The Muskie Tank

I don't know if it's a sign of anything in particular, but a few times lately when I've been concentrating on something, usually at work, I get a little random memory pulse. Usually associated with good memories, and if not good then neutral.

I should write them down, as they seem to go as quickly as they come. It seems like a new kind of thing, and it's happened maybe a half-dozen times in the last couple of weeks.

Yesterday, it was the muskie tank at the fish hatchery in western PA. Let me back up a bit. As a kid, my parents had a small cottage that we shared with my aunt and uncle. We'd go there during the summer, and the adults would do a lot of fishing and we kids would roam the fields and forests and swim and it was fun. time. I remember spending time in the little streams flipping rocks to find crayfish, and trying to tag along with my sister, who was too cool for that kind of thing.

We'd go on occasional field trips, including to one of the state's fish hatcheries. They had (have) an educational center with the aforementioned tank, and also a spot outside where the vast numbers of carp gather and people feed them with stale bread. I have no idea if they still sell bread onsite anymore (it can't be good for them), but in the 1970's they did.

We have a family memory where my dad was bending over the fence to retrieve a piece of bread that landed far enough away that even the most ambitious carp would not get it, and in doing so a pair of dice fell out of his pocket. We watched in fascinated horror/delight as they tumbled down the incline and were promptly swallowed by the carp.

The tank has windows for viewing, so one can go downstairs and look up and see the fish. One of the fish there are/were Muskellunge (Esox masquinogy). They are big, and in the pike family. I remember thinking that if these fish were in the water where I was swimming, I might think twice about that activity, but I was assured that they preferred the deeper water and I was unlikely to encounter one.

So the memory flash was me looking through one of the windows and into the green water to see the fish. Funny how that has now cascaded into the dice story, and I do believe I'll give my dad a call today to see how he's doing. As I recalled the dice story in bed this morning, I smiled.




Image from here.