On my bike rides on country roads north of the city, I’ve often come across the foundations of old farm buildings. The structures themselves obviously came down years ago. All that remains today are the cellar holes. I imagine them inhabited by all kinds of creatures, but not Hobbits. If there is one thing that J. R. R. Tolkien taught us about Hobbit-holes, it is the fact that his diminutive inhabitants of the Shire enjoyed their many comforts in their burrows in the sides of hills.
You might want to read yesterday’s blog for a writing that specifically refers to tonight’s radio show. It was, in a sense, an autobiography in five short chapters written by Portia Nelson. It’s a fascinating read and directly relates to tonight’s theme about potholes and ruts.
Some years back, my wife and I decided that our small pre-form pond was just too small for the koi and goldfish. They seemed to be growing too large for their environment. All winter long, as they hibernated in the deepest part of the small pond, I thought about how I might make it larger. I never truly realized the scope of the work.
As I mention in tonight’s radio program, I waited until most of the frost was up and out of the ground before I began the muddy work. My wife and I traced the outline of the pond’s new dimensions on the ground with a long piece of rope. It acted as a guide for me, and then, armed with a shovel, I began to dig a hole…
The ground was soft and still very wet from the snow melt, so getting through the sod wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. It wasn’t a job that would be accomplished in one day, though. In fact, it took me quite a few days over the course of a week or so. Part of the problem that I hadn’t anticipated was the junk in the ground left behind by the original builder of the house. You might wonder what “some” house builders do with the debris left behind from the construction of your home. I can tell you that some of it might be buried on your property. That certainly was the case with mine. With the tip of my shovel, I hit small chunks of discarded lumber, cut ends of roof shingles and pieces of pipe. Any large stones found while digging the foundation were removed and buried in back of the house. You never know what “buried treasure” you will find until you begin to dig a hole in the ground…
The earth that was removed was used to top up our flower beds. We put the cut pieces of sod into our backyard composter. My son was a huge help even though he was very young at the time. He was right there beside me carrying small shovelfuls of dirt up and out of the pit that was slowly getting deeper. I wanted to ensure that the bowl I was carving out would be almost five feet deep. This was to ensure that the fish would have the depth needed to safely survive the elements during our long, harsh winters.
I carved out shelves of varying depths on the exterior walls to hold our pond plants. Some plants require shallow water, while others need to be planted much deeper. When I finally cleared away all the earth beside the old pre-form, I then had to remove the fish and place them into a small wading pool. That was so that I could remove the old pre-form. We then had the liner cut to suit the size of our hole and then we fitted it into place. Fortunately, we had a very early spring that year, and on the day all this was done, it was warm and sunny. The fish were out of their hibernation cycle and eager to begin feeding and replenishing what was lost over the winter months. When the water warmed up enough, we moved the fish across into their new home. They seemed to be in shock at the size of their new environment. The pond contains about 1,500 gallons of water. It’s not as large as some of the ponds I’ve seen, but it is the perfect size for our property.
We’ve had many enjoyable years with the new pond. If you check back to some of my early blogs, you will see digital photos of it that I posted. It is no longer just a hole in the ground. It is a living, thriving environment. The funny thing is this.. I was out checking on the fish just the other day to see how they are faring this winter. They have all gathered in the hole that once held the original pre-form. It’s almost as if they sense something primal about this area of the pond.
Sydney Smith wrote: “If you choose to represent the various parts in life by holes upon a table, of different shapes–some circular, some triangular, some square, some oblong–and the persons acting these parts by bits of wood of similar shapes, we shall generally find that the triangular person has got into the square hole, the oblong into the triangular, and a square person has squeezed himself into the round hole. The officer and the office, the doer and the thing done seldom fit so exactly that we can say they were almost made for each other.”
One final thought about digging…
Now, the only thing I seem to be accomplishing with a shovel, is moving mounds and mounds of snow…
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Don Jackson
