awlrighty then pondmeisters, it amazes me what each day brings to the table. woke up, had breakfast, started work, decided to check PB real quick (which is never easy to do) and saw ole jeff's report on his weekend stocking. whew, BG plus RES! what a score. so shutdown PB, called our friendly fish farmer, who said if you can get down here this morning i'll give you some of the same.
so i loaded up the truck with a transport cooler, and the official "RES Health and Safety -Official Protocols Kit for the Handling and Transport of RES", complete with guaze, band-aids, sterile alcohol, tailgate safety meeting forms, emergency numbers, route to hospital map, and recommended PPE (personal protective equipment). The recommendation for first time handlers is level B with supplied air, but i have a pretty good background handling GILLS, so i opted for level D, the usual, steel toed boots, hard hat, ear, eye, and hand protection.
jeff, i'm really sorry i forgot to tell you i had this kit, i would have loaned it to you, so instead, i will help pay yer medical bills if you dont quite cut it this tax season.
i became a bit dismayed but at the same time curious and excited when this was observed near the fish farm:
i got to fish farm, met with our fella, dawned the aforementioned PPE. Fortunately, i used to contract geological services with the DoD, and just happened to have both my alpha and gamma particle emission detectors behind the seat, so i put that on too.
thusly equipped we started scooping and sorting as he wanted to keep several good male and female for his own brood stock. as the detectors were vigorously beeping, i ask him where his stock come from and he curiously avoided the question but mumbled something about a nearby source.....and that he is the only supplier with RES in this part of the (sacramento) valley. he said dont mind the detector noise, he's lived here and been raising these types of fish for over 10 years with no problems, so i figured what the heck, i've really been wanting some of these in my pond.
as i was helping him hold up fish for sorting, i noticed an eerily beautiful irridescance in the fish, and a profound glare coming from their eyes. i found that if you talked really nice to them, told them how pretty they were, what a nice home they were gonna have, and that i was not their new master, but just gonna be the pond boy, i realized i didnt need my hard hat after all. In fact, i was able to remove my safety glasses, chaps, hearing protection, and even my double thick nitrile gloves, and didnt even get stabbed one time. it was then i realized, they actually liked me.....
in all he gave me about 20 beautiful adult fish. here are a couple of them before going in pond.
jeff, thanks for the kind words on yer post, WE DID IT MY FRIEND!
