Two fish

I was at the hardware store looking for no trespassing signs, because apparently a fence is not enough to keep the neighbor kids from traipsing by our ponds and thru our field. Unfortunately all the keep out signs in German are really mean, with exclamation points, threats of liability, etc. I want a polite keep out sign, if that is possible in German. I actually called my man from the hardware store to ask him which sign was politer and he said, "I don't mind if kids walk thru our field" so he was not helpful.

I decided to go home and make my own, with a clause about "without permission."





(Really, is there a friendly way to make a keep out sign? This would be the other end of the polite spectrum, a sign I giggled at in Maple Valley, WA. And I am probably part of the reason that sign is there, cuz it was a wolf farm, and I couldn't stay away from the wolves. That is my dear mare Princess Buttercup in the photo, soaked by rain, as I ponied her off Baasha.)





But first I bought some nice annual flowers: a flat of 10 marigolds, and some hanging geraniums to hang from the hook I attached to the barn last week.


I'm very picky about my hanging pots - they cannot be those white plastic things they sell at the hardware store. My man helped me make this one, with a three strand chain and a grey plastic pot.










I started the fun process of putting the plants into planters, and decided that my pretty black planter needed repainting. I ended up getting paint all over my arms as I carried the still wet thing into the greenhouse.













I love the color black.




Just as that happened, I noticed a group of people coming into our driveway and it was Petra, her Nephew Ralf, his little son Julius, and the terrier Leopold. Ralf is a fisherman and wanted to give me some advice about out trout.

First thing he did was put a new hook on my rod, and a new weight, saying it's important that the hook be small, and the line be thin, and the weight be non-intimidating to the fish.

Then his son Julius (who is such a beautiful little boy he should be in theater) took his own rod and started fishing. They do it differently - they let the line loose.

When a fish finally bit, they let the fish play on the line. It really reminded me of a cat playing with a mouse, the way they let the fish pull the the line all over the place. They say it tires out the fish and makes it easier to finally reel them into the net. It seemed to work. Julius had that fish pretty tired! (He kept chanting to the fish, "Become tired!")

They also showed me that after you stun the fish, you should stab it in the heart to kill it quickly. That I had never seen before.

----Alas, we had no camera during the entire fish experience. I remember distinctly when Petra lamented, "I have no camera" and at that point I thought, "Oh dear, me neither."----

Then I caught one, a big one full of eggs. That always makes me sad.

Julius went to work getting all the eggs out, then cleaning the fish with his bare hands. I was thoroughly disgusted, and that kid was having the greatest time. His dad had the other fish in our creek, cleaning it there. I had always used a hose. I pointed to Julius, who was identifying the heart, liver, bladder, and kidneys, and said, "He'll have no problem in Biology class!" Petra laughed, "No, he'll help the other children." He's Bart Simpson's age, and as he cavorted around our ponds, I thought, "Surely he'll fall in!" But somehow he didn't. He straddled the creek like his dad, and helped me remove some water plants from pond #2, where my pet trout Clever Joe lives. (I might have Tom Sawyered him into that, (*shrug*, heheh.)

Leopold enjoyed licking the newly caught fish. We gave him some eggs - doggy caviar? They should be healthy for dogs, I think.

The entire time we were down there, Baasha was grazing nearby, watching us curiously from time to time. Petra asked me when he normally comes in, and I said, "Oh, 6 or 7." She said, "Well it's way past that" and I said, "Oh, then, I guess he's waiting for us!" She said, "He's waiting for YOU." And it's true, when we were done, I whistled and said BAASHA! and he nickered and rushed down the slope to walk up the hill with us. Thankfully he didn't push rudely past everyone, he walked right beside me. Usually he canters up that hill, flinging earth everywhere, nickering happily.

Ralf and Julius cleaned the fish a bit differently too, leaving the head on somehow, so they can carry them by their mouths. It looked very professional. I couldn't pick up my fish by the mouth to carry it up to the house, I just couldn't. I put a stick thru its mouth to carry it.

We said our goodbyes and I thanked him and we both have a fish for dinner.

Problem is, my fish was looking at me still. I put it in my sink to wash it some more, and its eyes followed me and I couldn't stand it. I ran it outside and said to my man, "Cut this head off please, I cannot take it anymore!"

Then it was no longer an animal, it was food. Whew.

Tonight we'll have fish again!