Long Suit, Short Skins

Monday afternoon the sun came out for the second time this year, and I went to the new pond with the hopes of swimming two hours and possibly doing some shuffling. At first the water felt pretty cool. I wore no socks, only one cap, and nothing under my wet suit. That made a difference, but before the swim was over, I was getting into the coolness of the pond. 

The new pond

Unlike Friday, the pond was quite varied in terms of temperature. It had a cool end and a warm end and one side was very streaky, warm/cold/warm/cold. I haven't figured that one out yet. I have experienced streaky before, but that was when up-welling was occurring on the upwind side. This time the streaky was on the downwind side of the pond. I got nothing.

It was a nice swim. I went for two hours and ten minutes covering 4.27 miles, my longest swim of the year. When I climbed out, I wanted to pull my wet suit off and jump back in and swim a little just for acclimation purposes. I checked the time, however, and discovered I needed to leave promptly because I have a night class on Mondays. I drove home, took a quick bath, and beat it to work.

At work we stayed late due to the number of nights missed this semester because of weather. After work I took a three mile shuffle in the dark and then called it a day.

Tuesday I determined to go back to the farm and swim skins. Wisdom told me to take it easy due to some physical issues I've experienced lately, and I knew that without a wet suit, I would not likely swim too long. I was right about that. Once there, I changed into my jammer, and waded out into the pond. Dude, it was cold. I checked the thermometer and the water was 62, two degrees colder than yesterday. Darn it!! 

The wind had switched to the south since yesterday when it was out of the north, so I walked over to the north end of the pond to see if it was warmer over there. Usually the pond warms on the downwind side. But if the wind blows very hard across the pond instead of up and down it, it can actually cool. Bingo! The water was 67 on that end. This pond is only 100 yards wide, but the temp varied five degrees in those short 100 yards. I can do 67.

How is this for the ZHI, Shawn?

So I swam short just like I planned, and of course I stayed on the downwind side the whole time. I just swam to the other end and back and the Garmin recorded .73. I love this pond. I then went for a 2.5 miles shuffle and did some walking. While out on foot, I found this pond (left) which was perfuming the air. The fragrance was like that of sweet petunias. 

That small brown water in the background
is the Quiver River where the bull sharks
 roam looking for an entrance
 into the ponds.

But I also saw some really pretty stuff. Flocks of ducks rose off the ponds while I shuffled by, their colors and beauty impressing even my near-sighted eyes. Many of the levees are situated on the banks of the Quiver River thus adding a wildness and a danger unknown on other parts of the farm. To the right is a pic of the drain pipe from one pond that empties into a ditch that runs into the river. Bull sharks run up the river from the Gulf of Mexico, and during times of high water jump the levees and ravage the fish. That's what my friend, Poot, told me. So I am always nervous when I swim a new pond, and I always scream when I hit something hard in the water. At my old new pond, I was hitting stuff on every lap. Turtles, only turtles. I think. But the image and fear I get when I hit something where there is supposed to be nothing is that of an alligator or a bull shark.