On Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:03:38 EDT, "JDS" wrote:

cool - a man-cave with pond.... nice.

I guess. Anyway, I went down there and sat much of yesterday late
afternoon and this morning. There isn't any power yet, so I tend to
hide in an air conditioned spot during the heat of the day. I'd seen
an otter in the pond a few weeks ago, and figured it was just a
visitor or something, but there it was again this morning. It swam
along the bank and poked its head up from time to time to check out me
and the building. There is no way it could have missed me. I wasn't
singing or dancing or anything, but I wasn't trying to be quiet or
hide or anything either. The otter was only about 10 yards from me
and looked right at me, probably snickered, and then went back
underwater. It would poke its head up now and again in other parts of
the pond. I haven't the foggiest what it finds to eat. Stocking the
pond with fish sounds a bit too much like "feeding the otter" for me
to get real excited about that right now. The ducks are kind of
miffed at me for getting rid of the fallen tree trunk they used to
hang out on, but the time lapse camera shows them still swimming
around the other side of the pond. This is what I stared at this
morning.
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x.../jul223009.jpg
(I screwed up the date on purpose. Yeah, that's the ticket.) I think
the picture shows off the carpet of duckweed rather well. If my
theory is correct, the duckweed should clear up from the agitation of
the aerator I'll toss in when I get power. I wonder what the otter
and the ducks will think of it? I remember the frogs spent almost two
whole days before they got used to it in the middle pond (now a mere
mud puddle).