It's taken me some time but I wanted to share the story of the Robin family. It started in mid to late June when I had a Robin that would come and tap on my patio door window...at first I thought it was just because of it's own reflection...but the bird would go up toward the top of the door as if it was seeking a bug or two...the attacks were always mild...mild compared to the Mockingbird I had do this a few years back...I thought that bird was actually going to break the glass...the window attacks stopped for about a week or so and then they started up again...that's when I noticed...
The beginnings of a nest...I watched as two birds helped to build a nest and occasionally would do a short attack sequence...I then noticed the one bird staying on the nest more and realized there were eggs in the nest...it wasn't long before I realized the pair was starting to fly back and forth more and more with insects in their mouths...and the start of a lovely family was born...and it wasn't long before I could see the little mouths poking up out of the top of the nest...
I watched for days as the two parents continued with the upmost dedication to their young...feeding and primping the little ones...it wasn't long before I could tell there was three little ones...after about five days the birds started raising higher out of the nest and primping their feathers and flapping their little wings...I actually thought they would leave the nest one evening and brought out my camera hoping to catch the action...but was disappointed...even after Mom or Dad tried to call them out...they just were not ready yet...
Well the next morning I watched and was surprised that the Mom and Dad were bringing food to the young...have they given up on getting them out of the nest...this is what I pondered...and so I recorded...about mid morning I looked up and found one was hanging outside of the nest...so I grabbed my camera...while the actual flight is not in the video...you can see the bird one moment and then the next moment there is only two birds left...upon later review of the video I realized Mom and Dad were not feeding the birds at all...but would come over more or less checking up on the birds...perhaps letting them know that they had empty mouths...so the young birds realized that they had to start fending for themselves...
I watched for a couple of other hours...this was around the time of Michael Jackson's passing...and I was watching a lot of news coverage on it..you can even hear some of this on the videos...around mid afternoon there was still two birds in the nest..I left for a while and came back to see only one bird was left in the nest...I missed the the second one taking off...
I watched as the last one was definitely trying to assess his own situation...in the meantime I got a call from my Wife to meet her for our occasional Friday evening meal...while I was getting ready I could tell the last little Robin was definitely getting ready to make that jump...so I grabbed my camera and went to take a video...but the battery ran out...so I quickly changed the batteries looked up just in time to watch the last one take off for the bushes in the back of my yard...dab nabbit I missed getting video of it...
I felt a loss...as my daily entertainment is now gone...at least for this Spring.....
Birdman Blue
There it is...the Garden....where in late February the Daffodils grace the last snow...and then pops the tulips and wave of blue from the hyacinths....then the dahlias...and the gladiolas...to the bees balm...and the hydrangeas...topped with the dancing of the marigolds...and the crape myrtles....
All growing season long I pull the weeds...and I mulch...and I treat the soil...I fertilize...and I mulch...and I water and watch as it all changes...
But while I strive to have the most aesthetic and perfect garden...because it's a garden of remembrance for those I have loved who have now passed...it inspires me in the cool of the morning and the cool of the evening...I love the fireflies who dance among my work...no matter how much I try to make it perfect...I always leave one weed...
Why...you may say...because it reminds me I am not living in a perfect world...the weed reminds me that no matter how much I try to make it better...there is still the weed...it also lets me know that there is a perfect place with no weeds...
So I leave one weed to Remind me...
And I am that Weed...
Birdman Blue
This morning I am in repose as I consider this anomaly...the late Michael Jackson...
We were both born in the same year...and I can remember as a kid with my friends...doing little dance skits and singing "The Jackson Five" songs...
When I joined the Army and couldn't wait to turn 21 so I could actually be admitted to Disco joints...I played the "Off the Wall" album so much I bought three more of them...some young people may not know but we had a vinyl disc that made physical contact with a vibrating needle...the needle eventually wore the vinyl down...
I actually wore white socks with short pants and white tipped wing tips...never wore the white glove...cause I thought that was silly...but likened my dancing prowess much like Michael's...I actually won some dance contests doing some of Michael's moves mixed in with my own...
I have to admit...I never could moonwalk...no matter how hard I tried...or someone tried to teach me...the title "moonwalk" was a testament to our time of space travel and moon exploration...
I must admit that when he started changing...I started to lean away from Michael...I always was embarrassed by it as though it was part of me...
Michael and the eccentricities kind of turned me away...I would tell people I used to know Michael when he was "Black"...
I never knew what to think of the children issue...but I really think that Michael in adult life when he started to get his own power in his life...wanted to go back to his childhood and was kind of seeking to grab those days back...I now think he was misunderstood on these issues and definitely not a "Child Molester"...that's just my feel on the issue...
I just find it hard to believe a man would actually build a world of fantasy and live in it...to facilitate a sick fascination with children...he was trying to create a world he never knew as a kid...his "Dad" has to live the rest of his life trying to deal with how he helped to screw this kid up...
The talent and energy of Michael will never be forgotten...he will have a status in legend much like Elvis Presley...
I grew up in a household that my Dad encouraged racism...but the Motown sounds pierced into that world...and "The Jackson Five" with Michael at the helm...was a big part of that...I imagine this was the knife that pierced into a lot of similar lives...there was an innocence to the boy that sang, "ABC" and "123"....
Michael I will miss you...the memory of you..the realization that you have passed at pretty much the same age as I...brings a stark realization to the parallel of life we have shared...
It may sound strange...but I feel like a part of me passed yesterday at the time Michael left....
Blue
I used to be filled with a lot of hot air, the day before her birthday, then I would blow up a couple of hundred balloons and surprise her on the morning of her birthday. The first birthday I shared with her...I sprayed her with a confetti of different symbols I had purchased at a local party discount store...for years she kept parts of this confetti and may still have some around...then she saw the balloons. There was a simple joy in all of this...but I lost it somewhere in the last few years....
Robins are growing outside my deck windows...a big flowering crabapple tree has played host to a nest with three little Robins whom have grown rapidly...they are about a week old and I expect them to take their first flight soon....they just opened up their eyes yesterday...
The parents have frantically gone out and gathered food...sometimes they arrive at the nest together...one has a distinctive look before it flies off...I can only assume it is taking note of who has just been fed...but it almost looks like the bird is taking a moment and saying to itself what a beautiful family I have and they are growing up so fast...soon they will take the young out and show them how to fend for themselves...and I will be left with an empty nest outside to remind me of the little Robin family that was once there...
I grow older each day as most of us do...well actually all of us do...sometimes sadness comes over me...as I ponder what it might have been like to have had children...it's a part of life I really feel I missed out on...although it's hard to say that I might have done the right things...and it may be for the best...
I am deeply saddened when I watch a young woman die for peacefully demonstrating for a basic human right...her eyes told the whole story right before she passed...17 years of life flashed before her eyes...people live and die everyday...by all sorts of means...but this reminds me of something when I was younger and some Olympians were killed...I was 16 or 17 at the time...
So another day dawns...it's nice and cooler today...it's going to be hot but the humidity is low...a day to be enjoyed...I have a truck that has a dead battery...I have two birdhouse kits to build...well actually one is going to be a mailbox...but that's a story unto itself...I need to get some plants in the ground...way too late...mow the lawn...and too be honest with you...I just want to lay down...and sleep....
I need life force...and I have every reason to have it...it's like the time when I was a child and it was Christmas...my Dad played one of his usual tricks on me and made me think I was getting a brick for Christmas...then pulled out a Guitar and an Amp...something I wanted and was excited to get...but then I just started crying...confusing everyone and angering my Dad...I don't know why even to this day I felt like I did that day....and I don't know why I feel like I do today and a lot of days like I do...I just know I do...
As I write this the baby Robins are active and one of the parents just fed them...there is force in that life..and sometimes I think that is what keeps me going more than anything else...
Birdman Blue
Yes, I have found the well worn medium sized spiral notebook that I have been looking for...this little notebook contains poems and prose written in my staggered kind of way...
I wrote most of these poems like a journal...of course the greatness was always evident in them...at least the greatness from my perspective...hahahahaha...which makes them richer for me now...as I consider how much I have lost over the last 30 years of my life...and how the Good Lord has allowed this reminder of me to stick around...
I titled this...."Dreams of Reality"....I grew up in the 60's and space exploration and travel were highly fascinating to me...I never really felt comfortable here on this globe we call Earth...so while living in reality...I pondered it like a dream...
I have met some people who hardly ever dream or recall them...some of my dreams seem so real...I seem so active as a participant...the haunting comes from them when waking up and realizing sometimes that what I just dreamed wasn't really real...yet there is a part of me that wonders...
My Wife recently bought a set of DVD's from Star Trek at a local Best Buy...the theme of the set was..."Alternate Reality"...and they had some from the original Star Trek series to some of the latest...we marveled at one from 1967 and how much what the Star Trek set suggested as technology...has now become real and in some cases even old in itself....some of my dreams seem like this...is that me in an alternate reality...sometimes I wished I was there..other times I am glad I am not...
I actually at one time transcribed this book of poems I had written onto a little word processor I had back in the 90's on a floppy...but I can't find the floppy disk...not even sure I have a computer by which to use the floppy if I did..hahahahaha...
I think now I want to share this young, naive, spirited young man with the world...I am considering writing this just as it is...there are some writings that are so bad they stick out like a sore thumb...but to share it would make it even more real...no one ever got rid of acne by just covering it up...
I was seeking myself...trying to find a reality...I'm not even sure I ever found it...hence the title..."Dreams of Reality"....
Imagine a young man...in the U.S. Army...living in old WWI and WWII wooden army barracks...they transformed them with about 6 rooms on each floor...I lived next to the stairwell in a fairly good sized room...right across from the showers and latrines...I heard when anyone came in and left...you could tell when someone was walking down the hall or down the stairs...you could hear almost any conversation throughout the place...each person had a stereo and would blast their music...a contention amoung us all...it was how you expressed who you were...or what you wanted others to think you were...one phone was available to the whole barracks...and you depended on others to share it with you...it wasn't always easy and it caused some problems...but amazingly...you understood that if you answered and got your buddy...more than likely he would do the same for you...it was a world only another soldier could probably relate too...
I am thinking of sharing this writing with the original pages scanned and then have the type next to it...
I need to dedicate this one to my Mom...who went home last October to be with the Lord...and the greatest gift I have now in my Wife Bren...
Dreams of Reality....I'm not sure the poems have ever stopped...it's just that they haven't been written down in this way in over 30 years....
Birdman Blue
This is the reason I leave some wildflowers up in my garden even though it does not fit the theme...here are a couple of American Goldfinches enjoying the flowerheads...you can see how they are meticulously gathering seed from the flowers...the one Goldfinch was actually eating part of the flowers....
It looked like he was doing a thing we used to do as kids...pluck a petal...and say "she loves me"...pluck another and say "she loves me not"...until we got to the last petal...
Now we know where we got that from....hahahahahahahahaha....Birdman Blue
Wow, it's a semi-misty morning here, and the temps are still cool...
It's quieter than normal...no multitude of school buses...they must send 10 out here in just this one community...I can't see why they can't fill the buses up and consolidate the bucks wasted...but hey that's above my "care" grade I guess...or is it above my "being heard" grade....but definitely not above my "being taxed for it" grade...well enough of this...
Since it was much quieter this morning watching the birds in my neighborhood do their morning thing was just amazing...now maybe this is a "Bird" kind of thing...a person actually gets excited about these little creatures...enough to love having their presence around...
I like Bluebirds and one day hope to have a pair choose one of my boxes to breed in...that would be wonderful...but in the meantime I have so many other birds that are breeding in my yard...some would argue it's good and some would argue bad...but I love to watch the cycles of nature...as it reminds me that Someone much more intelligent than I is at work...
I watched as Swallows grabbed insects above me in mid air...it's hard for me to tell exactly what kind they are...because they move so fast...but it is a joy watching them...in the evening we get the bats...
I have a pair of Mockingbirds building a nest in one of my trees close to the sidewalk...it won't be long and I can bet they will be dive bombing passing walkers...although they seem to have a bond with me...I too will be keeping an eye out for them...
I have a House Wren that has literally taken over my front yard minus the Mockingbirds...and the male sings constantly...I did notice a female this morning so soon I will have more of them...I miss my Carolina Wrens..they did start a nest but haven't used it...
In the back above my deck is a Robin sitting on eggs...I already had one nest of Robins earlier this year of four...
I watch as the Eastern Starlings pass all over the place as each house in this place was poorly built around the eaves to accommodate them...we had some people fill in the place where they used to nest every year at our house...
I watch as Goldfinches, House Finches and Warblers, pass above me...some enlightening on the little wildflowers in the area...
I even saw a little Woodpecker make his presence known in our Gum Ball tree....
Every morning two geese do a fly by headed East...honking as they go...in the evening they always head West...honking as they go...
I even spotted a large Crane flying overhead this morning...one year one made a feast of the fish in my backyard pond...
Yes one could say...it's been a "Birdiful" morning....
I hope you had a "Birdiful" morning as well...
Birdman Blue
It was the second day of my ride....and it was hot...and the Texas road didn't make it any cooler...and these roads while not traveled heavily because it paralleled Interstate 30 had expansion joints every 8 or 10 ft...imagine this even after being softened by a 90 degree heat...an inch strip of molten soften tar....and traveling at an average of 10 to 16 miles an hour added up pretty quick...
Unfortunately for me the gel filled bicycle seat had not been invented yet or had not been readily available before I decided to be a human guinea pig on how long one can go before extreme irritation occurs....trust me it didn't take long...and it was something I never really became accustomed to...
I had stopped at a small convenience store before this stretch...there I bought a banana and a Pepsi, a snickers bar, and a bottle of cold water....and sat out in the shade next to my bicycle at the front of the store next to the ice machine...I don't know why, but I thought sitting near the ice machine would be cooler...but all I got was the hot air coming from a compressor that seemed to never stop running...with the little fan blowing the heated air from the condenser around the back of the machine and conveniently onto me...
I pulled out a couple of my little "24 hour meditation books" and read from them for inspiration and while chomping on my banana...pulled the map out and looked at the long stretch of line that represented the road that I was about to travel on and noted that it didn't look like much in the way of noted civilization for the next 18 or 20 miles....while doing all this people were pulling up in cars...some walking up from a nearby apartment complex...most looking at me like..."Is that guy crazy or what"....you know the kind of look, don't you...well if you don't go to Texas one day and find a convenience store in the middle of nowhere and sit down next to a bicycle loaded down with a bunch of stuff and you will soon find out...you will know "what that look is like"....
Well just about the time I was getting ready to get back on the road...after taking some of my carbohydrate powdered drink mix and mixing it with the water I just bought in two water bottles I had on the frame of my bicycle...when a middle aged man approached me and asked, "where ya headed young man...Dallas"....I looked up and said..."No Sir, I just left Dallas yesterday...I'm headed for Fairfax, Virginia"....I looked up after saying this and the mouth of the man was wide open for what seemed the longest with a random look at my bicycle and then a look at me...he replied, "What in tar nation would you want to do something like that fer"...I thought to myself..."I know he didn't just say tar did he...images of repeating tar strips and that constant sharp pain came to my mind...but he did say tar"....so I replied..."well Sir...I'm a recovering Alcoholic and I feel I have been called to do this as a spiritual journey to get closer to my Higher Power and get a better idea of who I am"...he looked at me intently for a moment while his mouth made a constant chewing motion...and he turned and spit a big wad of tobacco out and said..."Well I guess what ever floats your boat, Son...so I take it your headed down this highway going East...just let me tell you once you leave here you might see one shade tree in between here and there...and it will be on your left hand side...also you might have one place to get water...and that's if the man is home and he's in a good mood...if you try to get some on your own...the dogs will probably take you out of your misery....Virginia you say...mah Lord I neva heard of such befo"...and with this he spit a second time....I replied, "Thank you Sir...I better get me a couple more of cold water bottles from inside"...he told me to wait there and he would be right back...sure enough he came back out with two of the biggest coldest bottles of water he could come out with and handed them to me..."These should help you make that stretch...but I don't know how long they will stay cold in this heat...maybe you should wait until the sun goes down some"...."Well Sir...I need to make it to the next town before it gets dark so I can find a place to pitch tent or stay, also I'd like to make a Sunday afternoon meeting"....he looked at me and said..."Well when you get to the next town you'll run into a T in the road...take a left away from the town and you will find a small Baptist church there...they meet at 6 p.m. and are some purty nice folk...good luck to ya Son"...he walked away toward his truck half shaking his head while muttering something...got into the driver's side...looked up and slammed the door...spit out the window...and waved...grinded the gears some putting the clutch into reverse....grinded them a little putting it in first and gravel flew slightly as he drove off waving back at me...I'm sure he was muttering something like..."That's the derndest thing I have ever heard and seen"...but I guess I will never know....
It was about 3:30 p.m. in the afternoon...and I knew for the most part I could average anywhere from 12 to 16 miles per hour and had about 20 miles to go...I wanted to be early to this church service...I knew I was going to have to depend on people to help me when it came to laying down my head...so I said a quick prayer and left the precious confines of the shade from the convenience store....and started the steady thump...thump...thump of going down the road...in the middle of the day...on July the 9th, 1989.....
The thoughts that go on in the head when you are exerting all the energy you can...are amazing...one reaches into the inner soul when confined to such a situation...where the idea that you are one with yourself, the natural elements around you are now one with you, and while the 90 degree heat was a dry heat...it's like the sun is daring you to break...and many thoughts of just why you start such a crazy endeavor to begin with come to mind...but you know turning back is admitting failure before you have even given yourself a chance to succeed....nonetheless...you still question heavily....
The good thing about all of this is that before you know it you're 7 miles in your journey and you see a small ranch house off to the right...and think to yourself...that must be the place the guy told me about...by now I had almost consumed all of the water that I had...and was sure that I would need more...so I wanted to fill my bottles to full capacity...so I went to the door and knocked...leaving my bicycle close to the road...I could see the spigot on the front of the house with a short hose on it...and was enjoying the little 3 foot stretch of shade...when a man came to the door..."How can I help you" in a semi defensive tone...I looked back at him and said..."Sir, could I fill my water bottles up with some water from your tap"...he looked at me through the storm glass door without opening it...and looked beyond me at the bicycle next to the road...and replied, "Sure...just make sure you turn it tight off when your done, don't worry about the dogs, I'll keep them in the back"....you know up to this point while the dogs had been barking intensely...it didn't even register with me of any kind of danger...I knew I needed to get the water....so I stepped off to the side and filled my water bottles and made sure I tightened up the spigot good...all the while the man stood at his storm door never opening it up...I am sure this was a natural reaction of his to some stranger riding a bicycle on a 90 degree day in the middle of Texas...and I am sure he probably had some kind of gun powder actuating device not far from him near the door...just something you know being in Texas and all...I walked back to my bicycle and placed the bottles in the cages and looked up at the man and waved...you know the "Thank you" kind of wave...as far as I know the man never came out and he never really smiled although he did give a slight wave as I departed....one never knows what is going through the mind of someone like this...and I wasn't going to stick around to see...
One other thing about this day was the uncanny way it was so hot and there seemed not to be a breeze one...when riding bicycle and sweating profusely it is some relief as you force the air around you...but you need sweat for this to happen and you need plenty of water to keep the sweat coming...so water is needed and shade...one thing that amazed me about the man's house is that he didn't have one shade tree...not one...in his front yard...and that was truly a bummer....this just so happened to be only one of a couple of days on my journey where clouds and rain didn't make it's presence known....and a minute, or a mile, seemed like an eternity....the only thing you can do here is just keep peddling...I had a small pedometer on my bicycle so I had a general idea of how far I had gone and how far I needed to go...and I also knew how fast I was going...and could look at my average and kind of guage how much energy I could use and what I needed to try to conserve...fortunately for me this stretch of East Texas was fairly flat...next thing I knew I could see what appeared to be a brush next to the road on my left....then as I got closer...I grew more excited...it was the shade tree I was told about at the convenience store about 13 or 15 miles back...I knew taking a break from the sun here could give me the last bit of recovery I needed to make the other 5 or 6 miles to the church I was headed to...as I got closer...this tree was humongous and gave a massive shade on two sides of the fence...and on the other side of the fence was a group of cows....about 20 or so...I remember as I approached the fence and the shade the cows were looking at me as if to say..."Wow...now I have seen it all"....
Now let me tell you...when you are out in the heat in the middle of nowhere...so it seemed...cows are like people...you talk to them...and while it sounds crazy...you might even think they talk back to you...so I struck up a conversation...you know...the quirky kind at first when you first get to know someone..."you cows as hot as I am...shewww wheee it's a hot one"....then they look back at you like..."can you believe this idiot...of course it hot...you think we like being clumped together in a group grasping for the last bit of shade we can get...you're lucky were not on that side of the fence as well...dummy"...."yeah...but I have water"....and then something inside of you say's...do you really think it's smart to tease a 400 pound cow or group of cows with something they may desire...and the only thing between you and them is some Texas devil wire and medium size branches for support..." so I leaned up against one of the posts and and said a gracious prayer to the Lord above for helping to give me this shade...and I couldn't help but think of the story of Jonah given shade and shelter and how he had such an attitude against the people he had just given a message to and the Lord withered the protection from the vine...I was making sure I was thankful...and enjoyed every minute of the shade...but knew that I needed to get back on that bicycle and beat that late afternoon heat and make it to the church I was headed too...
As I was putting my bicycle helmet on...I looked over at the cows as they looked back at me...and it was very apparant that they thought I was the craziest site they could have ever of witnessed....and in my head...I could almost hear them laughing about it as I pulled away....
Sure enough...I made it to the church and made it early...by now it was around 5:45 in the early evening and civilization brought forth more trees and shade...the long stretching shadows told me that cooler hours were soon to come...I waited and drank the last bit of my water as one car pulled up and then another and before long there were six or seven...and as always there is the one who makes themself the ambassodor and introductions all around...we went into the church for a Sunday evening prayer service...the Church wasn't air conditioned but had huge ceiling fans and the air was like heaven as it circled my sun baked skin...I gave my testimony and was told about a park not far away where I could probably pitch my tent and rest for the night....
By the time we finished the hours of darkness were soon approaching...and I was nervous because I wasn't prepared for riding around at night...I had no lights...or if I did they were minimal at best...I followed the directions given to me and found the park...and noticed that I had passed a small sonic type restuarant...so I rode back to the restuarant and grabbed a hamburger and cheese fries and bought as many cold drinks as I could afford...I tell you I was exhausted...while worried about the darkness of the area I was in...I had to give my protection over to the Lord and soon drifted off to sleep...occassionally jumping up because of a noise or two...but then drifting back to sleep...you really don't rest in this situation...you just get sleep....I had just got into a dreamy sleep when all of a sudden I was startled by a sound that became more and more invasive...it turns out that the park was next to a mainline and I was feeling and hearing the train as it moved on the tracks I found out the next day was just a quarter of a mile away....the train soon moved on...and if another one came it sunk into the dreamland I had found....
The next thing I heard was the sounds of people talking and birds chirping....the morning sun was starting it's daily cook...but I was still in the shade of a big oak tree...I popped my head out of the tent to see several young men walking around picking up trash with little sticks that had nails in them....a few checked me out...and then I noticed a man with a police uniform on and a badge...he came over and said..."How are you"..."Did you camp out here last night"...I looked back and said, "Yes Sir"...he then told me..."you must be the guy that's riding to Virginia on that bicycle"...I looked back kind of surprised and said yeah...well we checked on you a couple of times during the night...I was thinking to myself if you knew that then why did you ask...hahahahah...."that train sure didn't help none though"...I said...he laughed..."well good luck on your trip"....
I then found the bathrooms and washed up some and gathered up my stuff and read my daily devotionals...and reviewed the map...found me a convenience store and started day three of my journey...
I look back and as I share this...I think to myself...man has a strength that only the good Lord can reveal....without faith in this strength I don't think I would have ever been able to do what I did...and trust me it took a lot of faith....
Bicycling Birdman Blue
Well, it's been awhile since I last posted a blog here...but this is where I hope to blog all my entries about life and nature....hopefully these stories will uplift and provide inspiration to us all...and I can grow as well....
I tell you if you would have told me 35 years ago that I would be in a world like this, I would have never of believed you.
As a kid I loved nature...I spent as much time outdoors as I could get...and discovering all the natural things around me made it even better...
My Grandmother was one who loved to Garden and she loved flowers....I tell you when you mowed the grass you had better not mow over a weed if it had a flower on it...I found out the hard way...I still have problems mowing over flowering weeds to this day....although the creeping clover that seems to be taking over everything in our neighborhood was mowed over after I shot a short video clip of some bumble bees grabbing the last bit of pollen they are going to get from those flowers...at least I hope so...I am gonna spray them this morning with a weed killer....
Well I started this two days ago and just now figuring out how to get the video on my post. I also have a short clip of a Mockingbird...in this clip there is a lot of background noise but it's very apparent if you watch the bird that his calls are significant...I have two or three that come around and I try to match their calls...some of the scratchy throaty type I can't do...and I always let them know it.....hahahahahahahahaha....And now here is Silver my Koi...swimming around the back pond...also some of the other fish as well...this water is very clear but my pump failed so I have to use a smaller filter to push the water around....I tell you after how long it has taken for me to put video's on this post I may keep from this....Birdman Blue
