The pond.

[I wrote this a while back after our trip to Indiana but forgot to post.]

When I was a kid our family visited my grandparents in Wabash, Indiana at least once a year. And the highlight of that trip for Josh and I was always the cabin and pond. My grandpa build a cabin, dug out a pond, stocked it with fish and created a sanctuary of sorts everyone to swim and play. Get a hook, throw some liver on it and WHAM BAM you had yourself a huge catfish. I remember seeing grandpa bang it's slimy head with a log and then watch it twitch in the grass. Mmm, catfish stew. Bass fishing was amazing, too. And bluegills. There was a raft in the middle of the pond and we spent hours and hours swimming and diving and drinking soda. I still often think of the cabin when I taste a coke. I hope to dig up some old photos to post here some day.

Well, it's different out there now. The kids have grown, Grandpa died a few years ago and the weeds have grown over. When I took the boys out there a couple months ago we went into the cabin to poke around. It was dark without electricity. Wood burning stove, big huge moose head over the fireplace. He built it to feel 100 years old already. There were literally spiderwebs over everything, which was scary for me and more so for the boys. On the table was a tackle box. My brother Josh had been in town just a week before us so when I saw the fake snake draped over the tackle box I was not amused. Ha ha. I poked it with my fishing pole and it sped off, totally alive. Ick! How does a snake get up on table in the middle of the room? Art was impressed to see a snake, I hid my fear and suggested we all go outside right away to see the pond.

Here's a photo of the pond in its current state. It's covered in green algae and seems in likewise disrepair. I did cast a few times and immediately caught a nice bass which impressed the boys. But then the lure got stuck in some weeds and I had to break the line and we left for home to escape the bugs.

I wish grandpa were alive now so I could tell him thanks for all the wonderful times and fun we had growing up at the cabin. It was a gift for us kids and a highlight of my childhood. Thanks, Grandpa!