“I’ve lost my rock mojo,” said my husband the other day. We’ve had a lot of distractions from the salt mine….visiting kids, koi show, travel, etc. We are finally getting back on track this weekend.

The koi all seem to be doing well. We gave a few koi to a friend so now we have 12 in the large pond and lucky 13 in the small pond. I have a kohaku koi which is much smaller than the rest named Chichai; a Doitsu Kikusui named Chōshi, a hiutsuri that appears to have faded named Taco Bell, a pretty Goshiki named Hato, a new Sanke named Sobakasu, a shiro utsuri named Ika, a another Sanke named Polka and a Tancho named Byakkō. A few more need to be named but I’m looking for some personality. Chōshi is definitely a ring leader and the school does whatever she does. Up in the large pond, the show koi appear to be happy to be back in their pond. Takuan, the chow hound, has more than doubled in size the last three months.

the large pond is getting overrun with string algae and Tony is not pleased at the low performance of the bottom drains. Tomorrow starts the addition of equipment that will help the bottom drains work better – more suction…I generally stay out of the work of pond mechanics. Looks like a lot of digging.

I plan on working on Landscaping. I started working on a hillside that used to have large hostas. These were ripped out to make room for a variegated japanese red pine and other plants. For the last three weekends we have tried random boulders and nothing was looking right. I happened to look at some landscape photos of Japan and saw terraced farm fields. So inspired with the idea of making a terraced garden, I’ve started with my favorite Mexican pebbles and have been moving plants from around the garden. I’m pleased with the progress and hope to finish the hillside tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I think Tony’s rock mojo is returning. He did a beautiful job on rocks meeting our cedar pond shelf. I’m hoping we can say “done” in a few more weeks!