November 1- Can this really be November? The temperature is in the upper 60's and many of the trees still have green leaves. To be fair, there are many maples with absolutely beautiful gold and red leaves. john took a third golf lesson with Liz at the Overland Park Golf Course. She asked if john thought the Fall season was lasting longer than usual. john replied that the peak leaf color usually happens the third week in October. john is an adherent of global warming and feels we need to protect the earth. joyce watched an Oprah program last week on global warming. One thing she advocates is switching to the newer fluorscent light bulbs to avoid using millions of tons of coal each year. john thinks that perhaps gasoline becoming more expensive may be a good thing, as it forces us to design more fuel efficient, earth-friendly cars. john, however, isn't saying that high gasoline prices are totally a good thing. Greedy oil companies need to be regulated as a utility, which they are. Many people are suffering because they cannot afford gasoline for their small businesses while these companies are making $1250 per second. Click here to go to review Oprah's show on global warming.

November 15 - john and joyce spent the last four days on the Lake of the Ozarks at their favorite condo, #L201, at "Southwood Shores" on Horseshoe Bend. It is located right on a point, so they looked out on water on three sides. The temperature was in the upper 60's the entire time. They watched two Great Blue Herons fishing on the adjacent point and spending a lot of time on one particular boat dock roof looking for fish. john, joyce and their best friends ate breakfast at the nearby "Lodge of the Four Seasons" and walked around their Japanese gardens while john noted ideas for zenpond. john, joyce, jerry, and gail also hiked through "Lake of the Ozarks State Park" nearby. The fallen, colorful leaves hid most of the path, so it was slow going with a high probability of turning an ankle on hidden rocks.

Today began the first day of snow in Overland Park. Beautiful, heavy snow flakes came down slowly for about two hours before quitting. The snow didn't stick to the warm earth. However, the temperature fell. It was 38 degrees in the morning, 36 degrees at noon and is to drop into the 20's tonight. Tomorrow night is expected to be 22 degrees.

john still has to turn off the filter system. It is too expensive to risk freezing. He also has to fish the floats out of zenpond, bring in the terra-cotta sculptures, and disconnect the garden hoses. He will also place the pond heaters in the pond so that later he can turn those "on" to keep the inlets free of ice.