Happy Monday!
Well it was another busy weekend. Our
fish arrived but there were a few kinks getting them set up and
happy. We seem to have solved the problems by adding a couple of air
stones and covering the pond with a pallet to provide both shade and
protection from the dog and her drinking habits. She literally scared
them right out of the pond. By the time we found them they were
clinging to life but Steve did manage to save a few. The dead fish
went into the chicken pen so that at least they weren't totally
wasted. And this morning there were a few more which made me pretty
angry and frustrated but now I'm pretty sure there is something
hunting them. I can't imagine why they would jump out of the pond and
then make their way 6-8 feet away. I'm going to cover the entire tank
with a cover that goes all the way over and see what happens
overnight tonight.
Also, a yucky discovery this afternoon
was a new mole on the top of my arm, a mole with legs. Yes, my first
embedded tick of the season. I've managed to get them all just
brushed off so far but I must have gotten this one yesterday so it
had all night and morning to decide a good place to stop for a snack.
The first thought with a tick is always 'I've got to get this thing
off ASAP' and so there's a small irrational bit of panic. Well, I
grabbed the dish soap and a clean cloth and covered it in the soap
before placing the cloth over. After a few minutes that seemed more
like 20, I was able to get it off and take a pic. Now it's floating
in a bottle of citrus cleaning solution until it's dead and relocated
into the compost. But just thinking about it still gives me the
willys. Bleuch!! Just to creep you out too I'll post a photo. The
blue on the cloth is the soap. The brownish red stain is, well, you
can guess. It didn't leave too big of a hole and I
covered it with some Melagel so it'll heal faster and keep out any
infection. The tick wasn't very swollen so it can't have been there
long so I'm sure I'm fine for not getting Lyme disease.
There's a good steady rain falling so
I'm using up a batch of sourdough starter and making bread. The rain
will be good for the garden and that means tomorrow I'll be able to
go plant some more in nice damp soil. In the meantime I'm stuck
indoors and working on stuff so it's good because I have lots to
catch up on.
UPDATE:
Well, our fish experiment has so far
been a complete failure. Due to people knocking off the air supply
hose and the water hose being left on, we have effectively managed to
suffocate all but a meager few of our trout. It's a very sad disaster,
and not one I will repeat this year. I may go down to the brook and
catch some wild trout but we'll have to see how I'm feeling about the
whole thing later today. I think I'm just going to work on fencing
today and planting. It's pretty depressing. I think I'll go empty our
composting toilet as it needs doing anyways. Sigh.