Down at the Watering Hole

They say it takes 21 days to break a habit.

Thats rubbish.

It takes one.

The day you decide (and I mean really decide) that you want to change.

~~

So...on my ride today, I noticed that the little catch pond down by the reservoir, is almost dry. Only last week it still had some water in it, it seemed. Intrigued, I pulled over to have a look.

The little spoon shaped valley was indeed bone dry....with the exception of some water, no bigger than 40 feet long and a few feet wide, that contained brown churning murky water. The water was churning because it was full of fish. Fish that before had a whole little valley to swim in, were now smooshed together and flopping all over each other.

The scene reminded me of that documentary...about some African watering hole during a drought. And all the crocodiles fight for the last bit of murk, and the fish burrow down in the mud, and lions and antelope are so overcome with thirst, that they drink side by side.

Desperate acts of survival.

There was a family there, taking advantage of the easy pluckings. They only had to dip their nets in the water, swirl them around a few times, and out would come a small handful of fish. The fish were plucked quickly and expertly from their nets and tossed into buckets on the shore.

I have no idea what kind of fish they were. They were big and finny and floppy.

And smart.

As far as fish go anyway. There was this one part of the mudhole that was thicksticky muddy, and the fishing family couldn't walk on it. The fish were all gathered in this area, practically on top of each other, so they could be out of reach of the nets.



Yet, waiting for the family to leave, in a safe viewing distance, was a small flock of seagulls and about a dozen egrets and herons. The muddy shore would not be a problem for them.

And so, with shrinking water, and predators literally lining the shore, waiting their turn...the little fish gathered and gulped. It all seemed so horribly hopeless.

And I found myself wishing for rain to come soon....

......Except not on Friday and Saturday and not during my lunch ride.