February 13, 2009. Canyon Lake, Tx. The Stream.

I wanted a pond and a stream in the back yard, so we made one, or rather, we hired someone to install one. Twelve years ago when we bought this place with David and Suzanne, we all agreed to leave the yard alone and just leave the place be wild. The path to the lake was right in the middle and was about three feet wide with railings on both sides, so it was safe for the children but gave us easy access to the lake. Once a year, David cut down all the foliage and for the rest of the year the wild flowers came and went. Everyone was happy with the system except me. I felt that all that space could be useful to the kids and beautiful for the adults if we installed a pond and stream along with lots and lots of rocks. The young man we hired along with his wife had some additional suggestions too, so now we have two streams that join up half way down where you must walk over a bridge to get down to the water. We have had a great deal of trouble with keeping it running, so I almost wished I had shut my mouth. You know the old adage that if it is not broken do not fix it. The young man seriously under bid the job and it took him a long long time to finish. That did not matter to us, as we were not there, but the worst part was that the pond at the bottom was not large enough to hold all the water when the stream was not running. Then he stopped returning our calls. Finally we hired another company to fix the defects and it runs very well. Today I feel like the nursery rhyme where I put in my thumb and brought out a plum and said "what a good girl am I".

Late this afternoon, after my walk, while Ken was waiting for the technician, I took my glass of wine and my book and sat down by the stream, about half way down to the lake. It was wonderful. The birls are beginning to migrate so I saw several new kinds of birds right down close to the streams and pond and I saw many seagulls flying around the lake. Now we do not have seagulls here at the lake, only when they are migrating, so that was exciting. And the butterflies were everywhere, at least six or seven different types. The birds like it and the butterflies like it and I like it too, I am glad we went to all that trouble. Only one other time in the twelve years we have owned this place have we seen seagulls. I spotted a whole flock on the other side of the lake and with the spotting scope I determined what they were. This was in the first few years here. Suzanne and I were sitting on the deck and I asked her if she had ever known seagulls at this lake. She could not recall and neither had I, but they only stayed two days, then they were gone and we have never seen any gulls there since. Until today. They were souring all around acting as if they lived here. I was thrilled to see them. Without the stream in the yard, I would never have gone down to sit and watch for the birds. It was worth every bit of aggravation and money.