Springtime is wonderful, as the natural world comes back to life after the winter's freeze. Everything is green again...birds are migrating and singing and nest-building...weather can be delightful. Yesterday a friend and I spent the day catfishing, and it was beautifully sunny and warm. Fish were biting well, and the Channel Cats were running, with hundreds of three-foot-long fish splashing in the shallows near shore.
When I got home near suppertime, I immediately lasered all the stock tanks to check temperatures; I'm anxious to bring a bunch of fish outside from their winter quarters in the basement. The outdoor tanks all read between 60F and 62F, while the in-ground pond is still down about 8 degrees cooler than that. Everything I intend to bring outside would be fine in those temperatures, but I just need to feel confident that we don't have a last cold snap waiting in the wings. When I left in the morning, the forecast didn't call for any surprises...but this morning the updated one calls for several days of 50F-ish highs...and several nights of 35F to 40F lows...and a threat of snow!!!