The Pond at Cold Creek

Chan’s winter fishing of Utah’s Santa Clara River inspired me, and I was seriously contemplating tubing Baker Reservoir this Friday. Chan was kind enough to verify the Utah Department of Wildlife reports that Baker had not yet frozen over, and I was watching the weather patterns thinking Friday would be a fine time to hit it mid-winter.

However, events at home took precedence. Our foster daughter is entering the toddler stage characteristic of assertiveness and obstinacy, and her insistence on giving up her daytime naps makes her cranky by the end of the day. When my “Friday Off” rolls around Denise is worn out and in need a respite to recharge her batteries.

Yesterday we received our adoption package, which was a long awaited happy moment, but the end-of-the-week exhaustion took the edge off any elation. On top of that, we hosted our bi-weekly church group last night, and while we do indeed fellowship and study scripture, we do a lot of visiting and catching up on personal events. In the course of the chitchat, our good friends Aaron and Lilli mentioned that they fished Cold Creek for the very first time a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, they found the pond mostly frozen over. Aaron and Lilli love to fish for trout, especially on small mountain streams, and they are very successful anglers. Their report on Cold Creek made me wonder if it had thawed again with the recent warmer weather (it was not frozen when I visited three weeks ago in my January 6, 2012 blog).

I didn’t want Denise to have to get up with Emily this morning; she deserved to sleep in (after all, my days off meld with her days off, so to speak). Admittedly, I was disappointed about passing on Baker. I decided that Cold Creek was worth a quick trip if for no other reason than it compensated for the aborted Baker Reservoir plan. This time, though, I was determined to return home by 8:30 AM before Emily woke up.

When I arrived at the pond is was thirty-five degrees and the time was around 7:30 AM. I fished thirty minutes and left the pond at about 8:00 AM, which caused me to run past my targeted return time by about fifteen minutes. I brought my nine-foot, five-weight custom rod this time, and managed to land two trout in a half-hour. I noted the pond was once again devoid of any ice, and the winds were relatively calm compared to the Las Vegas valley. On the way home I encountered one of the wild horse herds; it included a young colt sporting a wooly winter coat.

When I arrived home at 8:45 AM, I noted our foster caseworker was already at the house. She visits monthly, and we expected her this week but I thought she usually comes around mid-morning; she had already been at the house for about an hour. She loves to visit with Emily because she’s such a happy child you can’t help but have your spirits lifted when you are around her, especially when compared to many of the other foster cases that can be difficult and challenging for so many reasons. The caseworker wanted to be sure we received our adoption packet and to prepare us for the months ahead as we forge into the process, hopefully with the desired conclusion by the summer.

Last night our church group studied the book of Job, chapters 1 and 2. For me, the gist of Job is that we live in an evil world where good and innocent people seem to suffer unjustly, but we need to take note that the suffering is caused by Satan, although it is permitted by God as an expression of his confidence that our faith will triumph over the Accuser. I smile at the thought of teaching Emily the narrow path.