Had an unusual text this morning from a friend whose garden is about a 1/2 mile away from my garden. She asked me if I was missing a large goldfish from our pond. I admitted that I hadn’t noticed any missing when I fed them this morning but, if one of our fish is in her garden bothering her, please do send him home. Rightly, or wrongly, I assumed it would have been a he fish.

The pond levels were way down today. I assume due to evaporation from the recent heat wave, but we don’t have a lot of extra water for topping up the levels unless it is urgent. The garden itself is stressed from our water situation. I am trying to be judicious with our water supply. The important plants get water. The ones which I know can survive without, don’t.

There were two bunnies in the garden this morning eating my lettuce. They also nibbled a sickly rose and a young marigold. We have chicken wire ready to install for the lower portion of the garden fence to prevent bunny access but we just haven’t put it up yet. Might have to move that chore up the list a bit.

As mentioned, my intention this year was to grow some different things in the garden, so I looked at my grocery lists from last summer for items I have never grown, but would like to try with a little effort. I am trying peppers, dill, cantaloupe and watermelon. I really have no expectation for success because until recently we were not living in an area with temperatures conducive to melon growing. But this morning, lo and behold, look at what I found in the garden.

I am more than a little thrilled with my first baby cantaloupe. Stay tuned for pictures of the first slice.

Back to the goldfish situation. Apparently my friend was in her garden last night when a low flying eagle passed over her head with a large goldfish in his mouth. She advised me that it is unlikely our fish would be coming home.

I am aware that we go through all of these aforementioned issues every summer and you would think I would learn because, after all, they do sell vegetables in the store and there is no practical reason for all of this trouble. But I am determined to prove that one year I can successfully catch 8000 gallons of water in the tanks during the winter and keep them until I need them in the summer.

We have now filled the pond back up to the top with our precious water to give the fish more room to hide. I am also determined to prove I am smarter than bunnies, and deer and raccoons, voles, herons and apparently now I need to outsmart eagles too, for

the fishes sake