The worst part of having a whole bunch of plans for the future is not getting instant gratification. Instead, one has to wait around for all of the bits and pieces to all fall into place which can be very time consuming. Generally, I am a very patient man sometimes to the extreme but as I grow older, I notice that I am nowhere near as patient as I used to be, maybe because time is slipping away much faster than in the days of my youth. Back then, a day took a week to pass but now a day is much shorter than even a day or so it seems.
Getting the house ready to put on the market has been a slow process from my perspective. My problem was not making up my mind what I wanted to do with the eighty or so Koi some of which are almost three feet long and the probably one hundred or so Goldfish. I diddled between keeping them and selling them along with the house and/or donating them to the Austin Pond Society Fish Rescue. After much more consideration, I decided that it was a big task to have someone else take care of them especially if they had no previous experience. I certainly did not want to see anything bad happen to the fish hence the decision to donate them. It actually felt like a load off my mind knowing that they will be going to good homes and will be well taken care of plus of course that I would no longer have to worry about them.
Having made that decision, the first of the rescues took place two weekends ago with the 5000 gallon pond off the deck. It contained around sixty Koi, twenty of which were very big and some were almost thirty years old. The other forty or so were last years babies which incidentally, was the biggest hatching ever. Usually there are no more than a half dozen or so. I say babies but some are already eight inches long. This pond also contained eight turtles ranging in size to two that were probably a foot long and the others, anything in between. These were transferred to the 6000 gallon pond where they will stay temporarily although I saw Clarence, the biggest of them all in the Goldfish pond yesterday. Goodness only knows how he got in there as the sides are about three or more feet high. Guess Clarence is a bit of a rock climber. The members of the Fish Rescue crew led by Jeannie and Stephen are very efficient and they took it upon themselves to also rescue about twenty baby goldfish from the pond that I am in the process of closing down. Just in time too as the Landscape contractor was busy filling in that particular pond.
Needless to say, it was with mixed emotions that I returned from staying in the Eagle while all of this was going on. I just did not have the heart to be there as it would have made me very sad. As it was, it was a bit disconcerting to return home to an empty and drained pond. At least I can clean it out and find the leak and get it ready for the next rescue. The plan is to pump the water from the 6000 gallon into the 5000 gallon which will help my water bill immensely and then to put a few goldfish in it along with the turtles for appearances sake.
Next up on the list on the on the 28th of this month is the 6000 gallon pond that has about twenty very large Koi in it. Most of these are going to Zilker Botanical Garden ponds to replace those they lost over the winter. Great to think they will visible to the general public and hopefully giving them as much pleasure as they have given me. There is also the Goldfish pond which is around 2000 gallons and as I said before, contains more than a hundred goldfish of all sizes. Some of these will go into the pond off the deck just to give the appearance of fish in the pond strictly for the visual effect. Goldfish are easier to take care of than the very large Koi and are considerably tougher.
All of this is taking time. I have been spending more and more of it in the Eagle at Henly and I watch as the RV’s pull in and then notice when they are gone. Some stay for a week or two, others are overnighters. Me, I am there until the house is sold which seems incredibly slow. There we go again the the patience thing that started the blog. Once the ponds are cleared, cleaned and refilled and the pumps running, I can concentrate on clearing out what little I will be taking with me. As it is, I have been moving stuff to the Eagle every time I go visit and as I have only so much storage space, probably will not be taking much more. The Eagle or another like it will be my final resting place so there is no sense in putting anything in storage.
The final act will be an Estate Sale and a final house clean up and hand it over to my Realtor. Can’t wait for that to happen.
More to come on this. Stay tuned.
Go check out my old blog at https://pondblog2011.com/ for all of my previous writing.
Written 03/23/2021