February 6 - john has been able to keep the several of the waterfalls running all winter. The bottom drains on the big pond never freeze since they are 5 feet deep. This has allowed the cascade falls to continue running. john places a cattle-tank heater in front of the skimmer in the small pond and the small waterfall keeps running too. Finally, the fish fountain is running also since it draws it's water from the bottom of the big pond.

So, it is February 6th and this is the first time john has had to change over the journal to the new month. What has john been doing? Mainly, he has remodeled joyce closet. It looks great. First, he tore out all the old shelves and clothes rods. he rewired the light from a pull chain single bulb fixture to a decorator round fixture operated by a switch just right for joyce. He spackled and sanded the surfaces and repainted the walls a raspberry ice. He installed new white wire shelving with chrome clothes rods on both sides of the closet and then installed 10 eighteen inch shelves at the back of the closet for shoes and sweaters. joyce was without closet for about 10 days.

john also bid and won a new receiver on eBay. It supports a 7.1 speaker system which john installed. john had to study hard to get the surround sound he wanted, but has achieved it. The sound is awesome! john now realizes not all CD's and DVD's are created equal. Some of john's earlier CD's are "re mastered analog" recordings (not so great), some are Dolby Digital (better), and a few are PCM recordings (really great). Barbra Streisand's DVD "Timeless, Live In Concert" is an example of a PCM recording. Yesterday, john was showing off the system to his nephew David, using "Independence Day", when the center speaker vibrated off the shelf and fell onto the floor, disconnecting itself.

The last two days have been in the low 60's in Overland Park. john was able to get out and spruce up zenpond a little.

February 20 - joyce and john's niece asked john to do a portrait of her for her husband for Valentine's Day. Here is how it turned out: