Loss of fish, putting Abby to work and surviving hot days.

 Cullman, AL

As I have often written we have a small pond on our property.  In it were catfish, blue gill and bass.   Every night about 5 I go out and toss some fish food into the pond.  If the blue gill were lucky, they got a bit before the cats took over.  A few weeks ago I went to the pond to feed them.   No fish jumped up for the feed.  None.  No blue gill, no bass, no catfish.   I thought that was off.   So I started walking around the pond.   There in shallow water lay dead fish.  Lots of them.  Then I saw some near the surface struggling.  

The day before a hay field across the road was mowed and I had cut grass.   The surface of the pond had what I thought was pollen.   No, it was something called an algae bloom.   Deadly to fish.  We lost them all in a day.   I would guess about 200 fish.

My thought was what about cleaning up the mess.  Should not have worried as the buzzards feasted. I counted more than 40.

When they got done, all I had to do was dispose of the skeletons.   We will not restock until next Spring.   Before stocking we will install in aerator system that will keep the water moving.  This will hopefully prevent another fish kill when the weather again gets this hot and extremely dry.

We have lots of growth around the pond and since the water is low due to this draught, we removed some of the growth.   Abby was a huge help with this project.

We have survived the recent hot, dry days.  But not most of the plants in our garden.  Being gone a great deal of the time, they did not get watered as they should.    We planned on having fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, watermelon and peppers up until the fall.    Not this year.

Abby had a great time while here.  She loves to eat out.

And join us at 55East for our Friday night outings.

Each week 55East has a drawing.   Three tickets are drawn from those who purchased them at $1.00 each for 6 for $5.00.    The first winner gets 1/2 of the funds collected, the next two get a free admission pass.   The first week Abby won $50.00.   When she realized she had the winning ticket she let out a loud WHOOP!   The next week she won a free pass.   I should say, we won because it saved us paying her $10 admission the next week.   The 3rd week, nope.   Luck ran out.

On a back road we often take we saw a newborn calf outside the fencing.   Several other cows were at the fence.   

We went to several nearby houses until we found two young men.  We all knew the calf did not belong in that fence but in the fence across the road.   They got a rope from their truck and tied her up.  They then made phone calls in an attempt to locate the owner of that property.

Len and I have been having difficulty sleeping.   We both tossed and turned all night.  We decided we needed a King size bed.    We shopped in town but didn't find any at the style we wanted nor the cost.

I have bought many items from online store Wayfair.   I found the perfect bed and mattress and at a VERY reasonable cost.   Of course, the bed had to be put together.

For the bed to be properly situated, we needed to move furniture around.  We moved our Queen size bed into the basement.  (Our safe space during tornado warnings).    We had the bed partially assembled when RVers arrived and Len and I went outside to show them where to park, etc.

We came back in to find Abby finished assembling the bed and moved all the furniture we had yet to move.   We are sleeping so much better.   Most nights this is biscuits bed too.

I have been purchasing our eggs from a local farmer.   They come in all sizes.   Small, medium, large. White, tan, brown.  All in the same box.   A recent box had a VERY small egg next to a VERY large egg.     Found the reason for the difference.

Until next time......