the people who had put water and hydro out to the drive shed when I moved up here in 2001. It was my fault for not asking the fellows to place the top soil on one side and the red clay on the other - nonetheless, nothing much grew along the trench line so I decided to fulfil a lifelong dream...a pond in my backyard (that and a pony in my backyard were my two big childhood wishes). So periodically over the years I dug a bit more of a hole in the ground. Sometimes some local kids helped me. To make a long story short, it finally was completed and lined. Water, plants and (three years ago) fish were installed.

Last fall the pond sprang a leak... so I drained it and put the fish into a horse watering trough that I'd sold to a neighbouring farmer but borrowed back for the winter. They had suddenly multiplied last summer much to my surprise from seven to 15...(busy little critters weren't they?) 

So this spring, my sons came up, helped me with a new neoprene liner I couldn't have managed myself, reinstalled rocks, fish, and frogs eventually have returned. Then the four newcomers joined the school. They were as large as the largest of mine... originally feeder fish from a pet store, bred to be bait or food for flesh eating fish that are pets such as piranhas. Some of these - the four newcomers and my own originals - had grown from two-inch long babies to six inch beauties.


There colours are very interesting, orange and white, multicoloured with white or orange fins, and they're fun to watch, very calming actually as they search for food in the pond. So this morning I made a short video of the fish - turning off the fountain in the centre. I posted it here, for your enjoyment and also for the enjoyment of the couple whose grandkids can know that their fish did indeed go to a lady who lives in the country and they are quite happy in their new home. 

The pond

The fish pond

My little pond has taken on its own life. This summer with the heat and the never-ending sun, and my love of feeding the fish, the algae has grown and is trying to take over.

Every couple of days I haul a number of the water hyacinth out of the pond and strip the string algae off the long roots. The fish flutter about while I do this and often I run some cold water into the pond at the same time. The fish go nuts and frolic in the stream, turning somersaults and flipping their tails which by the way are getting longer and prettier - Disney like even. Their colours - now that's like watching a bunch of neon signs flirting and flouncing around at the surface. Great fun to watch.

At the bottom of the pond in this photograph, you can see one of the tiny little fishes. They are awfully cute and I was so surprised to see the first one the other day. A friend told me yesterday that when they first hatch they are grey and blend in with the pond background. As they grow they begin to develop their colours...even the larger ones are starting show differences in their patterns and hues.

You can easily see the algae clinging to the rocks. I'll be in there pulling that off and maybe even taking the rocks out and scrubbing them next week.

You can also see the reflection of the back of my home and the huge tree that overhangs the drive shed in the surface water of the pond and the dappled sky - a mackerel sky my fishing friends would call it - perfect for catching those elusive trout, bass, and pickerel that we find in our northern lakes.

And there are other inhabitants of the pond:

Have a great weekend.... it's clear to me that my froggy and fishy friends will. Hope you enjoyed my bit of whimsy this morning - I often spend a few moments in the morning with a cup of coffee just enjoying nature's entertainment in my backyard. Hope there is something you enjoy each morning as well.