Fishy Business, Part 2 "The Bucket List"

Here is the "rest of the story" about pond fish pick-up day. It is a story about Man v. Nature, or Man Helping Nature...there are always two sides to every story, eh?

 

Side 1: In our opinion, green algae is the scum of the earth (er...pond...), going against our intent to provide a pond for nature and our own enjoyment. Scum seems to be the 'natural state' of many small ponds, but humans who 'own' the ponds do not like it, and thus muster up a battalion of soldiers (fish) to annihilate the microbes.

 

Side 2: Because scum interferes with the health of a pond, Man, in his infinite wisdom, helps nature along by bringing in fish bred in captivity to bring a wholesome balance to the eco-system.

 

I don't know about you, but I vote for side # 2!!!

 

Marcheta *casting her vote to real 'em in!

 

 

 

With the truck loaded with plastic bag lined buckets, Jim and I headed over to Bucyrus to the Crawford Soil and Water Conservation District office to pick up our pond fish.

 

We were lucky because there was only one person in line when we arrived, and he was almost done getting his order. People began arriving fast, and by the time we were loaded, there were nine vehicles in line waiting.

 

The first order of business was to give our "bucket list" to the woman in charge of filling orders. The fish came from a pond fish hatchery, and were loaded on the back of a pick-up truck. Thank goodness, it was not raining!

 

The man on the truck handed the fish to one of the women, who transferred the fish into one of our buckets, filled with our own pond water. The second woman then filled the bag with air and tied it shut. This is the reason the buckets needed to be lined with plastic bags...it helps kept the fish in the water on the quick drive home.

 

 

Our bucket list included two White Amur (to eat excessive foliage), 50 Redear Sunfish,  and 100 Largemouth Bass. The pic below is of the White Amur.

We were instructed to go straight home and get the fish in the pond ASAP. The following pics show the process. We are hoping that our fish like their new home, get along with the bullfrogs, and have many feast days provided by the green scum that is messing up our pond.

 

 

 

 

 

Fishy Business, Part 1

This bullfrog doesn't seem to mind living in scum. But we sure do mind having algae take over our nature pond. Lucky for us, Crawford Soil and Water Conservation District  sponsored a pond fish drop off, so we ordered scum eating fish to help take care of the problem. 

Today is the first part of our adventure in stocking a pond with useful fish. :)

Marcheta *gone fishin'

Pick up day was May 16th. It was a BYOB (bring your own bucket) type of deal, so before heading to Bucyrus, we had some prep work to do.

The buckets had to be lined with plastic bags. You'll find out why later.

It was also a BYOPW (bring your own pond water) deal. After lining the buckets with kitchen trash bags, Jim loaded them on the scoop of the Kubota and headed to the pond to add water. He chose the tractor because we are still working on this pond and the ground around it was too muddy for the truck.

The last prep step was to take the four water-filled buckets back to the truck, load up, and head out.

 

A Random Day

Today has been one busy crazy day! It started off by going to Crawford Soil and Water Conservation District in Bucyrus first thing to pick up the fish we ordered for our nature pond. There will be a story about this in the coming days.

It is nearly 2:00 p.m. and we are just now home from doing odds and ends; such as taking a super to Nelsonstrail. Bob and Sue are the maple producers that I wrote about last winter. They also keep bees. The Nelson's property is along a creek and Bob is pretty handy to catch wild swarms of bees. He promised to nab one for us, but need a 'home' to put them in. Again, there will be a story coming about this experience, too.

While in town we took a ton of "stuff" to the recycling center...got a whoppin' big check of $28.00 for a whole pick-up truck  load...LOL. But, I always feel that this is better than clogging up the landfill, so it's all good.

I have a few hours before my writer's club meeting, which I plan to start on the up-cycled garment that I posted about last winter: the one where I took elements from a sweater to use in this garment, and made leg warmers for Ava from the sweater's sleeves.

I am glad to finally have time to work on this. PLUS, she may get a chance to wear it on Saturday, giving me the extra 'push' that I need to Get 'Er Done. :)

Random days like this one are fun, but I gotta tell you, already I am as tired as if I had done hard labor all day.

Whew!

Marcheta *Randomista