I have been mostly silent about the pond in 2008 because it has been murky and I have been embarrassed. It started last fall when we were in Santa Fe it went green with a tiny algae and I was not able to restore the balance all winter. I even took all of the rocks out of the stream and rinsed them.

Finally I went down last weekend and bought a UV Filter from Steve at PTF (Pasadena Tropical Fish) and within a day the water was clearer. I may need a second unit to get the water crystal clear but this is a huge improvement.

The 25w UV Filter

Here is a picture of the pond with the flowers on the wall behind it:

and finally a picture of the stream from the bench showing the improved but not yet completed bridge.

Note the fountain in the foreground

Next report I hope will have pictures of the fish in clear water.

How about this beautiful display of Azelea in my neighborhood.

Life is Good!

Beyond Borders is screening in NYC on Thursday, May 1 in conjunction with the Tribeca Institute and the NY Immigration Coalition.

Watch the trailer here:

Barack Obama said on Saturday “What the American people are looking for is somebody who can solve their problems.”

Senator Obama I beg to disagree. What the American people want is a chance to solve their own problems. They don’t want an ever bigger federal government trying to solve everybody’s every problem. The American people know from experience that big government is not very good at solving “their problems”. The best way for people to solve their problems is personally and when that is not possible locally.
Now I like Barack Obama and I think that he would make a fine President but he has never worked in the private sector and he apparently has low regard for competition and the profit motive. The United States of America has delivered more of the goods and services that people want than ever before in history. It has accomplished this by having a constitutional, federal system with competing and limited governments. When Senator Obama tells people what “they are looking for” he is acting as an elitist member of the pandering class and I don’t like it.

After it appeared that the fires had died down last night (See report 3)

We were woken up at 3:00 am this morning by the dog barking and this scene of the fire creeping over the next ridge towards us. It appears that we are not out of danger yet.

The fire is now about 2 miles from us above Auburn Street in Sierra Madre. Before we moved here we lived for a few years at the very top of Auburn Street in the current evacuation area. Nurit made us move because it was to scary way up there with the backyard touching the National Forest. She was right again.

The telephoto lens makes it appear scarier. We have to keep alert and hope that the wind doesn’t come up. I will be less sanguine about the fire today than yesterday.

Here is the link for information from the City of Sierra Madre:

http://cityofsierramadre.com/index.php?mod=city_article&id=74