water, saskatoons and Dad

Water for my trees brings me such a good feeling. Each day after I check Lloyd's Frankensteers, I stop at the water trough and fill my 90 gallon tank via the solar pump.. I always pour a libation of water over the solar panels and watch the watt metre climb as high as 300 when sunlight is directly on the panels.. I haul the water back to my little trees and give each an ice-cream bucket measure of water. I note the aphids gone, partly due to the watering and also the Tanglefoot I put on each trunk to deter ants from climbing to attend the aphids (their cows). As the tank empties I open the top and smell the water as I tip back to get the last 5 gallons on one last tree. I try to be egalitarian but, like the swallows feeding babies in nests on our house, the open mouth gets more than its share. A few trees are recovering from having their bark scraped by buck deer last winter. (I stop hunters from shooting deer and they do this to my trees!)
A nice diversion yesterday was to pick some saskatoons. (All Westerners know this is like a blueberry but better in flavour) I found some hanging like grapes along the fence at the bottom of a small coulee with a stream of water flowing by. The steers could not trample and rub the bushes due to the fence. I filled my bucket quickly ( I like to strip berries rather than pick them carefully and sort them later) As I returned to my truck I noted the water source was a spring my Dad used to love digging out. Seems it went dry when he died but is now back again. I felt close to him as I saw the water seep out of the sandstone rock and begin its journey. It was obvious the steers had been drinking this water as well as the medicated water at the trough. Back at the house I sat watching the BBC world news and sorted my berries. For supper that night Linda rewarded me with a saskatoon pie.