Like a lot of folks, I have made my share of mistakes.
I am a "do it yourself" kind of guy, so I have made mistakes doing a lot of different things, and building a pond started a whole new list. For starters, I was told after I dug my pond for the first time, a half acre would cost so much, not sure how much, but lets say $5,000. So I built it myself, remember I said first time, and only spent about $7,000. Felt like it was too small, so I enlarged it, another $7,000. Now I got my wife to agree, we need to enlarge it again, and make it deeper, so I rented a bigger excavator, and a larger bulldozer. Not going to say how much this time, but I CAN say, I did it MYSELF, every dollars worth. Lesson 1, doing it yourself can get costly.
Then I planted trees so close to the shore, that I could not get my mower safely between the tree and the water. Lesson 2, plant anything close to the water far enough to give your mower at least two passes.
Thought I would raise some tilapia over one winter. Built a greenhouse out of plastic, bought some 300 gallon tanks, several pumps and aerators, and added 4 females and 2 males. Babies came in quick, had to add more aeration and pumps. Added 60 gallon electric water heater and 1000 watt lights to keep water and air warm, maybe too warm. Then electric bills started coming in. Normal for this time of year was about $300-$400 for property. Dec $900, Jan $1200, Feb $2500. Wife called and said I was going to have to sell my new boat. Me, the boat, and the tilapia made it to spring, but not by much. Lesson 3, visit Todd Overton in the spring for Tilapia, a lot cheaper then raising them myself, at least for now, or until she forgets how much I spent.
PS when the power goes out, and you have two tanks full of tilapia, you PANIC, especially when you are at work. Good reason for a big generator.
Loved every minute of it!!
| 
