August 2 - It is time to present some of the "goings-on" at zenpond: Every since the 11 young ducks ("the kids") flew away from zenpond they have returned every day (for about the last two months) for breakfast and dinner. They don't "do lunch". Somehow they have also included their friends. joyce counted 30 ducks having breakfast this morning at zenpond.

This has been a worse year for string algea. john "invented" a telescoping pole with a small plastic rake screwed onto the end. The pole is one of those used to replace lightbulbs in a high ceiling. The rake is just the small platic rake used in the Fall. john had good luck harvesting string algea with this tool. Finally the algea got too heavy and broke the pole. john now is using a heavy duty fiberglass telescoping pole with a hand rake pushed into the end and bolted.

john decided, now that he has the filtration system installed (the water is clear!), he would add koi back into the large pond. This will complete the biological cycle by having the fish eat some of the string algea. He purchased 200 koi minnows from Osage Catfisheries, Inc., 1170 Michols Road, Osage Beach, Missouri 65065 for 75 cents apiece. john released these into zenpond this week. john realized that these minnows were so small they could be sucked into the 2 inch pump inlets quite easily. john designed new filters for each of the three inlets using PCV pipe and an (oops, six ducks just landed in zenpond. They are eating cracked corn right now.) end cap for downspouts. john says he will have to take a picture of this arrangement and put it on the site.

Yesterday, john reached into the pond to clear the new filters. When he pulled his hand out of the water, there was blood everywhere. john didn't realize how razor sharp the edges of the snail shells were. For the first year ever, zenpond is full of snails in small spiral shells. They are everywhere ... along with the string algea! john learned not to do that again!

Just as soon as john released the minnows into zenpond two huge racoons have started showing up. How could they possibly know that zenpond now has fish in it? The minnows stay 5 feet below the surface and are about 3/4 inches long!

When john checked his email this morning there was a new email from Basso in West Africa:

"Morning everybody, John, Joyce and Tucky,

It has been a very long time we heard from each other. I hope there was not for bad reasons. Here everything is going the way God sets, and there is no complaint apart from the everlasting poverty. But we are trying to deal with. Over there I imagine you are enjoying good life and so it be for ever.

Here we were afraid that our President goes in the constitution amendment, but there are 02 weeks he said he did not want anything like that and will go to rest for his remaining time in life. Everybody cheered for that in the country even in Africa. Cause many Presidents went the other way in Africa leading their countries in riots or war. Now, we are waiting for the presidentials elections in February-March 2006.

In your country how are you dealing with terrorism? I heard about what happened in London. It was very sad and satanic. How can a human being act like that !

OK. I will put an halt to the complaints and tell you : Take care.
Bye Bye,

Basso."

August 10 - the koi minnows are now twice as big as when john released them into zenpond. They are now several inches in length. They are eating the string algea, but john is still harvesting most of it by hand.

john has an animal control person set a trap for the one remaining racoon, but it has not taken the bait in 4 days. If the racoon is caught, it is taken outside of the city limits of Overland Park to be released. Also, written permission must be granted by the property owner on whose property the racoon is released.

john and Eddie are still working half days on the new flower bed on the east side (it is just too hot to work all day long). Most of the 85 pound blocks are in place and the amended topsoil in. Since john has a small fiberglass pond and plenty of Colorado Moss Rock left, he is putting in another pond and waterfall in the new garden. It will only cost a few concrete blocks and a new piece of rubber liner to complete the new water feature.

There are almost no mosquitos this year. The dragonflies are eating them.

August 22 - about 30 ducks are eating at zenpond every morning and evening. They eat about 12 pounds of cracked corn every day! One day last week john forgot to put food in their bowl, so 5 of them marched in a row over to the patio door and looked in to demand that john fill the bowl. Pushy ducks!

john and joyce had a party at zenpond for their new Japanese officer family, Shige, Mayumi and Tamon. john grilled pork tenderloin for the party. he used a secret weapon: Weber now makes a digital temperature thermometer that transmits to a receiver that tell the exact temperature. Had john not used this the pork would have been very overcooked. Instead it was perfect! john bought his from Target for $30. It is worth it!

It has been raining so much that not much work has gotten done on the new flower bed on the east side. Maybe john and Eddie can work on it yet this week.

In the meantime, john is just finished reading another book by Carl Hiaasen. Hiaasen's books are always such fun, easy reads. he is now reading "The Earth Is Flat", "1776", "The Fair Tax Book", and "Shadow Divers".

The baby koi john introduced into the big pond are no long babies. They have grown from the 3/4 inch size to about 2 1/2 inches in just 3 weeks. At that rate, they will be monsters by Fall! They are eating the string algea as john planned.