What is it about the end of winter that gives you cabin fever? While I dug the pond, the weather was cold. If I hadn't been racing a rain deadline, I would have been in the warm house. But now with warmer days and sunshine, I have been looking forward to longer, hotter days. These lead me to more physical exercise, that my winter inactivity has changed into a weight gain. Face it, I gain weight in the winter and lose it in the summer. I just need to extend my weight loss season longer and shorten my weight gain season. Hopefully this would curtail fluctuating between 2 different clothing sizes! This last summer and winter's concerns over my Mother kept me from working outside as much as I usually do. Thus a weight gain that has my normal winter "fat" cloths very tight. So I am anxious for spring and summer to literally work my butt off! So far this spring we have had several beautiful sunsets. I know more will come with all the time we will spent at the pond.
I have been spending all my weekends visiting Rebecca in the hospital in Austin. Over the last four weeks, she has slowly stabilized to the meds enough to be released from the hospital on the 17th of February. Just one day shy of a month. Now, she will go stay with my ex Mother in law up in East Texas. My ex Mother in law lives on a 70 acre lake. Last Saturday, Christina and I drug my gooseneck trailer over to Austin to bring Rebecca's truck back to get her right side mirror replaced and to get the truck inspected. A brake lite was out also, but this afternoon I tinkered with it and got it working. I wanted to be back home before dark, but we wound up getting home around 9 P.M. This included a stop in Giddings at Walmart for some extra large cinder blocks. These cinder blocks measure 16x8x12 inches. We are stacking them 2 blocks high in a 6 block pattern with 3 block holes end to end making a large enough "fish" tunnel of 24 inches long for even 3-4 pound catfish. There are 8 "tunnels" in all and all we need to do is obtain some plastic shipping straps and a banding tool to strap the blocks together. We will then use my 6520s backhoe to sling the blocks into the water and sit on the bottom of the pond's deep end. The blocks measure just 31 inches tall and the water in the deep end is over 5 feet now, so we will have to be precise in our sitting with the backhoe or get wet making sure the blocks settle right. The water is cold and I really don't want to go in the water at this time, but want to place the blocks in soon. I am planning on securing one end of a twenty foot chain to my backhoe's bucket and run the chain through the top two openings. then I will secure the other end to one of the bucket's digging teeth. This way I can use a chain and then release the chain by uncurling the bucket. The chain will then slip off the tooth and the other end will be secure to get my chain back without getting wet..............I hope.
Rebecca and my ex stopped by this afternoon to pick up Rebecca's cat, Sammy. Sammy had come home with me a month ago when Rebecca went into the hospital. Sammy has since won her way into our hearts and is always pawing at me, while I am on the computer, to pay attention to her and pet her. She is a fluffy calico tabby. Rebecca calls her Sammy Sosoft.
Speaking of lakes, Lake Marie now has a water level of over five feet deep. About three and one half feet of water has seeped in while we were way behind in rain. The Rye grass I planted at the end of January is about three inches high now. But I still had some areas around the lake erode and silt the water to a muddy grey/green.
I have been pricing Channel and Blue catfish fingerlings the last two weeks. I almost bought twenty five Channel catfish fingerlings last week, but my supervisor talked me into stocking Blue catfish to keep the muddy water to a minimum. The Channel cats were from an out of state fish farm that delivers to a local feed store. Securing the Blue cats will include an hour and one half drive, down south of Houston to Danbury, Texas, home of Danbury Fish Farms. This will be on the third Saturday of March.
Booger is just beside him self over the water in the pond. When I was digging it, he would not come down into the hole to get petted by me. Normally he is right at the side of the Mahindra waiting for attention. Now he is starting to venture down into the pond at the shallow end for a drink. He seems anxious over the deep end with it's three foot high dam and steeper slopes.He knocked some dirt into the deep end the other day and almost jumped in when it hit the water with a splash. Guess he thought it was a squirrel or a stick I threw for him to fetch. The Winter Rye grass I seeded is coming up nice now. I am starting to take regular breaths again after worrying if the rains would wash the seeds away.
I have uploaded a few more photos that you can see here. Stop back later to hear how I will make a combination pier and deck on Lake Marie.
hugs, Brandi
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