June 3 - john and joyce went to Austin and San Antonio for a few days. Here is one picture in Austin of the Frost building at night. It has been open for only four days, but has radically changed the skyline of Austin's downtown area. While there john was taking a picture of the building at night when a man and women walked by. The man asked if john was an architect since he was taking a picture of the Frost building at night. john said no, but he could have been a frustrated architect had he not been an electrical engineer. john then mentioned something about his interest in ponds and waterwalls.. The gentleman seemed to know about zenpond from a fellow teacher at Colum,bus State Community College linking to zenpond. john was sure he was just being nice. The gentleman's name is Richard K. Ansley, ASLA. He is a landscape architect and associate professor at Columbus State Community College in Columbus Ohio. It was very nice of him to recognize john's 16 year project, even if he didn't probably know about it. It seems too incredulous for john to travel to Austin, Texas to learm of someone knowing of john's website. The picture below was handheld without any support, so it is not the best picture in the world, but it does show the newest building in the Austin skyline at night.

June 20 - john and Eddie have been working very hard all month preparing for Joyce's sister Amy and her husband Chuck to come for a visit from Troy Michigan. The trashman has hated stopping for john and joyce's trash as the contractor size trash bags have been very heavy for the last three weeks. john has water back the the large pond, has the new cascade (5 feet, 2 feet, 2 feet) falls running (see below), and 14 lily pads placed around edge of the pond. john ordered the filtration system he has wanted for about the last three or four years. He got a FluidArt bubble bead filter (Challenger 140), the 40,000 gallon UV filter, and a new Performance Pro Artisan pump (5000 gallons/hour). He ordered it through www.utahkoi.com. Robin at Utah Koi is very knowledgable as were the people at www.fluidart.com. john ordered the system last Thursday and it is suppose to arrive this Tuesday from Oklahoma City. The pot in the picture is a "fire pot" that burns sterno gel for 4 hours. The flame reminds john of the eternal flame at the burial site of JFK.

Another event of interest occurred about two weeks ago when john and joyces's builder asked if he could bring a client over to show him the remodeling job he did for john and joyce about 1 1/2 years ago. When the client arrived, Chris Lyman (Design and Construction Services) introduced this client. He is Nick Vedros. john and Nick really got along well and Nick asked john and joyce to come over to his current home to see his catcus collection, which they will do the minute it quits rainning in Kansas City! Nick and john have something else in common (although Nick is sooo good he makes an excellent living at it): photography. Nick is a nationally renowned photographer! His work is actually beyond excellent. His style makes "thinking out of the box" look provincial! If you would like to see some of his work, go to www.vedros.com. You won't be disappointed!

June 21 - john watched SpaceShipOne achieve a record this morning. It is the first time a civilian aircraft has reached outer space (100,000 kilometers or 62.5 miles). The space plane was designed and built by Burt Rutan and flown by Mike Melvill. john met Burt and flew with Mike in his Long Eze several years ago in the Mojave. He also met Dick Rutan for lunch in Ontario, CA. john congratulates all three, and Paul Allen for financing the venture, for today's record breaking sub-orbital flight. Mike now becomes the first civilian astronaut! For more about this: gary.

June 22 - joyce and john were invited over to Nick and Patty Vedros' home to see their cactus garden. Nick gave john and joyce several cactus cuttings. Proprogation of cactus is very interesting. You first place the cutting in a dark place for several weeks and wait for the cut to heal. After that the cactus can be placed in very well drained soil where it will grow. The cactus Nike gave john and joyce can withstand the winters in our area (Overland Park, KS). john was surprised at this.

June 23 - The filtration system john has wanted for several years came today. john and Eddie moved the individual pieces of the 400 pound shipment around back to the pump house. john then moved the 36 inch diameter bubble bead filter, heavy Proformance Pro "Artisan" pump, and UV filter into the pump house. He still has to hook it all together, but since john and Eddie are still putting large rocks on the big waterfall, no time is being lost.

June 24 - john and Eddie moved more large rocks onto the waterfall today. They are including a number of "spill rocks" for random cascading of the water down the falls. john is locking rocks in place and causing the water to stay on top of the rocks (rather than flowing beneath them) by the liberal use of expandable foam. john experimented with hiding this foam with paint on the little waterfall, but the paint is beginning to wear off. john was told by Casey at Strugis Materials that he lightly torches the foam to charr it black, which hides it well. john will try this technique. john is concerned that the gas given off the burning foam could be toxic, so he will be careful to avoid breathing it. john will probably test a piece of foam away from the waterfall to see if it catches fire.

The temperature today is climbing and it is getting very hot working on top of the waterfall. john and Eddie will have to begin an hour earlier tomorrow "to beat the heat". The moderate weather is behind us now! john has joked many times about Kansas City having "two" seasons: 1. "too" hot, 2. "too" cold, 3. "too" wet, and 4. "too" dry!

June 29 - Actually the weather stayed cool for the last several days, so john and Eddie have been moving rocks onto the waterfall. They finished yesterday. Now john is putting more expandable foam into the crevises. He went to an Army Surplus store and bought a gas mask to wear while charring the foam, but afterwards got cold feet and bought more camouflage paint. Actually this paint in the little waterfall has held up well enough to use it in the big waterfall. Here is a picture taken today of the small waterfall. See if you can find where the foam has worn:

Here are several pictures of the large waterfall showing where john has placed the foam for support and so that the water flows only on top of the rocks. He is still working on adding more foam.

Yesterday, the 1200 gal/hr pump went out on the fish fountain. john could hear a rattling sound when he shook the pump. He went back to where he bought the pump and was about to buy another $150 pump when a store person came up to john and said that the pump could be repaired. It costs john $34 to repair rather than $150 for a new one. This is a perfect example of why it is wise to buy a mag-drive pump. The Pondmaster pumps (www.dannermfg.com) are sealed, rather than being oil-filled like CAL and Beckett pumps. The fountain is back in operation.

The filtration system remains to be hooked up. john is studying the placement of the filters carefully. In addition, john thinks he will need more power to the pump house. There are two 15 amp lines running out, but the UV filter says that it should be on it's own 15 amp line. Moreover, the new 1/2 hp pump requires 9.6 amp at 120 volts. john has set up his electrical bill to be paid automatically. This way he doesn't have to know how much he is spending on electricity. That makes it free - right?