August 1 - The four young ducks have gone from hydro foiling across the pond ... to flying 3 feet above the water ... to flying from the large waterfall at one end of the pond and landing in the pathway outside the pond on the far end (nearly 50 feet). They are FLYING! Mom flew away two days ago and hasn't returned. She must be thinking "Who needs me anymore?" Actually, john feels the "kids" won't fly away until Mom returns to guide them to nearby ponds. He may be wrong. Anyway, it won't be long now before they leave! They have been so much fun for john and joyce to watch!

joyce and john were sitting out on the deck yesterday evening when two mosquitos came and carried off the half watermelon john was eating.

Actually, john and joyce were sitting out on the deck yesterday evening when the ducks suddenly got very still. They remained that way even though john was trying to see what they were seeing. All of a sudden a small hawk swooped down and almost touched one of the ducks. The hawk realized that he was smaller than the duck and the duck was about to poke him, so he climbed away and disappeared. Later, john and joyce heard a terrible noise in a nearby tree. Obviously, the hawk had found dinner.

Someone asked john if he knows a good cure for green water. Actually, john knows the best way TO GROW green water!!! He is still wanting to add the filtration system to zenpond. In the meantime, he did find "BioMagic" to rid the odor caused by so much algae. A good friend of his, Gene, says he is using chemicals to get rid of his algae. john has left a message for him to call and then john will post these chemicals and where to buy them. Of course, green water is caused by sunlight, so anything that will block the sun will help. These include water plants, black or blue dyes, and shade.

August 3 - john received an answer from his friend regarding the question about controlling green water, but john is concerned that the site may contain a virus, so he removed it from this page.

Late yesterday afternoon, john and joyce could only find two ducks at zenpond. They figured the other two had flown away. This morning there were three ducks in the pond! john watched them walk over to the fence and "talk" through the fence to the fourth duck. Apparently, the two ducks had flown over the fence and one had figured out how to fly back. The other one however could not and spent last night and this morning pacing back and forth trying to get through the fence. john crowbarred one slat open and the fourth duck walked through and rejoined the others.

August 29 - This morning started out a little differently from most. joyce got on the tread mill to run her 9 miles and happened to see on T.V. that a local gas station was selling gas for 97 cents a gallon from 6 am - 10 am. She told john about it and he went over there. There, of course, was already a line which snaked around in a parking lot about four times. john had taken the newspaper and read it while waiting. A radio station was broadcasting from there, so john tuned to 97.3 FM to listen to the action at the station. During the hour that john was waiting, there were two cases of road rage and two cars crowded in line. Most folks were just having fun and being patient. They even came around with a free piece of pizza. Finally john filled up half a tank for $8.00.

A couple of days after the last entry on August 3, the four ducks flew away. Late yesterday afternoon, three of them came home for a visit. john and joyce had had other ducks visit zenpond (some were non-Mallards), but they recognized "the kids" when they came back because they took up their old game of hydrofoiling across zenpond. They stayed until john and joyce went to bed, but then Overland Park had a great thunder storm which resulted in much needed water of about 2 inches. This morning the ducks were gone again.

john has been finishing up the spa deck and has only several more trim pieces to add before calling the City for a final inspection. john used Trex composite decking and the results look great! Here are several pictures of the deck: