My stone fountain and little pond in my back garden have become my new focus in the past couple of weeks.

Robert and I have been trying to get the ecosystem friendly to the little goldfish we put in the pond.  True to his mathematical mind's propensity to seek answers, Robert has read a lot about raising gold fish lately.

We've been sad to lose several fish since last year when we started putting them in the pond.  I so enjoy sitting on the rock next to the pond and gazing at them as they dart around.

The night after I returned from Lisbon,  a racoon raided the pond, and ate all but one black fish.  We were very upset.  Robert set about constructing something to put over the pond to protect it at night from predators.

After some experimentation, he built a removable lath and chicken wire "lid" to place over the main part of the pond.  It really works great.

We now have the black fish and three gold fish, more aquatic plants, an ammonia 'trap" and the protective lid.  In the late afternoon, the little fish swim out from their rock hiding place.  It's so fun to watch them. We stand and whisper to each other, noting each fish's position.

Robert read that fish can talk (!)  We think the black fish has been indoctrinating the new ones with tales of the racoon's murderous raid, and noting our clumsy splashing around adding gravel, plants, and the protection device. 

This is our anthropomorphic explanation of why they seem reluctant to come out from under the rocks.