Don't be Janis, it's a day's work to me. The upside is I love my job and the downside is that it's never done. My daughter lives a very similar lifestyle, and she mentioned once that the difference between a person who goes out to work in an office or factory and one like us is that the line between our personal daily life and our worklife is not distinct. That what we do is not so much a profession, as a lifestyle. One melts into the other it is all intertwined as we shift back and forth through the day between the two. I take my gardens, and my fruit trees and my brambles, and my canning and cooking just as seriously as a bank teller takes her money or a hairdresser her client's appearance. It helps to feed us. My SIL, before he knew me well once made a comment to the effect of why don't I just not spend hours doing the gardening.......but take some money and go buy food? Well, if I did, then I'd have to spend a similar amount of time in an office working for the money to accomplish it. I asked myself a long time ago where I'd rather spend my time. I often give thanks at the end of the day for the privilege of spending it right here.

Hey guys - thanks for the comments! It's great to come online and see more interest and questions. But before we get to that, look who popped its head open on Monday: I wasn't expecting anything to be blooming this year - what a special surprise this was. Relatively tiny blossom, but beautifully intricate and elegant. jcjcjcx - Well, in my experiences with soil, it's been kind of 50/50. On the one hand, it starts plants off really well. But on the other side, it doesn't ever stay in its pot, its lighter and more prone to tipping (if using a small container), and if not tended can cause a great deal of rot. Here are a few of my experiences: I was experimenting with some different pond marginals in the 3rd year and a few of those included cannas. I potted them in a long container full of soil and a few pebbles so they would be some-what weighted down. A few nights later, the wind picked up and the first thing that got knocked over was that pot! All the soil coated the pond's bottom and the rocks clogged the main drain line. We had to blow it all out of the pipe using the reverse side of a shop-vac. The combination of big pebbles and muddy soil made a substantial clot. And it was months before the soil finally got cleaned up! A year later, i experimented with some lotus seeds. I had scarred the seeds in the appropriate way and had some really nice shoots developing from a few healthy seeds. I started them off in a rich soil mixture with abundant water and when it came time to move them to the pond, i left everything as is because i didn't want to shock the plant. They were doing great for a month and i even had an airborne leaf at one time! But then within a few days the plant yellowed and died almost like clockwork. At the time, i thought it was just the luck of the draw. But after pulling the pot out and examining the tuber, it was pretty apparent - the soil suffocated the plant. It turned anaerobic and the plant shriveled up. When soil becomes so saturated, no water can penetrate through it enough to deliver new nutrients. Later on, it came time to buy a lily so we headed down a couple cities (everything is right next to each other in Southern California, haha) and found a beautiful purple lily. 45.00 plus tax - not an easy investment for a non-working kid. But at the time, the beauty justified the bill. So we brought it home and enjoyed its blooms for the few days it had bloomed. And being the naive kid i was, i assumed that you should leave it in the pot it's been growing in (as not to shock it). Well, i knew within a week i was wrong. It yellowed up, and stopped sending new growth. And when i brought it out of the water to check out what was wrong, the whole thing 'shlopped' out of the container smelling like putrid death. The tuber was pretty mushy and the growing shoots off of the main shaft had almost been frozen in time - brown and tightly rolled up. This was a tough blow seeing how i had just paid $50.00 for the thing. Fast forward to today, i almost had the exact same problem from the exact same place! (funny huh?) I bought the lily two Sundays ago, with the intent of 'doing it right this time' and replanting in a clay mixture. I didn't have the materials to make it happen that day though, so i set the whole pot in the pond and waited for the next weekend (i thought a week wouldn't hurt). I finally got all my materials last Sunday so i went to work repotting all my lilies. I took my Star of Siam out (the one i got from that place) and within a few minutes, 3 of the 5 pads broke off! I looked to the base of the breakage and low and behold - the beginnings of rot! I had blamed my fish for one of the pads busting off earlier in the week - but it was a weakened plant instead! I immediately pulled all the soil out and washed the roots till they were spot clean. The soil itself was black and full of that ammonia smell and i could easily see why these plants weren't making it past a few weeks. Right now - 3 days later, my Star of Siam shows no signs of further rot damage and even has 3 (or more) healthy leaflets starting at the base. But what i don't understand is how the pond stores can have these robust lilies that look great at the shop, but croak in a new home... All conspiracies aside, soil has been nothing but trouble for me. So what did i do differently this time? Well, after reading up here on various posts, more specifically, the "Water Lilies" thread, i found a curious suggestion from a member to use regular clay cat litter for your plants instead of soil. It's pretty ingenious! It stays put when you drop it in the water, it'll be constantly aerated and water will always be able to move through it (since it's more like a tight gravel than a solid soil), and when it comes time to change the soil (if you even need to) you just pick up a new bag of litter and you're done! I bought a large bag of Johnny Cat Original litter from my feed store, 2 bags of Jobes tomato spikes from Lowes, 4 metal drip pans from my local auto place, and a few bags of black Mexican beach pebbles (to weigh down plants). Everything i've planted this time around seems to really enjoy it's new home. It finally feels i found the solution to all my lily woes! And who knew it would be kitty litter? naturelover2007 - The books state zone 9 as the lowest available growing zone, but I'm pretty sure you could easily overwinter it inside - its amazingly hardy and has given us endless green (not exaggerating!) Brenda - thanks for the facts! I always wondered what was with the aerial roots and it makes sense that they're shoots off of the mother plant. But it's fascinating how far those things can travel. I think i found one 6 feet away from the main plant interwoven into the border rocks. Dianne - It's always in those first months that you build a pond. You imagine that the hardest part is digging the hole and building the pond, but it's only half (even less than half) of the battle. It's great to hear that you didn't fill it in though! Do you have any pictures up in the gallery of your pond? I wish you luck with your waterfall addition - should add some beautiful relaxing sounds for your yard! Thanks for taking the time to reply! Thank you all for your kind words - as the pond matures this season (well, what's left of summer), I'll be sure to keep you informed. We just planted a black-stemmed bamboo screen to help enclose the pond in a more natural setting (instead of a pink block wall) - and i think i might experiment with some miniature Juniper plants in the stream beds (i saw someone do it, now i want to!) Thanks again fellow ponders! Mike.

My heart and prayers go out to the families and friends left behind. It is a terrible tragedy and I hope with all the prayers going around for these families it will give them all strength to make it through their hardships ahead. Me and my family will pray for them.

Another new writer for me. Instead of re-reading old favorites, I think I need to change, looking for newer writers. Her last quote I very much understand. She is not alone, there are quite a few ex-pats who don't know for whom to cheer at the Olympics.