May 1 - john is waiting for the ground to dry out before continuing with the irrigation system in the backyard. This is the day when john normally opens the gate to zenpond just enough for Mom duck and her ducklings to come into zenpond. Everything is in such disarray with the path being dug up for the irrigation system that john fears the ducklings will fall in and not be able to get out of the trench.

May 6 - It finally didn't rain today, so john planted a new Japanese Maple to the right of the small waterfall, planted some annuals, and planted some more Moonshadow Euonymus. He was able to clean up a little before it started sprinkling again. The new "good neighbor" fence john shares with a neighbor was completed across 1/2 of john and joyce's southwest side. It looks so good that it is hard for their minds to get used to it. It really is pretty.

Last year, john and joyce joined "The New Theatre Guild". The goal of this organization is to provide scholarships to young theatre students. john and joyce helped on one major project called "The Valentine Fling" with the proceeds going toward such scholarships. john was then asked to be Treasurer of the Guild a couple of months ago.

Last night, john and joyce received a call from Dodie Brown, the finest actress The New Theatre has and a very good friend of the late Don Knotts. In fact, she had just gotten back that day from a memorial service for Don. She asked if john and joyce would be interested in being extras for the next performance at The New Theatre, which is "Fiddler On The Roof". john and joyce agreed, thinking that it would be a great fun thing to do.

May 10 - john worked on the irrigation system some more. He put in the third zone (of ten). To do so, john had to buy some more parts from the Reams Irrigation Systems. While there, he asked about backfilling with sand. It seemed to john that removing sand to inspect for a problem would be easier than digging through dirt. To john's surprise, the sales person at Reams said ABSOLUTELY NOT! If you get a break in the line, sand gets into the system and even one small grain can ruin a valve. A few more grains and you have stopped up a sprinkler head. Basically, if sand gets into the system, the system is most often destroyed! The best backfill is dirt. It dissolves. Well, okay, dirt it shall be!

The green heron is coming to fish on a regular basis. john saw him (too late) with a fish in his beak, having dinner in a nearby tree. He is only about a foot tall and likes smaller fish best. This is why john overstocked originally. john is sure the heron is picking the prettiest fish, as they are the easiest to see. john has noticed some totally black fish (stealth) which are extremely difficult to see, and john suspects the heron cannot see them either.

May 15 - john and joyce are having a devil of a time with the green heron. The heron has definitely decided that zenpond is a good fishing hole for him. He is probably eating about 6 fish a day. He is only about 18 inches high (he is growing fast), so you wouldn't think he could eat much more than that. john tries to watch for him, but is usually too late to stop him. A male and female Mallard usually are swimming or sleeping in or around zenpond most of the time. They think john is nuts, as he keeps running out and flinging his arms about! What the ducks are thinking: "The poor guy has lost it! ... and he was such a nice guy too. Hope he continues to keep our cracked corn dish filled."

May 17 - Eddie, john's pond helper, and john worked hard digging trenches and installing zone valves and sprinkler nozzles yesterday. They will continue the work today. In addition, they planted 5 Endless Summer hydranga along one wall of the big pond. The path is coming back as they backfill the irrigation system with dirt. john, in the afternoons, is wiring the control box for the system. It will currently control up to 16 zones. There will be at least 10 zones around zenpond and at least 6 more zones in the front yard. If necessary, modules can be added to the control box to provide either another 8 or 16 zones. john doesn't think those will be required. The only reason for having zones in the first place is to keep the water pressure from dropping. Usually a zone will also be defined by logical areas: garden 1, garden 2, etc.

The green heron is consistently coming throughout the day to eat koi, and john is spraying him with the garden hose to keep him at bay. That doesn't work too well as john is busy and the green heron is persistent. If the heron is persistent enough, john will be purchasing some additional koi to keep the pond stocked. It is also a trick to spray the heron without scaring the ducks, which hang around the pond most of the day.

The garden club from Lakeview is still coming in July (10 -15 people). john received a call yesterday afternoon about People to People holding a party at zenpond sometime this summer. The New Theatre Guild has also given some impression they would like to hold a benefit at zenpond this summer. john and joyce aren't sure that zenpond is big enough for such large functions. john is hoping that the new irrigation system will extend the beauty of zenpond thoughout the "cooking season", the months of July and August. john loves saying that Kansas City has two seasons: 1) too hot, 2) too cold, 3) too wet, and 4) too dry. Actually, K.C. is quite nice, but don't tell anybody.

This weekend john and joyce will be attending the Master Gardener's tour throughout the city. john always is impressed with it, and usually picks up an idea or two. john hopes that one garden is on the tour again this year. The owners have a Japanese Master Gardener come and stay with them while designing their garden. The garden is always spectacular, of course.

May 21 - john and joyce went with their friends, Gene and Toni, to the Master Gardener's tour yesterday. Day before yesterday was 91 degrees, yesterday was 75 degrees, so it was much better to go yesterday. Gene is a Master Gardener and taught Biology for 40 years at Shawnee Mission South. The six gardens they saw were fantastic, and john now has more ideas for zenpond. There is a book john saw at one of the gardens on the tour: "Creative Concrete Ornaments for the Garden" by Sherri Warner Hunter. It shows several concrete mixtures for garden ornaments. john thinks he may get some ideas for making artifical rocks. He has been wanting to make artifical rocks for years. Also, he saw a wonderful path made from cottonseed hulls. Cottonseed hulls are available from the same local place john gets the cracked corn for ducks, Merriam Feed and Seed.

john is getting close to being 50 percent finished on the new 10 zone irrigation system for zenpond. He put in a zone yesterday afternoon to water the garden half way up the back of the large waterfall. Eddie is coming over today to dig more trenches, to put some major rocks back into place around the small waterfall, and to red mulch several gardens.

john had to scare the green heron away yesterday afternoon.

Alana, the sister of the boy joyce tutors, and her husband came by yesterday to see zenpond. Alana brought john a new Buddha for zenpond. That was a very nice thing for her to do. She suggested to john that he read "Cutting Through Spritual Materialism" by Chogyam Trungpa.

john missed. May 17th was Buddha's birthday and john treated it like any other day. Buddha would have been proud to know that.

While john was picking up more irrigation parts from Reams Sprinkler Supply, he said that he wasn't so much worried about the system working this summer, but was concerned that parts of it would freeze over the winter. A knowledgeable stranger standing next to john informed john that the poly-pipe john is using expands much more than water does when frozen, so it would not break. In fact, the stranger thinks there may even be a poly-pipe guarantee against breakage. That is nice to know. The stranger said that valves and pop-ups still need to be winterized.

May 23 - john got the irrigation control box wired yesterday and tested it by running Zone 2 with it. He will quickly add a few other zones today. Everything already needs watering practically every day or so.

In keeping with not using last names on this site, because of security reasons, zenpond had another visitor yesterday: Dennis. Dennis has a large number of gardens on 40 acres to the west of Overland Park. He enjoyed visiting zenpond and gave john and joyce a few good tips. One of the biggest was that you can use too much Alumium Sulfate on hydrangeas. john had that happen last year, and has just planted 10 Endless Summer hydrangeas this week. Fortunately, something told john to hold off on using any Alumium Sulfate until the plants can get established.