May 3 - Eddie and john are digging. They are burying the three 2 inch diameter flexible PVC hoses coming from the pond to the pump house (which Eddie continues to call the smoke house). They are putting in three 12 inch x 16 inch submerged boxes so that these hoses can be decoupled and drained in late fall. With just two pumps running there is quite alot of water flowing over the large falls.

john continues to be amazed by the Sequence 1000 pumps that put 4000 gallons/hour each over the falls. Their maximum current draw is around 4 amps each. That is very efficient. john has a leak in the small falls somewhere and forgot to turn off the falls the other night. When he got up in the morning, the water level in the small pond had dropped below the input filter box going to the pump. The pump was running dry and very hot, but when john refilled the pond and re-primed the pump, it was as if nothing had ever happened. The manufacturer, of course, doesn't recommend this, but the pumps are quite forgiving. john called the manufacturer, Multi-Duti Manufacturing, once just to see how long these pumps last. They said that the Sequence 1000 should run for 10 years before having any maintenance on it. It is then a simple job to bring it back to full working order.

May 3 (2:30 a.m.) - It is 2:30 a.m. and john has gotten enough sleep and is ready to get to working on zenpond. The only trouble is that the ungrateful sun is not yet cooperating and won't provide john with enough light for a few more hours, so here he is thinking in the wee-hours of the morning. Bet you have never done that, ha.

What is on john' s mind is how some of his pond helpers are having alot of trouble centering their lives. One is a slower thinker and one is very fast, a genius. They don't like each other much, so john has them working on zenpond on different days.

Their main problem seems to be dealing with people and making friends. john is not trying to judge either one and is often not centered himself. He knows he cannot change others, and they must change themselves. Therefore, john often just listens and watches as they, and john, search for their centers. Being around zenpond seems to help.

One thought john is having is that, to have friends, those friends must have trust in you. It may take hours, months or years to develop that trust, but it may only take seconds to lose that trust.

Another thought, the apparent pain that john sees these helpers having can be reduced by losing one's ego. If there is no separate self, there cannot be a loss of friendship, nor a loss of connection with the world and others. To find the world, you must lose yourself.

Still another, loving-kindness can build bonds between living creatures and can make us more ONE. Currently, we are killing each other over our differences when these differences are so artificial and trival. It is such a waste to give a second's thought to the color of one's skin, what god one prays to, or how one pleasures him/herself. We all have and need values, but we also need to watch how we divide the world very, very carefully. We need to constantly look at the framework given us at birth and examine it for it's truth and modify it whenever it doesn't make sense. We are, like Ivory Soap, 99.99994 percent the same! Why are we wasting our life-seconds on the 0.00006 percent!

When we begin to calm ourselves and direct loving-kindness at the world around us, a strange thing begins to happen ... the world reflects loving-kindness right back at us! The world is like a giant concave mirror! The more you try to give loving-kindness away, the more it comes back to you magnified!

We have all heard the phase "No good deed goes unpunished" and at times it seems like this is true. john thinks that this is because of the viewer's expectations. "I have done a good deed and now I expect a positive return to come my way." Buddhism says that if you limit your desires, you limit your suffering. Isn't such an expectation just such a desire that will set you up for "punishment"? john thinks we have all tried the opposite of that one time or another. "I won't expect anything and, if anything comes of this, I will just be pleasantly surprised."

One finally note during this musing, john would like to tell his helpers that they can try to practice what john would call "waking meditation". Every second can be a point of happiness and a seeing of the smallest detail as if viewing it for the very first time in it's full beauty! The state of meditation is transformed into the "normal" state of wakefulness. It just is.

May 9 - Yesterday, john went to Lawrence with friends and toured a pipe organ factory. It was fantastic! Reuter Preferred Pipe Organs (www.reuterorgan.com) is one of only five pipe organ manufacturers in the United States, and it is located less than 40 minutes from zenpond. Their web site doesn't begin to compare to an actual tour of the facility, and it turns out that they are having an open house June 9th to celebrate their move to a new building. If you have a chance to go, you won't be disappointed! john asked their guide what he thought might be the #1 pipe organ in the country and without hesitation he answered that it is the Mormon Tabinacle Choir pipes in Salt Lake City.

The company has just begun to use computers to design the pipe organs. There is a microprocessor in each pipe organ, and john observed that the stops could be controlled either manually or by electric solenoids. The organs use a MIDI sound standard and a performance can be saved an played back electronically. john was highly impressed with their operations. john could smell the different woods of Birch, Walnut and Brazilian Rosewoods being cut. He watched as craftsmen were hammering alloys of zinc and lead sheets into pipes and horns of many different diameters. The biggest pipe they make is 64 feet long! john was able to see how the valving is achieved to direct the air into both reeded pipes and non-reeded pipes. The "ivory" keys are made from polished cow bones and "black" keys are made of Brazilian Rosewood. The entire factory was very quiet and it wasn't until john went into the tuning room that any sounds were heard. The guide pointed out that many of the workers there had musical degrees and that a worker could only learn to build pipe organs through on-the-job training.

john just now received a call from the next door neighbor. Kate was telling john that while he was in Lawrence yesterday a mother duck and six ducklings were trying their best to figure out how to get into zenpond. The ducks spent hours trying to find a way in. Cars were stopping in front of the house just to watch them. Kate said she thought about pulling a slat from the fence so they could get through. Kate said the mother duck was out in front now, but she didn't know where the babies are. john opened the side gate and the mother duck followed john and Kate around the side and into zenpond. john fed her some fish food and she walked right up to john to eat. She wasn't two inches from his feet. john thinks she is one of the babies from last year coming back to raise her family at zenpond. The mother duck didn't stay long and john and Kate are hoping that she brings her babies back with her. john is going to cut a duck hole in the fence so this isn't a problem in the future.

May 10 (5:00 pm) - john just experienced a "happening" he would like to share with you. john was planting flowers in The Frogs (formerly the West Garden). He had just decided to quit for the day when out of the corner of his eye he saw a mother duck pacing back and forth trying to get through the fence. Then john noticed she had a duckling following behind her. john quickly got a crowbar and opened the bottom of a slat of the fence. He then signalled for the mother duck to come through the opening and she and her baby did. She only had the one duckling, so john isn't sure where the other five are. She and the baby headed straight for the little pond and john fed them fish food. The mother acted like she was starving and ate and ate. The baby tried to eat the big pellets, but had to wait for them to dissolve. Mom and baby then headed for the big pond and she showed her baby all of it. She located the nest from last year right away and they have settled into it already.

NEWS FLASH!!! - john is looking out at Mom and her baby and now there is another pair of Mallards with her and the baby...wait, one female just flew away and almost ran into the window of the computer room in doing so! So now there is a female and male and baby eating cracked corn on the deck. john needs a score card. Is the female the original mom or not? john thinks so. john thinks the family is together now ... dad, mom and baby.

Now, mom is on the nest. Dad is standing guard beside the nest. The baby is huddled close to mom in the nest. Alls right with the world.

joyce had a meeting after school tonight. She will be home soon. john is anxious to show joyce what has happened at zenpond today.

May 11 - joyce loved seeing the new family at zenpond when she got home last night. This afternoon, john stepped out on the deck and noticed mom pacing and quacking alarmingly. Her duckling had fallen down into the window well, which wasn't sealed around the edges. Mom let john take the window well cover off and get down into the well himself. He was able to get hold of the baby and place it back onto the deck. Baby went running for mom and they both immediately went into the big pond for a brief swimming reunion. They were so happy! Mom looked over to john and quacked as if to say thanks. Dad flew in a little while later and she immediately told him of the ordeal. All is right with the world once again.

May 18 - joyce and john went on the Johnson County Extension Master Gardeners Garden Tour this morning. This is a very high quality tour and if you get a chance to go next year, do not miss it. One garden was a Japanese garden by Fran and Charlene Lemery of Overland Park that was just breathtaking! john asked the Fran where he got the wire to train his trees as bonsai and was told to that the internet was full of Bonsai suppliers. john plans to do a search immediately as he has several trees that would benefit from such training. john and joyce invited Fran and Charlene to tour zenpond.

May 20 - Yesterday, john and joyce went to a local nursery and purchased a large San Jose juniper (pom pom), two Moonshadow euonymus and several other plants. The car was so full that john had to work hard to figure out how to bring home the 6 foot trellis that they also bought. john opened the sunroof and stuck the trellis down from the top for the trip home. When they got home, john lifted the trellis from the sunroof and took out the other plants. john forgot just one thing ... to close the sunroof. That wasn't any problem as the car was in the garage.

This morning after john had fed the tuckmeister he started making up the bed. That is when john heard a car honking very loudly. The sound was so loud it almost sounded like it was coming from inside the house. He went to the window and looked towards the street and then the driveway, but saw no car. Finally, although it didn't sound like a smoke detector, john thought that maybe that is what he had heard. He went from room to room checking. There was no smoke and it wasn't the smoke detectors. Just then, the honking started again, and john could tell that it was coming from the garage. john had opened the garage door for the tuckster to go out and play in the garage right after john had fed him. john went to the door and saw a most spectacular sight. There sat tucky in the driver's seat, just like a little driver, with his paw on the horm. tucky was honking the horn on the car and having a ball doing so! john started laughing until his sides hurt and finally had to take tucky out of the car to make him stop. Later, when john started the car to leave the house, the left turn signal was blinking. john is NOT giving the tuckmeister the keys to the car until he is sixteen!

May 24 - Peep has been swimming around zenpond all by himself this morning. Right now, he's worn himself out and is meditating in his nest of Pholox.

Here are a couple of pictures of Peep and his mom taken several days ago.

Eddie and john have managed to get alot done on zenpond in the last several days. They built a charcoal gray wall made of Pavestone blocks behind the small waterfall. john found three leaks in the liner of the small waterfall. One was the size of a silver dollar, one the size of a half-dollar, and one the size of a dime. john patched all three, but the water still dissappears slowly when the waterfall is running. In front of the new wall, john planted three Nikko Blue hydrangea.

john also managed to plant five rose bushes in one of the planter boxes john and eddie built last year. He also planted three Dwarf Korean liliacs in another of the planter boxes. In the third one, he planted another Nikko Blue hydrangea with a Moonshadow euonymus on each side. Just in time, since it started raining right afterwards.