April 2 - The ducks are coming every day and staying longer and longer. They come within 10 feet of john when they want to eat the cracked corn. The two resident squirrels spend a long time eating cracked corn too and soon will not be able to climb to their nest in one of the Bradford Pears. john is watching the ducks right now. It is supposed to get to 75 degrees today, but it is cloudy and looks like rain. Both ducks are sleeping with their heads tucked under their wings. No outside work on the West Garden is getting done today. Eddie has had a bad wisdom tooth for about six months. It is now infected and he is home resting while on antibiotics until the tooth can be pulled. As john has said before, Eddie reminds john of Charlie Chaplin; a kind & honest heart, dirt poor and worn out clothing. Eddie told john & joyce that he had to go to the Salvation Army several times last month in order to have something to eat. Meanwhile, most of his money is going to Fingerhut (a mail order catalog company) to pay off debt and late charges on the credit card they sent him. Recently, john and Eddie had a credit card burning ceremony. Eddie now knows the dangers of credit and may get out of debt by having john hold the money he makes working with john, so that he will have enough to pay down the debt.

john will soon begin to feed the fish full time. john has also decided to remove the mums from the gardens and put in flowers that give more blossoms throughout the summer. The mums are beautiful in the late fall, but usually the snow comes before they have had a full chance to blossom.

April 17 - The Mallard ducks are roosting overnight at zenpond. They are growing tamer and do not fly away even when john and Eddie are working nearby. The small pond has been emptied and cleaned. Gravel has been placed in a trench and Keystone blocks are going up to make a back wall for the West Garden. Most work has stopped however due to a problem Eddie has been having.

Eddie had accumulated 4 cats and 2 dogs in his one room apartment due to people making him the answer to their pet problems. Eddie loves animals and doesn't know how to say no to a homeless pet. The landlord came in on Thursday and told him he had to have all pets out by Monday. john and Eddie called every animal shelter and found that they are not taking in any more animals; they are FULL. People have not been responsible in having their animals fixed and so there has been a major problem with excessive animals for a very long time. Eddie was forced to take 3 cats and 1 dog to the City Pound where they were put to sleep. Eddie is now so sick he cannot work for john and feels he has murdered his pets. He threated to take six bottles of pills at once. john told Eddie that he had probably given those pets 2 - 3 years of additional life because, had he not taken them, they would have been put to sleep long ago. PLEASE BE RESPONSIBLE AND HAVE YOUR PETS FIXED! THE SUFFERING CAUSED BY IRRESPONSIBLE PEOPLE IS STAGGERING! Wyndotte County, where Eddie lives, has had to put to sleep 20,000 animals in the first quarter of this year alone!!! In addition, when you need a pet, please find one at a shelter rather than going to a pet breeder. If nothing else, the former costs around $40 and the latter around $400. (john and joyce's Maine Coon kitty, "tuck", came from such a shelter. See zencats page. Also see books page for references to local shelters.)

While the small pond is empty, john is taking this opportunity to hide the hoses to the exterior pump better, fix leak in the stream going to the small pond and to power wash the spa deck near the small pond. john couldn't power wash this deck because the chemicals would have killed the fish.