GRANDBABY BROKE HER LEG

So last Thursday I was to babysit 2 1/2 year old granddaughter Grace while her mother went to the funeral of an old friend. The 31 year old friend had liposuction, developed a blood clot and died.

Thursday morning daughter-in-law calls to say that she may or may not make the funeral, that she was taking Grace to the doctor. The night before Grace fell off the bed and is still refusing to put wait on her leg. So they went to the pediatrician, the x-ray showed a bad break to her right femur, and he sent her to an orthopedic surgeon. The orthopedic surgeon decided he didn't have what it takes to fix her, so he sent her by ambulance to Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock. Grace is now in a body cast (stylish in hot pint) and will remain that way for 4 weeks.

Fish Saga

New Fish Pond 

One rainy Saturday this Spring we noticed a frenzy of activity in the fish pond. Spawning had to be taking place and at least three female goldfish were involved. Soon the koi were surrounding the water hyacinths and having a caviar party. Quickly we grabbed water hyacinths and put them in our little aquarium hoping to save some of the little babies.

At the time we had 3 koi and 7 gold fish. In just a couple of days the little aquarium was full of tiny fish. Moved some of them to a five gallon bucket. Some to a glass jar on the kitchen cabinet just to watch their progress. Soon the aquarium began to fill up with something else - algae. So we hook up the filter, attach a knee-hi stocking over the intake and turn it on. It soon clogs, we run it some with and without the knee-hi. I notice that the population is getting smaller, so I move more to buckets. Soon there were no live fish in the aquarium.

We moved the water hyacinths back to the big pond. This seemed to trigger something in the koi, and they started spawning activity which seemed to give the goldfish ideas again. This time we drug out our old pre-formed pond and set it up. So all baby fish and egg loaded hyacinths were placed in there. Saved again from being eaten by the big fish.

In spite of our efforts, we did not get all of the babies out and away from the big fish. Today someone counted 11 babies now big enough to join in the eating frenzy with the grown koi and goldfish. The babies that we separated out are much smaller and too numerous to count. I can guess at maybe 25. We were so concerned about losing even one egg, and now we have no idea what we are going to do with all of these fish!

Old Pond 

Old Photograph

Larkin Club, Havana, Arkansas ca 1950 

Fish Pond in My Backyard

Koi Pond 

Spring and Summer

This has been a good Spring here in Arkansas. My 4 year old granddaughter has been give the "all clear" from Arkansas Children's hospital. She will not have heart surgery for another year. God is good and His mercy endures forever.

Rainy Day in Arkansas

Mockingbird in Arkansas Rain 
It was a rainy day today. No need to water the garden. Spent most of the afternoon on Ancestry.com putting together brother and sister relationships between my husbands great grandmother Williams and my great grandfather Vinsett.