A warm winter day sitting on the rise with a pair great dogs imagining what it will look like when the last 2/3s of it are filled and the fish are stocked and mature. Then casting out a long one of those long sweeping points and snagging a big bass,,,,,,,, In my mind that point is already under water and the big lunker is right there hovering just where that center point on the left is touching the water now, waiting for the fight. Then thinking back to the Spring, summer and into the fall warm, burning, then cold shaping the bed and detailing into just what I wanted. Hard to forget those long weeks under the burning ass sun of July and August! And to have a deeper appreciation for it because of those trials. It only has around 5' more depth to gain until it is getting to the spillway. Going to take at least 20 more inches of rain to get it there depending when and how it comes down. I have dreamed of the time when I could build this little lake. For the last 15 years here and 10 before here I have worked myself close to death a couple of times for everyone but myself. I was not sure how I was going to feel about this last 1/3 or so of my life. Kind of worried that I would fall into the trap of sitting around doing nothing and become a turnip. LOL I don't think that is going to be a issue Kind of disappointed that I did not get the big pond done before the mud came. It still needed about another 120 hours of quality tractor time. I will just have to put the trash pumps to work next summer and suck it down to where it is now and finish it up. I didn't build the lake dam but I did build this and the little pond dam behind this one. The idea of building terraced ponds above the lake got into my head....... so I did it. The little pond was the hardest dam to build even though it is the smallest dam in length. It is a acre and half 18 feet deep hole or will be when it is filled. I guess it is solid the tandem with 50,000 pounds of rock on crossed it multiple times. We sat here today wondering if the pipe would handle the inflow from run off and the overflow from the big pond when the big rains come. Just be safe I was smart enough to cut a 14' wid 2' deep side spillway into virgin clay on the end of the dam and packed it with rip rap and 3" rock. I needed 5 more loads of 3" rock but when we got the 3" late fall rain that cut the rock off until next June. All we would accomplish now is sinking a tandem to the frame SO round bales and straw mats will have to do. I like this as well, kind of a different idea I had. After I built the big pond dam, I kept getting more concerned that the little pond would wear to hard on it. So I build a 20' thick sloping terrace on the back side of the big pond dam from clay out of the little pond bed...... how it got to be as deep as it is. My original idea was to make a 4-5 feet deep little pond and do my fresh water prawns there instead of the tank and little mud hole I currently grow them in. Going to have to research if that will be doable with deep water. LOL I love shrimp, I don' particularly like the Asian pig shit fed farmed shrimp. So I started dabbling around with fresh water tiger prawn and grow around 120 pounds per year in my spring and summer set up. Instead of pig shit, I feed them the same feed I feed the cattle, pigs and chickens LOL. Just something I dabble in. A LOT of water comes out of the woods and the fields through the two arms of the big pond It has dual spillways on each end like the one on the right. LOL I needed one more semi load of rip rap to finish the right spillway........ And 3 of those tandems of 3" rock to put on the terrace slope. As it is I put straw mats and still need to roll a couple more out and seeded it heavy with K-31 two days ago. Yeah Yeah K-31 bad except for erosion control It is one of if not the best matting type grasses for erosion control. I have seeded it while it was snowing and it germinates and gets a lot of rooting action going as soon as it hits above freezing, not much green to be seen but it gets the roots going under the straw or hay. Terrible grass to make spring and summer hay with because of the toxin in it. Can take a late cut of it though after a hard frost and the toxin is neutralized from the cold and frost. The toxin makes horse slobber and cattle hooves get deformed from it. Can't see myself cutting and baling the dam sides and steep slopes where I am planting The deer are teasing me for not hunting any of them this year LOL it looks like this and worse all around the lakes and ponds. The worst are the dams they have became Deer Super Highways. The Geese and Ducks found the lake fast during their migration South. Saw a beaver swimming around the other day. Guess he moved on non of the trees beaver like to eat here yet. I am goingto rock the dams heavy to deter the muskrats. I like Muskrats just not digging through my dams. The visit but don't stay. A colony lives in the stock pond, might sound gross but they are pretty tasty little critters, right up there with Squirrel and Rabbit IMO.......... you just want to avoid the MUSK part of them LOL of Course IMO I pretty much eat and like anything that doesn't eat me first. Yep I am liking this retired and doing mostly for myself in the needs and wants departments. Still doing the same things but a world of difference in doing it for myself and 7-8 other folks and doing it non stop day in day out for 250 people. LOL this is what I wanted my little homestead to be from the git go! Just a nice quiet peaceful life with good trusted friends that come and visit for a while and LEAVE eventually. After a while I make the comment "Do you know what dead fish and company have in common?" "Yeah Krappy I do because you have told me often enough...... We both start stinking after a couple of days!"
I just know 5-6 years from now that is where he will be! I am forbidden from going to any sporting goods section of all stores and Mrs. Krap has use her internet parental controls to block me from Bass Pro and Cabellas
Wow! Your pond is a masterpiece. My property used to have a pond about a decade ago and I would love to revive it and maybe grow tilapia. The man who built these houses used to fish from his house out of the window. I have been trying to figure out how to get a large enough pond liner shipped here. I feel very inspired by your pond. I would love to grow tiger shrimp and it kind of made me laugh because right now I have tons of sweet potatoes growing in the future pond and the wild pigs love to go down there and harvest so that (pig droppings) would be food for the shrimp, wouldn't it? Just the wrong time and place Thank you for sharing and inspiring me to maybe tackle my pond dreams once again.
Cranes, Herons and Egrets have that Covered nicely. They are the pond to pond free delivery service here, They stock the stock pond every spring with bluegill and rock bass and all kind of weird vegetation for the hogs to sample. 14 years and no Bullhead Catfish.....I hope that trend continues. I wanted a specific type of cattail and finally found a stand of them at Rend Lake and stole a couple heads to get them going in the shallows here. One of my other dining fetishes being plump cattail tubers. Snagged some Native giant cane rhizomes for some strategic locations. Can't think of the name at the moment but the deeper water tall ones that look like they have a fern for leafs every 8" or so and root in the 4-8' deep water. Best approach I have found is to mix it up and let it balance itself out. The Native cane is a bamboo but not as obnoxious as Asian Bamboos, Cattails are not as bad to control as they are made out to be. LOL and to be honest I am rebuilding where I grew up with my own twist on it. And meet my apprentice and now official heir Little Krappy. She demands a beach......... So we can build sandcastles and shoot bottle rockets at them and destroy each others Sandcastles. Started out just being a annoying 3 year daughter of one of my customers. We have developed a strong bond in the 7 year since then. Mom is a good friend and JUST A GOOD FRIEND. Mom about fell over when I presented my offer for her daughter to become my heir and the official Little Krappy. She will start living here 3-4 months at a shot in the Spring and start learning everything about the farm, Corp, and the Business. Smart Kid, Home schooled and test about 3 years higher than her age in Reading, Comprehension and Math. Has Respect and thinks and makes good choices on the fly. And is quite good at manipulating people with those big blue eyes. And get very annoyed that she can't manipulate me. Now I have to get back to planning her beach! Just kidding we have a agreement that if she has a idea she wants to implement then she has to plan it out, write it down and present its benefits and drawbacks and we will talk about and I will decide yes or no based on the ideas merits as she presents them. The merits of sandcastle wars with toy soldiers and bottle rockets on a beach has a lot of Merit and got the green light! The face shield OK but wearing carharts in July for bottle rocket protection might get a line item veto And I think Little Krappy is more excited about the fishing prospects than I am!
When you can't find paradise ,, you build your paradise ,, and then when you find a little one to help you enjoy it ,, can't get much better than that . Congrats on bringing your dreams to life ,, you've earned it ,,
Little Krappy sure has added a ever increasing value to my life over the last 7 years. Not my blood or my daughter but I love her like she is. Funny thing is I AM NOT A KID person. Amazingly at 10 years old she does not know the first thing about smart phones and her video game/ computer experience has been limited to educational learning type games and programs. When she visits now her BIG Interest is in Driving the Little Kubota and mastering it........... even though she can just barely reach the go pedal and keep enough weight on the seat to not kill the engine when she pushes the pedal to go. She graduated this year from the .22LR rifle to the .22Mag Bolt action. She had to hit 20/20 on the 6" plate at 50 yards with the .22LR Bolt gun 3 rounds in a row with the iron sights. She accomplished that A month ago and you would think she won the super bowl the way she was jumping around yelling "YES! YES!! YES!!!" Now she is working on the same feat at 100 yards with a scope and the .22Mag and mad that she is going to have to grow quite a bit before she can move up to a .223 and the .410 shotgun. She is a poster child for gun safety, I hand her a gun and the rifle and the first thing she does is eject the magazine and pull the bolt back to clear it. Then repeats the magic words, it is not unloaded and safe until I make sure it is unloaded and cleared as safe. Also has a full understanding that once she depresses the trigger there is no taking the bullet back. The first rabbit she killed really drove that point home with her. I am of the school of thought that gun safety starts with gun exposure and use. If you tell a kid they can't touch it or use it..... the first thing they are going to do at the first opportunity is touch it and use it...... and always incorrectly without knowledge. Like any other tool, put it in their hand and teach how to do it safely for them and everyone else and give real life lessons on the consequences that can happen with using the tool incorrectly........ Like with rabbits and squirrels. A ding in a paper or tin target does not convey DEAD is DEAD like a bloody hole in a dead critter and you made that Bloody Hole. Then the whole philosophical discussions that follow as to why we kill and we only kill for food and and as a last resort to protect our selves, the livestock and others. In order to sustain life we must take life whether it is a critter or a plant. I am a bad man...... I left the gun case with the big guns wide open and unlocked on one of her visits and then sate in the camera room to see what she would do. When she found it she looked at the guns for a few minutes then closed the door, turned the key and went searching for me to give me the key and a harsh scolding about making sure I close it and lock it in the future....... and even came up with a suitable chore as penance for my mistake! TG a big task for a 8 year old is a small task for an adult!!! Otherwise I would have spent two days moving a ton of manure from one pile to a new pile with a little kid size wheel barrow and pitchfork 20 feet away LOL someday I will tell her about the truth of that and how she passed a big test. We live in a world of natural consequences here, if you don't make fire wood you are cold in the winter, if you don't make food you are hungry. Both negative consequences. If you make ample firewood and food then you are warm and full positive consequences. She has a full grasp of this that began with touching and electric fence a second time, first time you learned with out knowledge and gained knowledge, the second time you knew and got bit because you didn't think and apply what you learned the first time. I don't think there will be a 3rd time, she looks like she is handling a rattle snake when she unhooks a fence with the insulated handle now days. Little things like that have her thinking about cause and effect with pretty much everything now days. "If I do X then Z will be the likely outcome." And hey when I am sitting in the truck with my arm on the metal of the window and she touched the hot wire to the bumper and lights me up like a Christmas tree........ I learn fast to not touch anything metal when she is opening the electric gate Because she WILL stand in front of the truck pointing at me and laughing! And then give me a lecture on cause and effect and how natural consequences work. Way too much like me when I was a kid I have my eye on a couple of small lots in towns in decent locations. I am eventually going to buy one of them to set one of the food trailers and outdoor dining room up on. Sometime this year or in 2024 and Start running it with her so she learns that part of the business side. I did good selling the packaged frozen meats and butcher hogs and cattle on the hoof. The Food trailers though are what brought the real money in when I figured out that I could keep selling a pound of burger for $5 or I could sell the same pound as cooked burgers for $20. Everyone with a lot wants all of your profits to set up on their lot, every town has or is making crazy temp vendor fees for the privilege of setting up inside their City limits. Buying a lot for $10,000-$20,000 in one of those towns eliminates the City Temp Vendor fees and the private lot use extortion Just have to pay the higher in town property tax and business license, which is A LOT less than $50-$200 per day to the City and $25-$150 for setting up on someone else's lot. Throw in overhead and a $500 sales day may leave you with enough to put fuel in the tank to get back home. Another side effect that started in the smaller towns during 2020 and Covid restrictions and lock downs. The bigger towns always robbed you blind, thus I only did events in the bigger towns that were fee exempt. Anyway she wants to make money whether she knows it now or not Those two food trailers doing a even 1 or 2 day set up at a fixed location, restarting the catering private parties and a couple set ups at bigger events make a lot of money if you do it right. Doing the bigger festivals and car shows where you spend $1500 to make $5000 over two days is what got me to being able to retire in 2020 at 53. The Commercial Kitchen/Commissary is still here, both food trailers are in mint condition and still fully equipped. I still get dozens of calls and messages asking if I will come set up at this or that event. And Little Krappy has a strong interest in the food trailers and learning to work them. Can't see a reason not to further develop that interest and give her a marketable trade that brings in very good money as a bonus if done smart and right. LOL can't run on her own until she is 18 though minimum age for my commercial fleet insurance to cover he driving the trucks And still have to pay extra premium until she is 21 And then have to get her a CDL to drive a couple of the rigs including the big food trailer........ assuming she grows enough to reach the pedals between now and then LOL. Thinking about abandoning the food trailers and buying one of the run down fixer up restaurants for sale but still running the trucks at the higher earning events. Bigger cost to buy and refurbish one of those joints but would make life a lot easier than a mobile food joint in a perm set up. A whole new twist thinking about her future VS when I was thinking about my future. I won't force her in any direction but have no problem guiding and encouraging her in things she has interest in. It is just good fortune that she shows a lot of interest in the same things I do and know. When I croak everything farm and business transfers to her via the new trust with some restrictions like not being able to borrow against the land and assets, can't sell the 40 acre home land, My lawyers firm manages the trust and trust acct and pays the property tax and keeps the trust account growing before the annual disbursement is made to her. Just little safeguards in place to protect the legacy. I would very much like for Kamp Krap to still be around 10 generations from now still doing its thing. I won't start or do any more big projects for myself, I am am content and happy where I am at and with what I have. I will do more with Little Krappy if they look like they will benefit her future and Kamp Kraps future. Whether that trust continues on after her will be her decision to make, the dead hand can only rule over the generation taking over. LOL of course she could have children while I am still sucking air and I could name them in the trust and the dead hand would rule until the last of them croaked I want my heir and other potential heirs to have a secure and safe future in a world that is getting more unsafe and crazier by the day right now. Not real worried about myself at this point in history I will be fine and get by just fine. I am worried about the future and what the world will be like when Little Krappy is my age. The past is important because you can't know where you are going if you don't know where you started, the present is important and you control your place in it, and prepare for the future, the future is important because it test everything you learned from the past and prepared for the future. The most important factor in the future is who we choose and prepare to move forward into the future after we are gone. Just how I see it. And Enough Bragging about Little Krappy
I have been retired for the last four years and can relate to your being able to do the work you want to do. When you enjoy it, it's not work. When you sit back and see what you've accomplished, that's a reward in itself. Those ponds will bring enjoyment for years to come.
That sounds like a smart little girl,, it's great you've found that bond with her ,, and giving her some positive life lessons ,, so much of that is missing in a lot of kids today .
