A Monster of the Deep

 Hello Friends,

Each garden season I enjoy creating my water feature/my pond. I use a large galvanized bucket and a whiskey barrel to create my little area. I have a back garden of hosta, rocks and other decoration. Around the whiskey barrel I have rocks, clam shells, snail shells and other items I have found during my hikes.

This season I have a large pot of white impatiens and a castor bean in a pot.

Last season I winter overed the water plants that I have in my little whiskey barrel. Both water plants are native to Florida and I purchased the water plants at one of our local Pet Stores when I purchased our fish last season. I shared the story here at The River. If you missed it, I will quickly sum it up. I usually buy the 'feeder fish' or 'comets' to place in my pond. They only cost about 0.20 cents. I enjoy having a few fish swimming in the pond.

Last season when I purchased my fish, the young man helping me asked what the fish were for. When I shared that they would be used in a pond, he said "Oh, I will pick out some fun colored fish. Most of the time the fish are used to feed turtles and piranhas." I went on to share my story that we have one of our original pond fish, she will be going on three years old as of last year.

All of the fish I bought last year died by the end of the season.

 We still had our original old fish and the water plants. I wintered over the plants. And our old fish continues to swim on, as I type this little story.

And so this season, I set up the whiskey barrel and went to the Pet Store to purchase 12 new fish for the pond. This season the fish cost 0.20 cents. I had a young lady help me. She selected 12 fish to come live happily in our pond. And once again I shared how we still have one of our original pond fish. I shared that the old fish is going on four years old and has grown. At this, the young lady shared with me "these feeder fish will live for a long time if taken care of."

Once I returned home all 12 fish were dumped into the pond. Each morning I found a few belly up. One morning I found several belly up. I began to fear that I would have to visit the Pet Store again and have to tell the young lady who helped me, things were not going well in the fish department. 

Fear Not..

I am happy to report that no more fish went belly up and I am the proud owner of five new fish and my one old fish.

And now to get to the title of this post. Out of the five new fish, four are bright orange and one is deep black. I feed the fish every morning. Each morning I am blessed with a  chuckle. That black fish, is a true monster of the deep. The goldfish will be swimming on top of the water. I sprinkle the fish food on the surface of the water and they will begin to eat. Then from the deep, the little black fish will come swimming up and make a splash as he eats a flake of fish food. He will swim deep down and again come up for a flake, making a big show of it. He does this everyday.

I shared with my husband about our monster of the deep. One afternoon I decided to see if our little monster would perform. I was a little worried as my little monster is fed in the mornings. I was not sure he would give my husband an afternoon performance.

My little monster of the deep did not disappoint, he splashed, he dove, he splashed again. My husband laughed, I laughed and I think our little monster of the deep was pleased.

During the next few weeks I will have friends over to enjoy a stroll in the garden. I will also surprise them with a, monster of the deep.

Blessed are the happiness makers!

Henry Ward Beecher