It's that time of year

Everywhere one looks in spring, there are babies. Some newborns nuzzle mothers for milk, sleep peacefully nearby while mums graze, or even play. This peaceful scene captured my imagination and that of a friend as we were driving by a  large sheep farm a couple of days ago.

Closer to home, in fact hard against the wall of the "sunporch" to protect it last winter from the freeze, snow and wind, the fishpond is full of mating goldfish. I tried and failed to post a video of the wild (wild for fish that is) activity as the males chased the females, two or three to one, around this tiny space. It was hilarious to watch these creatures jump high in the air and then swim into the roots of the water hyacinth in desperate attempts to escape all the vigorous attention.

Sometimes spring, being the legendary wooing time of year, must mean a whole lot of activity for the females of many species. Not a time to laze around in the shade much, rather nurturing, grabbing forty winks and a breakfast mouthful as the season progresses.

Always something interesting happening in the neighbourhood, or presenting things to ponder as well as enjoy.

Fishies

Among the many things that have blossomed in my back yard garden this year, the little fish pond has been no exception. It too is surrounded by lots of growing stuff - most especially it seems to me, grass. Tall, luxuriant lush grass. Mixed with Queen Anne's Lace, black medic, red clover and a variety of other weeds and grasses that are lovely in the pasture, not so nice if you want to see the pond and the flowers I've planted around the edges of the pond.

But the fish don't care. They continue to breed, and grow fat.

As far as I can count there are 23- 28 of them. Orange, orange and white, white and yellow, and even a little black one whose pigment never got established when it grew large enough to change colour from its protective black.

Many will go to new homes, some I'll take with me, I hope.

One of the things I've enjoyed most about the fishes and the pond is the meditative quality of time spent watching them swim around, nibbling at plant roots, dozing in the shade of a log I've placed  across the pond, dancing in the water pouring out of the fountain or the recycling "waterfall" - not really a waterfall, never got that far with construction, but water does pour out of a pipe, oxygenating the pond.

Another quiet and special time is when there are no cars or other noises except for birds and natural sounds is the water cheerfully bubbling and laughing as it empties into the pond. At night and early morning this joyful music can be interrupted by the deep-throated belling of a frog. That makes me smile.

So I tried to get a video (it won't load onto Blogger for some reason) of the fish that come to the edge of the pond whenever I show up - particularly in the evening when I often feed them. They swim on top of one another mouths pop pop popping open and shut waiting for the little granules of food to land on the water. The biggest ones are the greediest of course, and often I throw a bit further into the centre of the pond for the little guys... and my favourite little black one - the renegade... guess he'll be coming with me, if only to live in a fish bowl.

But the pond has been a joy. Lots of work, but lots of fun. A place for contemplation but also for marveling at nature's wonders - the plants that live in water and bloom with such abandon, The birds that bathe and drink here, the frogs, snails and occasional passing through snake - all part of a small ecosystem.

May you have something happen today, or see something that makes you smile or brings you joy - life is such a wondrous thing!

Fall in the back yard

The pond is the centrepiece of this tiny back yard. It was created by mistake - I wanted water and hydro in the drive shed when I first moved here - and didn't pay attention to the fellows who were digging the trenches for the piping. So the clay and topsoil got pulled out of the ground in a heap and weren't separated, probably couldn't be... and when everything was filled in, I had a patch of clay in the middle of the yard instead of a green lawn.

For a few years it sat, not growing grass.

Finally with the help of some neighbourhood teens, we dug it out, and eventually  lined the hole with black plastic which I was to regret after two years, but lined and filled it was... ultimately I purchased seven little fish. And planted sumach around it and now have put in small gardens around it - and stones. It's undergone several incarnations since but now seems to be better organized with a neoprene liner.

Frogs love it, the fish have multiplied - I also was given five largish ones, and now have 26 or 27 - can't be sure 'cause it's so hard to count that many moving bodies.

From the other side - looking towards the house you can see some of the fish enjoying early morning searches for bugs and maybe a handout from me since they swim immediately to where they see me standing and always at supper time when they are usually fed.

The changing colour of the sumach is a delight - and the cosmos on the left has added a lovely feathery splash of pinks, purples and mauves. All in all it makes it all okay - the fact that I haven't trimmed the grass away from the edges, haven't mown the grass in a couple of weeks, nor gotten to the flower beds to remove the ribbon grass that insists on spreading everywhere way more quickly than I could possibly rip it out. It will get done eventually. But having living things - there are often as many as a dozen green and leopard frogs in the pond as well - in my back yard is fun.

Birds land on the edges and drink from it. As do my cats, one of whom watches the fish with fascination but hates to get her feet wet so I'm not worried about their safety. Dragonflies hover and I'm sure have laid eggs in it. Butterflies float around. It seems to be more than a centrepiece for the yard, but for some forms of life as well. What a treasure and a treat.

The view from the deck is astounding with the colour explosion everywhere. The phlox, blackeyed susans, echinacia and even some Sweet William and straw flowers add bright splashes to the garden's green. A feast for the eyes everywhere I look, close to home or around the Valley.

So today on this Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, I'm thankful, grateful that so much has come to be here, making my life more fun and definitely more interesting. For my Canadian friends and family - Happy Thanksgiving, for everyone else - hope you have an interesting weekend full of fun.

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.

Fishy play

When I first moved here ten years ago this August, I had water and hydro put out to the drive shed for the horses. Not paying too much attention to the way the contractor was doing things, I found afterwards that the trenches hadn't been sorted into topsoil and heavy red clay (of which we have an abundance).

So it all got jumbled together when they were filled. I decided that since after a year, nothing much was growing there, I would put in a pond. I began to dig.

I had help from a couple of neigbhouring teens, who thought it a lot of back-breaking hard work... and it was... so the hole in the ground sat for a few years and filled with thistles - some magnificent ones at that, daisies, chicory, dandelions, grass and an assortment of frogs, mice etc. And it wasn't a big hole! But still I let it sit. Mrs. Putoffski my brother calls me - he's right  - sometimes!

Three years ago I was more than slightly disgusted that I had left it - and so began to dig again. After a while I got tired of cutting out the weeds' huge roots and decided it was deep enough at about three feet... of course by the time I added sand, an old rug from renovating the bedrooms and the liner, it was about 2 1/2 feet but I didn't care.

That summer 46 or so frogs filled the pond in August's blistering heat sitting on the meagre few plants I'd bought to decorate it.

Last year I added seven small goldfish, saving them from being breakfast for some larger fish... feeder fish they're called... well not in my pond - they're the ones that get fed! I didn't see them that summer after they were released. Water hyacinth covered the pond and apparently there was enough to eat there already.

In fall after the first frost, the water hyacinth all died and I cleaned them out. I could see the fish and worried that they wouldn't survive the winter. I had already installed a bubbler...but I worried nonetheless.

Those of you who have followed this blog, know that I fretted over the fish off and on. But the ice build up, the air under the ice from the bubbler and the snow on top kept everyone happy and in a state of semi-hibernation.

That's hardly the case now. They play in the bubbles from the fountain.  In hot summer days I'd like to do that too! Wouldn't you? Here's to playing like fishes wherever you are, just plain having fun and enjoying life!