Swimming With The Fishes

June was a pleasant month.  The temperatures stayed somewhere is the 80’s, low humidity and cool, pleasant evenings to sleep in.   But, inevitably, June is followed by July; temperatures in the 90’s, air dripping in humidity, and the evenings ... well, sleep was elusive.

     My only relief from this miserable couple of weeks has been my pond.  My pond is my obsession.  I can sit for hours watching the fish (and with great envy in this heat), admiring the water lilies and just listening to the frogs, birds and insects which call this pond home.   As tempting as it is, this pond is not for swimming.  The eco-balance took a couple of years to evolve and too much of my presence would disrupt it.  However, it can tolerate my being in it for short periods of time for maintenance, and I have been very diligent in my maintenance the past couple of weeks.  I have happily cleaned out aggressive plants, divided and fertilized water lilies, and cleaned out creeping roots from some of the hard to reach nooks.    The pond is only 30” deep, so only my arms and legs benefit from the cool water, but I’ll take it.  The fish seem to have gotten use to me dipping my toes into the water or dangling my arms, as I slowly remove spent waterlilies and lily pads.  The tadpoles couldn’t care less, but the frog continues to eye me with suspicion.

     It may not be a proven, scientific fact, but ask any pond owner and they will agree, that just the sound of water, seems to drop the temperature by ten degrees.  If you do not own a pond, you have no idea what you are missing.