Hard work

The first week we got here, we decided to clean the big pond. Most of the ponds have names, but this one is just the big pond. 
We have to clean it because the water comes from the river and it brings sand and dirt with it. Especially during the rainy season.  The big pond is the one right behind the house. 

To clean the pond, first we had to drain it. We had to try to catch every fish before it was empty. We used nets and buckets. We counted the fish as we put them in the buckets. When there were five fish we put them into a tank until we could move them to a different pond. When the water got low, Bobbie helped herd the fish into our nets. Its was really funny.

When we were counting the fish, and we saw one that was deformed, or blind, or we thought it would get eaten if we put it in the new pond, I would put it in a separate bucket. My mom would take the fish down and let it go in a stream in the waterfall garden. Ever since the storm, that waterfall garden is all rocks now. There's not even a stream.

We put the fish from the big pond into a new pond, and then the next morning, my Dad and Martin and Jonathon clean the pond.
They rake the bottom and get out any plants or alge.
​ It does not smell good.

When the pond was clean, we filled it back up, and then started cleaning a different pond. The fish from that pond went into the new clean pond.
Each pond is supposed to be cleaned 4 times every year. It is very hard work.