Still working on the Pond

The guys are still busy with the pond, there is quite some work to do, besides building the duck house and the goose nesting area ("Nistbereich"). David had dug out the trench and now they are filling it with cement, rough, so the birds can walk out easily. There is also a flat spot for the baby ducks so they can walk in and out of the water easily. I thought about painting it with pool paint, but that's way to expensive, so we just put some sealer on and hope it will hold it. I can hardly wait for the first water fowl ("Wasservögel") to jump in there and enjoy their new fun pool.

Besides that ... I am working. Had my Rotary meeting yesterday, the regular breakfast meeting, and it was so relaxing, although I did have to do the attendance one more time (finalize the month). I liked the way they set it up: they made tables for every committee with little signs on it, so everyone HAD to choose a committee. A really wise decision. And there was one table with one chair in the corner with a sign on it: RINO. That's for the guys who are "Rotarians In Name Only" ("Rotarier nur dem Namen nach"), who do pay and come to the breakfast, but don't work at all in any committee or group. Pretty funny.

I look forward working with Johnny R. on the Club Committee. It's all about PR, events, members, just everything that makes the club run. Can already think of some neat things to do.

Robbie saw another snake today in the tree next to the kitchen. Her fourth one in two weeks now. One (harmless) was in the barbecue grill, one at our neighbour Emilia, one on the road (which she killed with a stone because it was coming towards our yard and could have been poisonous), and the one yesterday was just in the process of catching a baby bird. The mama bird pecked on the snake and made a lot of noise, so the workers told Robbie and she chased the snake away and rescued the baby bird. It didn't survive, though, most probably too shocked. Those snakes, however, are really ok in general, they don't bother humans or pets, but eat rats and mice and frogs and so help keep the environment in balance. We are trying to get more information, so next time we know earlier, if its a poisonous or a non-poisonous snake and don't kill a harmless, useful one. The Belize Zoo is usually a good source of information. And it's a beautiful place to go to anyhow, great for kids and adults.