About a month ago, shortly after trying to cut off my thumb with the hedge trimmers, I looked around for another, a safer project and decided that it was now time to get the aerator I had talked about for a long time and get it installed in the pond. Following the winter freezing, I was concerned that I would have another huge fish kill. However, my assault on the ice with my trusty chain saw proved successful and I didn't lose one single fish -- to ice. However, shortly after the thaw, and I may have mentioned this already, there was pond scum all over the place and quite frankly, it looked and smelled like the dickens.
So I went to the feed mill and got a bag of copper sulfate and spread it on the pond. I have done this many times in the past when the pond was just built. However, I must have put too much on as I lost about 20-25 fish, including the grass carps. So, now, I had to get the oxygen back in the water if I wanted to have any fish left.
I went to the hatchery and purchased a real nice bubbler with a 1/4 hp motor and weighted air hose. The price seemed reasonable, so I put it in the back of the Jeep and came home, eager to get it in the water. Happy fish was the goal. My installation plan was to get the thing in the water and put the motor in the barn. For the time being I would have to run a couple of heavy-duty extension cords out there, but that didn't seem like too bad of a price to pay. I also planned to run an electric line out to the barn and that would also give me some electric out there. Sounds like a plan.
Now for the execution part. My wife went to the nursing home where she volunteers twice a week, so I thought this would be the perfect time to get the bubbler in the water. I filled the "box" with rocks and attached the air hose to it. Then I looked around and realized I had no way to get the "box" out to the center of the pond without some sort of boat. It seems that the only boat I have is my canoe. Oh well, it's a boat isn't it? Hmmmmmmmmm.
So I loaded the stuff in the canoe, made a small concession to that tiny inner voice in my head that said "this might not be the best plan you've ever had..." and put on one of my life jackets. I wasn't really sure how cold the water might be in the middle of the pond and there was a slight chance I might get wet, so I thought I should at least not make my wife a widow today. And with all that courage and bravado, I shoved off. All went well at first. I got the canoe in position and dropped the anchor over the side to secure me in the center. Oh, did I mention that it was really windy that day? Minor technicality. Next, I pulled the box of rocks (which now seemed much heavier than it did on the shore) to me and secured the ropes in the holes on the top. These would allow you to lower it to the bottom and keep it from getting turned upside down in the process. OK. Ropes in hand -- here we go. As I was beginning to lean over toward the side of the canoe, I noticed how really unstable it was getting. Now I don't know if anyone has ever measured the amount of time there is between the moment you realize something is a bad idea and the time you experience the consequences, but I bet you can count the seconds on one hand. The next thing I knew, I was out in the water. It wasn't too cold though. And fortunately, all of the "stuff" was still in the canoe. Only the dummy was in the water. One good thing, however, was that when I looked around to see if any one was watching (the first thing all real men do when they find themselves in a situation like this -- sure didn't want any witnesses), I didn't see anyone or hear anyone laughing or screaming. So, I decided that I probably should pull the canoe back to shore and think up another plan.
Oh, I mentioned that the canoe was anchored didn't I? So when I started to swim back to the shore trying to pull the canoe on a much more windy day now, it didn't want to move. I really had to struggle swimming back to shore pulling an anchored canoe that was leaving a trail of mucky water behind it. I got everything unloaded, went to the house and put the clothes in the dryer and went back to the drawing board.
The next day, my next door neighbor's father happened to come over with the kids to fish. I confided in him and told him of my titanic struggle. He laughed politely and then told me he had a friend who had a small john boat. The next day, he brought it down in the back of his pick-up truck. With the proper equipment, it only took me about 30 minutes to get the thing done and plug it in. Worked like a champ. I think I've had at least a couple of dozen people tell me now how they would have done it, or boy was I dumb doing it that way. Oh well, it was kinda like that old saying -- "it seemed like a good idea at the time."
One thing I did that was kinda fun was I took a long segment of parachute cord and tied a duck decoy onto the box of rocks. This serves two purposes: one -- if I ever need to get the box out of the pond for any reason, I just have to get the john boat (not a canoe) and pull up the cord that is attached to the duck; and two -- passers-by think that is the tamest duck they have ever seen. We even had a real duck land on the pond and swim up to the decoy and swim around it a couple of times before finally taking off. Bet he felt almost as foolish as I did.
So, that was quite an adventure. Just another day on McCartyville Road. I just hope the fish enjoy it. The pond really looks good now. I can't wait until the late summer and fall dog days to see if it helps keep the water nice.
Success in life is kinda like fishing. Some fish get caught for biting, and others get caught because they were in the wrong part of the pond at the wrong time. Me, I would rather go out as a biter.
Hooah
