Pond Scum or What Is That Stuff In Your Hair?

This picture of pond scum comes from the
University of Missouri web site.

By Pat Gibson (Jan. 21, 1987)

Once the crew got old enough to trust down at the creek on their own, they discovered a sport that many a country child has fond memories of. When they were small, I went to the creek with them or their dad did. We would all troop down to Sulfur Creek and play in the shallow water. We would build dams across the creek with rocks and sticks. Then we would make 'burbblers'. These are waterfalls that make cheerful bubbling noises as they run over the little rock ledges on the front of our small dams. I understand the Japanese always take these into account when running streams through their formal gardens.

Sometimes when the creek was running pretty full, our dams had to be pretty substantial. Our noisemakers would give out with louder noises and it would make a nice deep pond to soak in behind the dam. When the creek was low, we often would forgo the soothing noises and just make a pond. A creek is a heavenly thing when it is 102 in the shade and the house has no air conditioner. The crew often took naps on the sandbank in the middle of Sulfur Creek.

When the crew got old enough to swim on their own, after they had swimming lessons, they would take off for a day at the 'rock dock'. The rock dock is a ledge of limestone with a deep pool beneath it on a curve of Barton Creek. The crew discovered it early on and make it their favorite swimming hole. There was a sand and gravel bar between it and the big pasture, so the neighbors cows didn't bother them. It also gave them a place to put their towels and shoes.

One of the indigenous life forms in the creeks here about is pond scum. Now I'm sure somewhere there is a fancy name for this gooey stuff. I think it may be a form of algae. Any way, it is green, slimy and stinks of dead fish. There are several types according to the crew. One kind grows on the bottom and is the hardest to throw at someone because it is like soft gelatin. Another kind is slimy and fibrous. It is green with some yellow, also smells like dead fish and often floats on the top of the water.

The crew quickly figured out this stuff was gross enough that it could be used as a weapon. No holds barred fights that did not have the risk of injury mud fights did. Several mud fights resulted in cuts and bruises when the mud contained rocks or broken glass. The scum fights were usually one of the last events of the day. It would come when sibling togetherness had been stretched to its fullest. Two would gang up on one or if a friend were playing, two on two. Tempers would flare finally and someone would leave in a huff for the house.

The first few times they had the scum fights, they made the mistake of coming to the house with the remains of the fights still on their bodies. The odor alone sent them out to the pump house for a hose job.

The well water is very cold, especially after a hot hike up the hill from the creek. All it took was one or two dousing with that icy cold water and they remembered to stop over on Sulfur and rinse off in the warm shallow water.

The reek of pond scum is not the only thing that has received a less than enthusiastic welcome from when it has arrived from the creek. There have been buckets of small fish, crawly things that look like miniature lobsters and frogs, but that's another story.