Saturday, late in the afternoon, after breaking the ice on the pond, we caught twenty-one of the goldfish…
the pond water was filled with leaves and was rather brown and murky…
it was quite the job as, at one point, my grandson went into it barefoot with his pants rolled up to cut down the water lilies and grasses (I think it was about -12°C in the air)…
but that really helped catch a bunch of them that had been hiding under the lily leaves… they were moving slower in the cold, but still snuck out of the net… also, some of the catching was in the dark, lol…
then they sat in pails in the house for hours before getting moved into the three tanks…
we were careful to be sure to keep size and numbers similar in the tanks so that there is sufficient space for all of them…
we thought we had them all, but on Sunday we discovered five more, woohoo…
now, the pumps have been removed from the pond, and it is apparently going into the winter with water in it, lol…
ran out and did a number of errands and when I got home came outside and sat by the pond… first time I’ve been out on the back deck this year… only brought out cushions for one chair but it was delightful to sit out and read a book in the sunshine…
had my lunch there and eventually it got so hot that I changed into a tank top and shorts…
kids came over and my son-in-law cleaned the leaves out of the pond, with a little help from the younger boys… they found a frog, woohoo, which always makes me happy… maybe it has been making the odd noise I’ve been hearing when I’ve been in the hot tub over the last week or so…
and he got the pumps in and working…
there is still lots of work to do in the pond, as dead plants need to be removed, ones that are starting need to be cleaned up, and new ones purchased and popped in, although not before all chances of frost are gone… have lost a few when I was over eager, lol…
we had barbecued steak for supper and now they are gone and I am sitting listening to the water running with the sun shining in my face and a blanket on to keep me cozy…
will be sure to have a hot tub to enjoy the sound of the water before bed…