Have you noticed any strange looking grasshoppers around your house lately? They would be brown and they can almost fly. They are also quite a bit larger than your run-of-the-mill grasshopper, they may very well be locusts. It seems that is the only thing missing from the various plagues that have been visiting us lately. We are suffering from our good neighbor policy with China and they may be sending us more terrible scourges as the week goes by.
My wife is making me an appointment to receive the vaccine, but I’m not sure how I feel about it. I pray that it will work, not only for me but for all our other folks that we need to protect. It’s getting to the point that we don’t know what to expect next. Living in the Salinas Valley, I appreciate how blessed we are to be in the food-growing business. We all need to eat, and we thank all the folks who work so hard to bring our food home.
That was quite a rainstorm we had last week. I know many folks who live in the surrounding areas had a very difficult time. I sure hope all things are dried out soon so life can continue. It didn’t bother us too much in our little town as the fine people from Public Works kept our streets clear and safe. They are truly inspiring and I can’t remember a time when they didn’t grab a shovel or rake and pushed the water where it needed to go.
Speaking of water, when we moved to Gonzales many years ago I wanted to put in a fish pond. I know I have talked about my fish pond in other columns. When I first began the process, it didn’t work well. I mean I dug the dirt out and sealed the pond with a waterproof liner, but I learned that the sun shined down right over the water. That turned the water green and you couldn’t even tell I had fish.
I didn’t learn very much about how to keep the pond clean and to make sure that the right kind of fish were in the pond. As time went on, I learned to drain the pond every year as the dirt and debris would collect and algae would grow. It wasn’t until my son Austin decided to get an aquarium as a hobby. I bought comets for about a dime for my pond and he bought fancy goldfish for a lot more. They were beautiful.
He was standing in the yard when I asked him if he would help clean out my pond, so I could put his fish there. He wasn’t keen on the idea, so I thought if I got started maybe he would be more interested. Well to make a long story short, I got busy and started watching videos on fountains and filters and how to keep algae down. So now I have a peaceful place to watch a watery community where we know each fish.
The water is clear and the fountains make the prettiest water sound that makes us feel at ease. You don’t even need to feed the fish when the temperature goes below 50 degrees. But they are really something to see when Lorraine feeds them. They seem to know the time, as they gather around the bridge and they know when the neighbor’s cat comes by in the middle of the night. The pond is deep enough that the cat just walks on by.
In case you don’t drive by the right signs, I just want to point out that there are only 70 active cases of Covid-19 in Gonzales. Although that’s a lot, it is much less than what we have been living with. Keep those masks on and keep washing your hands. I pray your family stays safe and peaceful. God Bless.
