Cow ponds have leeches and water gets you wet.

A memory of us older children playing in the cow pond in our underware when we were young has come to the forefront. One day in particular I was watching a beautifully colored dragonfly flit around near me. While I was standing still,I had some critters attatch themselves to my ankles and the top of my feet. I looked like I had on black socks when I came out of the pond. It was a fight to the finish to get those leeches off me. Why I was the only one to get them I don't know. It sure scared the pudding out of me that's for sure. I didn't go back in the cow pond either no matter how much my brother goaded me to do so. Of course our eagle eyed mom saw us down there playing and yelled for us to get back to the house. And we thought we were so clever and wouldn't get caught that far from the house. Haha. An eight year old kid has no conception of how dangerous it is to play around water when they don't know how to swim. We were told that we weren't going in the water til we learned to swim. Did I miss something there? How in the world will a person learn to swim if they don't ever get in the water? I guess that is why I was eighteen before I learned to swim.
If we were in he field hoeing the crops and it started raining we would have to keep hoeing with the comment a little water never hurt anyone. It'll wash the sand and dust off you is what we were told. The crops had to be hoed to get rid of the weeds so we would have a good stand of vegetables when picking time came.
When we made lye soap i carried many a bucket of water to the eighty gallon kettle to start the soapmaking process. We used that soap for everything from bathing to washing clothes, and dishes.
Many occasions in my life have necessitated my using and being around water. I never had a fear of it until my son fell in a pool at the deep end following my neighbors kids around. I went from chest high in the water to the deep end and grabbed him by his shirt by the time he went under the water. I had been out of the pool watching the kids while my neighbor swam and played in the water and I had just went in for my turn when this happened. The neighbor wasn't watching them for my turn in the water and didn't even know my son fell in til I came out with him and sat down near her. Needless to say I severed that friendship. I did learn something from that experience though. Never turn your back on a child around a body of water. All four of my children know how to swim and the grandkids are learning as they grow big enough.
Water is a vital part of our lives and necessary for sustaining life. We are wasteful with our resource of water and many ponds are drying up. Irrigation in our county has increased as rainfall has decreased. I remember a time when we never watered a crop after the initial planting of small seedlings in the field. We never watered the crops thet were planted with seeds. They flourished with the rainfall we got regularly. Our fruits and vegetables were so delicious and not like the ones we buy in the grocery stores today. They just don't seem to have a good flavor to me. I planted vegetables and fruit trees when my kids were young and they loved being in the garden with me and eating the things we grew. My youngest daughter and her husband are carrying on the tradition of growing your own food. I think our soil has been leeched of its nutrients and not enough natural fertilizer put back in. I would take my wheel barrow out in the cow pasture and load it up with cow muffins and till it into the sand before starting a new bed. In my opinion organic gardening is the best way to garden. Chemicals have had their toll on us and many are seeing the results in their health. There was an ample amount of natural fertilizer form our chickens, rabbits, cows, pigs and any other animal that provided a safe product. For twenty six years my motto has been grow it yourself and you know what went into it before it goes into you. What the world needs is more animal dung for the ground to restore the balance and able to have our crops flourish once again.
Well I've went from leeches in the water to pools and crops today. Be careful where you put your feet in water you can't see through.
That will be it for now so I leave you with just this... Alice