by Gyce Butler
“To the people who don’t hear the music, the dancers look insane.”
My parents, my little brother, and I were at Lake DeGray in Arkadelphia, Arkansas for a getaway, and it happened to be my 5th birthday. Mom and Dad gave me one of my most cherished gifts that I still have today. I got my first rod and reel. That green and cream colored Zebco rod and reel combo (me with it in the picture) was the most awesome thing that this 5-year-old had ever laid my eyes on! I can remember the pattern of the wrapping paper, how clear the water was in the lake, and also the voice of my toddler brother, Drew. In fact, my first fish came the following morning at an aluminum dock below the lodge. Dad helped me get the bream off my hook, and I accidently dropped it through the aluminum slats in the dock. It was my first fish on my first pole. The first time for me to feel the tug began a lifelong excitement for a sport I am passionate about.
The last few months at the farm, have been one for the books. Other than vegetation management, we have been pretty chill on our lake management efforts. Our population of tilapia help with vegetation management under the water’s surface, but it is a full-time job to maintain the vegetation above the water line. With our lake being an older body of water, it has a lot of sediment in the bottom. Over time the sediment turns loose and floats to the top like a mat. Grass will begin to grow on the mats, and if not tended to, the grass mats will join together over time and reduce the surface area of the lake. If it isn’t treated for a long time, a lake can turn into a big marsh. When we first purchased our farm, the north end of the lake had some acreage that was almost covered in grass mats. We addressed those mats by mechanically removing them with special aquatic machines. The machines did a great job, but there was no way to avoid them stirring the bottom of the lake up. As a result, some new sediment has since floated to the top, and we are controlling them before the grass starts to grow by applying a glyphosphate concentrate. Glyphosphate is the “fancy” name for Roundup. We add an extra dose of surfactant to our solution to add a little extra “stick” to the solution so it will adhere better when it makes contact with the mats.
As I mentioned, our concentrated lake management efforts have been pretty low-key lately. I am thankful that has been the case, because we have been pretty much running from “can” to “can’t” every spare moment we have trying to clean up from the storms over recent months. You might have heard about the record setting hail storm that hit Henderson, Texas and Rusk County on April 26th. We were right smack in the middle of it. It affected our roofs on the barns and houses, shredded leaves and limbs off some of our beautiful trees, and demolished several plants that had been established for many years. I am very thankful none of our cattle were badly injured in the hail storm. It was a blessing, because we had several calves that were almost ready to ship. We had the damage and debris mostly cleaned up by the end of June and then were hit by a storm with horrible straight-line winds on Friday evening, June 23rd. My wife, daughter and I were at Lake Palestine visiting family when it blew through Henderson. As we returned home and pulled into the drive that night, our headlights shone down the drive and it looked like a war zone. There were trees down all over the place. The power lines were down, wooden fences were no longer, and debris was everywhere. I almost had a panic attack looking at the initial damage, but I remembered a question that I heard Matthew McConaughey’s mom ask, “Are you gonna notice the rose in the vase or the dust on the table?” The rose in the vase was my family was safe, and we didn’t have any damage to either house on the farm. I pretty much worked through the night clearing and repairing perimeter fences. As the sun rose the next day, I took an inventory, and we had over 15 mature trees down on the farm. Most were uprooted mature oak trees, and some were large Sweetgum trees snapped off at 20 feet up the trunk. I had never seen anything like it. We had 3 very large trees uprooted on the dam, but luckily, they were above the water line, and didn’t cause any damage that an excavator and dump truck couldn’t fix. We had an excavator pluck the remaining stumps from the lake side of the dam and then packed in the cavities with a real good clay that had a lot of “stick” to it. We may have firewood out of our ears, and a lot of brush burning to do this fall, but we will be all right.
To say there were times during the last months that I didn’t question our purpose for making the move to farm would not be true. I remember the night of the big storm standing on the dam and fighting back the tears and doubts. I don’t mind making a wrong decision every once in a while, but it’s another thing to drag my family through them, too. As I stood there in a puddle of sweat and tears, chainsaw sitting beside me idling, I had a very direct conversation with God seeking some reassurance for my decision to move. The next day, one of my buddies called to check-in. While we were visiting, he made the remark that maybe I was in over my head in what I was facing on cleaning up the farm and that if I was still living in our neighborhood home, I wouldn’t be fighting what I was up against. At that moment he thought the dancers looked completely insane. I get it! He wasn’t hearing the music of the little kid hollering “I got one!!” as they reel in their first fish. He wasn’t hearing the music of the dad who is at the point of breaking with the weight of providing for his family on his shoulders saying “Man I really needed this!” after an hour of fishing.
My passion for fishing still burns as much, or more, today as it did when I first held my new Zebco, and the music of investing in people has grown stronger with age. Of course, those who don’t hear the music think my efforts are insane, but that’s okay. I’ll dance to my tune, and they can dance to theirs. Remember this. Your passion and your song that you dance to is yours and yours only. Define your passion, and listen for the music. When it starts to play, enjoy each note with every step you take.
