Sounding the Pond

Sound: To measure the depth of (water), especially by means of a weighted line; fathom. [Middle English sounden, from Old French sonder, from sonde, sounding line, probably of Germanic origin; related to Old English sundgyrd sounding pole; (cf. O.E. sund "water, sea;")]

Tony and I took the kayak out on the pond for the first time today.  A hundred or so sandhill cranes circled overhead from southeast to northwest, one belted kingfisher swooped back and forth from one side of the creek to the other, and unidentified fish sped past us through the amazingly clear waters.  Along the way, we sounded the waters for the bottom, reaching a depth of 22 feet and 7 inches as the deepest point. The pond is down 1 inch today.

The weighted tape measure I am using to test the depths of the pond appears to have been originally designed for sounding the depths of the drilled hole in which dynamite is packed.  I could only guess this because of a warning written on the handle of the tape-measure: "DANGER--TOOL MUST BE GROUNDED BEFORE AND AFTER USE TO AVOID POSSIBILITY OF EXPLOSION."  We never feared the pond would blow up on us.

(According to the International Labour Organization, a shotfirer is "A worker who fires explosives to fragment or loosen solid formations such as rock and earth, or to demolish masonry, in mining, civil engineering, construction, well blasting, etc."  This is a dangerous job, no doubt.  But the International Labour Organization says in its Hazard Data Sheet concerning this job that "premature explosions caused by static electricity" represent one danger for sure, but it also gives this as a hazard: Sunburns when working under the sun" and "Psychological problems related to prolonged states of anxiety due to work with explosives.") I cut my left thumb when the weight on the weighted tape measure dropped down a deep hole in the pond's floor and I tried to slow the tape.  The Data Sheet didn't warn me of this. http://www.ilo.org/legacy/english/protection/safework/cis/products/hdo/htm/shotfirer.htm

I saw the first rattlesnake of the season today.  It was spreading its three feet of terror across the middle of CR 342-C and bleeding from the head from where a vehicle might have hit it.  I stopped and watched it coil, uncoil, and skid off away from me.

Below is a recording of an osprey, sounding similar to the one we've been hearing.

http://www.naturesongs.com/osprey1.wav

Common Name	Osprey
Scientific Name	Pandion haliaetus
Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Craniata
Class	Aves
Order	Falconiformes
Family	Accipitridae
Genus	Pandion