This past week started off really great. We worked hard on Saturday because on Sunday we were planning dinner with our kids. It was the Easter dinner we were supposed to have the week before but my husband had gotten a bad cold.
We had a big feast of barbeque lamb, smoked chicken, mashed potatoes and peas. Before we ate we broke bread and took communion. The food was fantastic. Earlier in the day, my daughter in law helped me rearrange the rocks that comprise the waterfall on one end of the fish pond.
It was a lot of work moving those big rocks but by the time we were finished, it looked even better than I had hoped. I can’t wait to add fish. I am thinking it will be next weekend that I buy a couple to see how they do.
My husband and I took off of work Monday and Tuesday. On Monday, we went fishing on Lake Whitney; our mission was to find the crappie. The morning started out a little chilly but the sun was warm and the winds were light. It didn’t take long to warm up and turn into a gorgeous day.
It took us a while to find where the crappie were, but once we did fishing turned into catching. We pulled them in one right after the other. Most of them were legal size but we had to throw a few back. All total we had 23 crappie, one blue gill, and one sand bass.
It was late in the day when we made it back home. It took my husband over an hour to filet all those fish. The sun had already gone down by the time he finished. At one point, he stopped to ask me to spray some of my home-made insect repellent on him because the mosquitoes were starting to bite.
He came in the house a little later with about 10 pounds of filets, and reported that the bug spray had worked great! If you would like the recipe to make your own, it is posted in the recipe section of my website under the body care tab. There is also a link to it in the April newsletter.
Tuesday morning, we did a few chores and then decided to go down to the river to see if the catfish were biting. It was a forced break really because while I was mowing the pasture with the tractor, the brush hog suddenly stopped cutting grass. Of course, I was devastated since I just had to have a new clutch put in my tractor; I was not wanting more expenses.
A trip down to the river was just what I needed. After about an hour of being teased with nibbles here and nibbles there, finally we started hooking into them. Last year it seemed that every catfish we caught was too small and had to be released. I think the ones that were stealing our bait this time had been caught before and were wise to steal the bait without getting hooked.
Nevertheless, we managed to land 5 keeper size catfish; the last one was the biggest one. It was actually hot on Tuesday and it felt good to wade out into the cool water as far as I could before my rubber boots filled with water. I had a mis-step on my next to the last fish which resulted in wet feet but it was worth it.
We were both out of bait so we headed back up to the house. After my husband fileted them, he asked if I wanted a fish fry that night; I said, “Yes!”. It had been a while since we had one so it was a real treat. He fried up all the catfish, the blue gill, and some of the crappie. The rest he froze for another time.
The rest of the week went well enough. My husband fixed the brush hog on Friday by replacing the shear pin; I was grateful. I got to finish my mowing that night.
This morning, however, I decided to take on the “simple” task of removing the old water filter in the kitchen to replace it with a new one. Since I could no longer get replacement filters for the type I had, I took advantage of a big sale and bought a better one.
The new filter is a three stage filtration system. It mounts under the sink like the old one, so I thought it should go pretty smoothly. It came with its own spigot that attaches to the sink. Actually, it goes where the sprayer is. As we were taking the sprayer off of the sink I realized that there was no way to install the new filter with the old faucet. It was another crushing blow.
There was no turning back now. Even though the faucet was less than 10 years old, it had a minor leak that was just annoying. I decided that it was just as well that I replace it; so a trip to Home Depot was in order.
It took me quite some time looking over all the models of kitchen faucets that were a single handle without a sprayer or soap dispenser. Finally, I picked one out; I got the last one in stainless steel. When I got back home, I proceeded to remove the old faucet. To shorten this long story, just let me say that 6 hours after I started this simple little project, I was victorious.
So much for getting my blog post out this morning.
I hope you have a wonderful week.
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
