It was the Hambone/Pawpaw Goldfish Pond Cleaning Corp. that tackled the garden pond Tuesday.

May 2, 2018 - Wednesday

45 degrees/light rain/calm winds

Pentoga Road

It would have been easy to have stayed in bed this morning. With the rain hitting the metal roof overhead, the waterfalls splashing in the pond, and the peepers chirping in the woods, I could have easily turned over and gone back to sleep.

Spring has come to the Upper Peninsula.

In 80 degree temperatures, the flag was blowing straight out at the VA Hospital in Iron Mountain on Tuesday afternoon.

We took advantage of the warm and sunny weather yesterday by cleaning the garden pond. Hambone thought it would be a great thing to do and in all honesty, he was extremely helpful when it came to turning on and off the water. The boy must have made eighty or a hundred trips from the garden to the outside faucet on the back patio.

First things first. Grady rode the snowmobile that's waiting to be stored for the summer months while I was getting a few things from the storage container with which to clean the pond.

With all the sounds he was making, I assume he probably drove to Alaska and back.

Note the brand new blue "super hero" boots. I don't think Hambone took them off the entire time he was here. He says he can run faster and jump higher than ever before.

Back to the goldfish pond. The waterfalls pump was used to discharge the water onto the garden.

 

Then it was a matter of using the high pressure washer to scour the sides and rocks. I kept a slurry mixed and added water over and over, pumping the glop out onto the garden.



Naturally, Hambone had to help. He has brand new WATERPROOF boots and what is a garden pond if it's not one big puddle? 



After the pond was filled for the final time, Grandma Sargie began skimming any leaves and debris.



It was time to net the fish from their fifty gallon tote in which they have been living all winter.



I'm amazed that out of twenty goldfish taken from the pond last fall, nineteen made it through the winter months in the basement. 



With the fish happily swimming in their warm-weather home, we moved our attentions to the barn. I had an old wet/dry vac that we're giving to Macrea. Problem was, it had lost it's suck. 

Everyone knows that a vacuum without its suck doesn't even make a good boat anchor. With Grady's help, we took the cover off the motor and cleaned the inside air intake. 

That's a plastic pulley on a screw driver along with a piece of dryer hose, both salvaged from the trash. Hambone seemed to think they were all extremely important pieces when it came to fixing the vacuum.

The wet/dry vac has once again found its sucking power.

Sargie climbed the ladder to the loft over the shop and I began carrying items up to her. Once there, she slid them out of the way. I'll arrange everything in the coming days.

It was soon time to load Hambone into the car and drive to Iron Mountain. I'm told he has preschool today at Woodland Elementary. 

Grady fell sound asleep on our way over and never awakened as I carried him from one car seat to the other. As Grandma Sargie said, I think we wore the little guy out.



Sargie closes tonight, but has Thursday off. Unfortunately, her time at home will be short lived as she works all weekend.

I'm going to attempt to clean the barn today and begin to put the shop back in order. The trailer has been brought out and it's time for our yearly trek to the dump. Sargie says it looks like a bunch of hillbillies live here. I think her assessment is a little harsh, but since she's CEO of the Keep Maple Valley Beautiful Committee, to the dump I'll go.

It's time to wake up Sargie and get the day started. There are goldfish to feed and a barn to clean. 

After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...