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john was told by his science teacher friend, Gene, that frogs do not have an adam's apple, so when they eat a bug, their eye balls actually contract into their throat to push the food down.
June 1 - john lied. He said that last time he ordered rock it would be the last time. He just took delivery of 3 more tons of Colorado Moss Rock this afternoon. He says this will be the last time, but who believes him now! He says he needed it to finish up the West Garden and to build up the East Garden, next to the large waterfall. john and Eddie extended the wall behind the waterfall to help hid the pump house. As a result, more rock is needed on the front to extend it too. Gene asked john if he thought he might, with this load, throw the axis of the earth out of balance by placing so much rock in one place. john replied that he was doing his share to help reduce global warming. joyce thinks john is trying to bring the economy back all by himself by spending so much money on rocks. She thinks if john wants to buy rocks, they should be somewhat smaller, reflect plenty of light through them and ... be for joyce.
June 11 - The green heron was back! john doesn't feel so responsible for him this year. "Immature" is the last word to describe this guy! He has gained weight since last year. john saw him fly from the pond to a limb of a nearby tree ... with a bright orange fish in his beak! john may have to change the painted population sign at the entrance to zenpond (there really isn't one) to a chalk board ... one less citizen at zenpond this morning!
A number of visitors to this site have contacted john about making artifical rocks. Wayne Zeller contacted john and told him he should look at the following web site: http://www.ezyrock.com/ . john thinks you would be interested in looking at it too.
There have been a number of visitors to zenpond recently. Three of the most interesting have been Slava, Ludmila and Kirill Miniaev from Russia. john mentors Kirill with his science fair projects. Ludmila just gave john a Russian recipe to use on the Greater People to People web site for which john is web master. To learn more about them, visit the recipe for June on Greater Kansas City People to People web site at: www.gkcptp.com/recipeof0601.html.
June 12 - john added another visitor to the list this morning. Eddie brought a box turtle from the west side of the front yard where john was staging 3 tons of rocks. Eddie said that the turtle was attempting to climb one of the pallets of rock ... a vertically challenged box turtle! john put the turtle in the garden next to the stream. About 15 minutes later, john looked up from his work on the garden next to the large waterfall to see a box turtle looking at him from the other side of the waterfall. john felt that this turtle surely couldn't be the same turtle as before, so john decided there were two box turtles visiting zenpond. Later in the afternoon the mystery was solved when joyce told john that she had seen the box turtle swimming in the big pond headed for the large waterfall where he tried to climb the waterfall. What is with this guy and vertical things! Well, he must have made the climb and was on the descent when john spotted him (or he spotted john).
Eddie wants to change the name of Jerimiah D. Bullfrog to Kermit. There is an ongoing debate as to which name will stick. john had music playing on the deck while he and Eddie dug a hole for the filtration tank and used the dirt in the West Garden. Eddie noticed first that Jerimiah/Kermit was singing to the music.
The green heron came early this morning and john drove him away before he had a chance to have breakfast.
June 19 - The naming of the bullfrog has been resolved. Eddie decided that Kermit wasn't a big frog, but was rather skinny (at least relative to Miss Piggy), so he found another smaller frog to name Kermit. Jerimiah gets to keep his name intact.
john sees the green heron around zenpond on a daily basis and tries to keep him away, but to little avail. When john visits a store that sell fish, they have his size fish for sale from $20 to $70 each. john could afford to take the green heron to breakfast at First Watch every morning and still have change coming back. The green heron hasn't taken john up on that offer so far.
john noticed that Lowe's Home Center has artifical rocks in their garden center for just over $100 each. When john turned the rock over he found it was made of expandable foam. john did order the video from www.ezyrock.com for $39.00. The company is located in Australia. Stay tuned and when john receives the video he will give you his opinion of it. If it is good, john will link to it on the books page.
June 26 - No sign of the ezyrock video yet. john is checking the mail box like a kid waiting for a gift from the cereal box. john remembers the ring he sent for as a child that had a small plastic "atomic bomb" on the top. When you removed the finned tail section and looked through the magnifier, you would see actual nuclear explosions. He now realizes that he was looking at a small dot of radium paint highly magnified. This is the same paint that was used on "glow-in-the-dark watch faces. john realizes also that such a thing would be banned today as a health hazard today.
john and Eddie have been making major progress on the West Garden. It has turned out beautifully. There is a row of tall variegated Japanese Silver Grass across the back. Wispy yellow-flowered Tickseed Coreorsis are in front of these. A field of two-tone (orange /gold) marigolds fill out the space. Along the front and following the pathway curve (but still in the elevated garden) are Ageratums (small violet colored flowers). john's welded sculpture is at the far end of the garden surrounded by orange corkflowers (?) from Australia. The bed is mulched, of course, and medium sized granite boulders are scattered throughout the garden.
john and joyce visited another pond over the weekend that turned out to be spectacular! It belongs to Chad Shaffer, Overland Park, and is a 50,000 gallon pond with 800 koi in it. It has a huge waterfall powered by four 4000 gallon/hour pumps. The water was extremely clear! This resulted in john completely doing an about face with his own plans for filtration. john plans to sell the huge settling tank he bought and will buy the same system as Chad's. This system is the FluidArt Technologies system named the Challenger 140. To see it, go to www.fluidart.com. john took several pictures of Chad's pond, but, since they are 35 mm, there will be a delay before he can post them to this site. However, Chad did send john a picture of the waterfall and here is what it looks like before planting and filtration were added ...
