Hi boys and girls. I thought I would update you on the developments since my
last post. Some of you may recall my post of 4/25, about finding a goldfish in
my pond that appeared to be about 3-4 months old. Well, I guess it is still in
there, although I haven't seen it in a couple of days (there are lots of places
for a small black fish to hide in the pond). I'm still at a loss as to where he
come from since if my fish spawned him, they would have had to spawn him in the
dead of winter (that would be below frezing in these parts, so what are the
chances they would have spawned in that weather). A midget from last year? Not
likely because it still has its baby black. I have yet to see any others.

On another, related note, it is Kentucky Derby day (or was - its' after
mid-night here) here in, where else, 'Derby City' (Louisville's nickname).
Early this morning at about 6:30 A.M. I got up to do some early chores to get
ready for the day's festivities, and while getting a glass of water, I looked
out my kitchen window and noticed that all of the fish were swimming around in a
frenzy, even the Koi. I went out to check on them, and yes, they are spawning
(I don't think the Koi were actually spawning, just curious). The water is all
frothy, like last year. I have at least five females who are all battered one
the side from the efforts (just like my big female was last year). I found one
this afternoon hiding behind the filter beneath the waterfall (it was one of my
two year old goldfish - one of the 'feeders' I bought originally to feed to my
catfish, who apparently wasn't interested at the time). This is the same place
my big female spawned last year to eventually produce the 8 yearlings I have now
(who are three times the size of this black mystery newbie, are a multitude of
colors, and very nice). They appear to like this location as it is sheltered,
there are cattails nearby, and it is a hard place to get in and out of. The
catfish can't touch them there. One thing seems certain, I'm going to have a
heck of a lot of fry this year.

On another note, when I was in college years ago, my wife and I (we were dating
at the time) used to go out to a Pizza joint on the other side of town that had
great live music. The name of the place was Jockamos. We used to go there
every weekend. It was a local college hangout (alas, they went belly up - too
much 'free beer', I suppose). The food was lousy, but the beer and song was
wonderful. Well, what does this have to do with anything? Well, the horse that
won the Derby, a 50-1 nag, was names Giacomo (pronounced, Jockamo). Dabnabbit!
What was I thinking? To think what I would have made had I bet on this three
year old diamond-in-the-rough.

Enjoy the spring. It won't last much longer.