April 2 - Two days ago, a large raccoon visited zenpond just at sunset. This was a new visitor to zenpond, as no raccoons had visited before this. He/she was curious about the pond (and the fish), but didn't seem to want to go fishing. joyce and john have not seen him/her since. The pair of Mallards seem to plan on making zenpond their home for this season and only fly away for a short period before returning. Yesterday, Eddie and john worked on de-winterizing zenpond and the ducks were not afraid of them, even when they got as close as three feet away. There was a mutual agreement made: you don't bother us and we won't bother you.

Since john installed the large Pella window right beside the computer, he can look out at the ducks as he works on the computer. They are currently eating cracked corn and waddling back and forth from the corn dish to the edge of the water to wash down the corn.

joyce recently had a root canal done at which time the dentist found a cyst in the area he was working. After the root canal was completed, joyce went in for oral surgery to remove this cyst. john was shocked at it's size. It was about the size of a large jelly bean! joyce has spent the last four days at home using pain pills and ice packs. Her jaw is still huge and swollen, but she went back to teaching today.

April 3 - Late last month john, joyce and their friends, jerry and gail, went to Branson MO. On the way, they stopped at the American Natural Fish and Wildlife Museum in Springfield, MO. It is not to be missed. gail found their web site last night and passed it on to john this morning. It is: www.wondersofwildlife.org Check it out! Here's just one thing you will see there! (from their web site).

April 25 - Sorry that john hasn't made an entry to this log since April 3. It is a busy time of year for him to bring zenpond out of winter. Out of winter, it is! Everything is coming up so fast now and john finally got all the fountains and waterfalls running again. He has placed the pumps in the new pump house, so that took some re-plumbing efforts. He also has about 500 seedlings coming up and will transplant these whenever they are strong enough.

Several days ago, john received the following email from some nice people in Baltimore:

" I chanced upon your website and copied the whole thing for my husband to see. What a lovely vision! It took my breath away.. It is amazing what people who clearly love nature can do to bring it closer to home. Thank you. This made my day.

- patricia winchild and mario pierorazio in Baltimore"