Fishing

Today has been just about as beautiful as yesterday. The temp is a comfortable 71, and the breeze shifted a little in the early afternoon and is coming through our north-facing windows quite nicely. It's been a little overcast – but I can handle a few clouds as long as it's warm.

After my resolve to be a little more productive today, my day started with a few small hiccups in the earlier morning hours. But we ended up back on schedule by 9:30. We took advantage of a few sales at the grocery store and enjoyed a brunch from their deli counter when we got back home – they had a container of an egg scramble left as well as one of biscuits and gravy. We grabbed them up and enjoyed them as soon as we got home. I spent my extra morning time catching up on the ironing I've been putting off. The pile grew a bit this morning as I looked for a blouse to wear – they've all been crammed in the closet over the winter, so I pulled out a few of them to press so I can wear them when I want.

I spent a little over an hour this afternoon reading and researching online for a paper I need to write for my current online class. It's started – now I just need to back up my thoughts with facts from class and get it polished........in a day and a half. Like I said earlier this week – I'm suffering from spring fever! If I don't get it turned in, I won't get a certificate for completing the class. That's not the end of the world – it's not like it's for a grade, and since the classes are free I won't feel like I'm squandering money. But I would like to finish and get the certificate.

When I was a kid, I always enjoyed Grandpa coming home to spend a few days with us. He just lived in Bogard, and we saw him every weekend. But it was fun to have him 24/7. And it gave Mom and Dad a break, since I would spend all my time with him. We walked around the farm and talked, he watched me play, and he would help Dad with the chores. Once in awhile, he would decide we should go fishing.

It was always spur of the moment, so we would have to figure out something to use for bait. I remember a time or two in late summer when we caught grasshoppers. I don't remember what else we might have used. I had a cane pole, and Grandpa would grab Dad's. We walked up the road and over the hill, then about a third of the way down the other side we would climb the fence to our neighbor's pond. The pond wasn't far from the road. We would fish for what seemed to me like a long time, then reverse our trail back home. I don't remember that we ever caught any fish – but the neighbor who owned the pond said there were fish there. And since she was Mom's cousin and as honest as the day was long, I never doubted that.

I kind of envied the neighbors who had ponds stocked with fish. We had a pond, but there were no fish in it. It was for the cows. Even more, I envied the ones with ponds who would decide to grab a pole and catch a mess of fish for supper. Really? You could just decide to go catch fish and it would happen?

My fishing experience as a kid was pretty limited – mainly that one neighborhood pond. Once or twice a year Dad would take a day and go fish on Grand River. Fishing didn't mean that he would catch anything, though. One year he and Grandpa took me with them. I think I did catch three fish, but it was a very long day. That was probably why I never got invited back!

After I was grown and spending some years traversing the country, my cousin bought our farm from my folks. He had a wonderful pond put in, and he stocked it with fish. I always had a standing invitation to use the pond, and I've put in a lot of memorable hours there. They were usually productive hours, too. When the grandsons were 8, we took them fishing. At the end, when we were worn out, hubby pulled in a very large catfish – it was too heavy for the boys, so I held the fish while hubby took photos. Then he let it loose. We had a good laugh when those boys looked at each other and then turned as one unit to go grab their poles from the truck to try to catch that fish again.