On 11/4/2016 12:44 PM, Derald wrote:
+1 on the mosquito fish. They're free in FL and may be in TX, too.
Here, even commercial water garden providers offer the fish freely. I
don't use them because the water with which I'm concerned is shallow
enough to overheat and I haven't provided shade.
Same here, there's only enough rain gets to the pond when it really
pours, otherwise the flow goes straight on downstream.


George Shirley wrote:

I would rather live out in the boonies but the boss lady wants to be close to
the grands and great grands.
So, buy some swampland and move all of their asses onto it while
you're young. Certain of the farmers in my family (who already owned
fair-sized bits of farmland by the 1950s) began doing that in the
1950s-1970s. Some of their progeny stayed down on the farm(s); some
didn't. Those who didn't stay sold or quit-claimed their
house-garden&yard patches within the family. Of those, a fair number
copped some land of their own and continued the practice. A few in my
and subsequent generations still actively farm (although, since NAFTA
doing so is increasingly pointless); a couple have citrus (another
losing proposition); others just pay the taxes.

My kids are in their mid to late fifties, one in 1961, the other in
1963, daughters kids are in their mid-thirties, son's kids are mid to
late teens, he was a late bloomer or else it just took him a long time
to figure out getting married and having kids. We have six great grands
running from 17 to three years old, big spread between grands and when
they started producing.

I grew up on a ten acre farm, wife on a nineteen acre farm, our fathers
farmed but also had regular day jobs too. The real farming started when
they retired in their early fifties, alas neither last to long after
retirement, my Dad was gone at 71, her Dad at about 80. My Mom was gone
at 89, hers lacked six months of being 101. I've lived longer than my
Dad, Grandad, Great Grandad, Great Great Grandad, and two of three
uncles. I'm 77 and feel lucky to have gotten that far. 41 micro strokes,
four major strokes, two heart attacks, heart bypass, several stents, and
a 55-gallon drum of medicines. Hasn't killed me yet but has certainly
slowed me down a lot, partial paralysis on right side makes it hard to
walk. Still have good vision and pretty good hearing and most of my
brain still works okay. We'll skip the other problems. G

My eldest great granddaughter is 17 this month so I figure a few more
years and we will have at least one great great grand. I didn't plan on
this big of a family when I married but there it is now and we love them
all, mostly.

We're still farming on a 6500 square foot lot with a 1960 square foot
house, lots of concrete and no real dirt. House is built on five feet of
clay with a few inches of sand on top. I just spread another bag of
ground gypsum today, gypsum, eventually, turns clay into something
resembling dirt and then stuff grows. We grow enough vegetable,
kumquats, figs, and pears to can our own grub as we're always done. That
food just tastes better than stuff from a can at the supermarket.

George