Althouse: At the koi pond...

September 4, 2016

At the koi pond...

Today, in Allen Centennial Gardens.

16 comments:

Big Mike said...: Ospreys are in Wisconsin. How do they keep the slow-swimming koi from becoming prime osprey food?; 9/4/16, 4:17 PM
mockturtle said...: Very nice photos--especially the first one.; 9/4/16, 4:23 PM
gadfly said...: Beautiful pond but only one koi? No, I found this picture taken three days ago on Yelp.

A look/see at the underlying filtration and oxygenating system would be interesting but I didn't find a picture on google image.; 9/4/16, 4:23 PM
Karen of Texas said...: Absolutely beautiful photos. Agree with mockturtle, that first one is particularly entrancing. So much depth and a riot of color.; 9/4/16, 4:32 PM
gadfly said...: @Big Mike said...
Ospreys are in Wisconsin. How do they keep the slow-swimming koi from becoming prime osprey food?

Believe me, with all the lakes surrounding and intruding into Madison, waterbirds are a far greater threat to pond fish than ospreys. Where there is one blue heron, there is a whole colony. Most pond owner's have pieces of pvc pipe on the pond bottom for fish to hide in and my wife even has decorative heron statues next to the pond to fool a hungry airborne heron into ignoring the "occupied" pond.; 9/4/16, 4:44 PM
Patrick said...: The huge need in MN this weekend is that the remains of Jacob Wetterling have been found. He was kidnapped in 1989 when he was 11. Nearly 27 years later, while in custody on a related charge, the bad guy took the FBI to where he hid the body. Its been a huge story up here for the 25 years I've lived here.

Imagine the cruelty of holding that information while the parents had no idea what happened to their son.; 9/4/16, 5:22 PM
Tommy Duncan said...: When I was a child (living 30 miles east of this pond) the farmer down the road had fish in his horse trough which was fed by an artesian well. I thought the fish were goldfish. The farmer corrected me: They were koi.

The water was clean and cold. The fish were fascinating to an eight year old boy.

The setting for the horse trough was not quite as nice as in Ann's pictures. The trough was in a fragrant barnyard.; 9/4/16, 5:23 PM
Ann Althouse said...: To see more fish in that pond, click the fish tag and scroll until you get to another photo.

If you go to the bridge there, the fish will flock to you.; 9/4/16, 6:05 PM
chickelit said...: Had we but world enough and time,
This koiness, lady, were no crime.; 9/4/16, 6:44 PM
Patrick said...: Huge story, btw, not need.; 9/4/16, 7:16 PM
Fabi said...: The top photo is special, Ann. Thank you!; 9/4/16, 7:21 PM
Humperdink said...: Pond photos are among my favorites. Reflections add so much.; 9/4/16, 8:42 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: Socially Awkward Guy Who Makes No Eye Contact says:

I distinctly remember the first time I heard my younger sister masturbate.

After my Dad left us my Mother, sister and I moved to a small house out by the airport. My bedroom was between my sister's bedroom and the bathroom. Yes: I heard her pee. Regularly.

So at first I thought she was in the next room singing along to Madonna or Britney Spears, but then I realized: she was masturbating.

At the time I thought my sister was going to be a lesbian, so I pictured her imagining being fucked by a woman with a giant black strap-on cock. I remember it distinctly: it was black. And big. I think the woman with the black strap-on cock looked like one of my teachers, I don't really remember now.

I saw black cocks in the shower after gym class; I never took a shower because I didn't like being naked in front of strangers, but the black boys didn't seem to have a problem with it, they would dance around in the shower, their cocks bouncing about.

I got along with most of the black students because they ignored me like everyone else did. But there was Tyrone: every morning he would push me against the wall and demand my lunch money.

After awhile I would already have my lunch money out, ready to give to him, but he would shove me against the wall, anyway. I kept a pair of spare pants in my locker because sometimes he would push me against the wall and then I would pee myself. That would make me late for next class, which just made things worse: I am not a tardy person.

Anyway: I think I wanted to pee on that teacher with the black strap-on cock. I think she might have been my Social Studies teacher, I'm not sure: when I think of her I only see a blank face of flesh with no eyes or mouth. Or nose. Just flesh.

Like no one else thinks these things.

I hope the Girl with the Blue Hair is working at McDonalds today.

I am Laslo.; 9/4/16, 9:59 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: Socially Awkward Guy Who Makes No Eye Contact says:

I remember the first time I thought my younger sister was being sodomized.

She was a freshman, dating a senior. Everyone in school called him The Ass Fucker, so you might see where I got the idea.

At dinner my Mother would ask my sister how her day was. My sister would say it was "fine', but I just kept thinking: she got fucked in the ass, she got fucked in the ass, she got fucked in the ass by The Ass Fucker.

The Good Thing about the story was that the Ass Fucker got drunk and killed himself in a car accident. The Bad Thing was he ran into the mini-van of a Mexican family and killed most of them, too. I think the little boy lived, I'm not sure now.

What I remember most: my sister wet the bed that night.

Take THAT, Mom.

Like no one else thinks these things.

I hope the Girl with the Blue Hair is working at McDonalds today.

I am Laslo.; 9/4/16, 10:15 PM
Fritz said...: If you go to the bridge there, the fish will flock to you.

Welfare carp.; 9/4/16, 10:20 PM
Balfegor said...: Very pretty. The weather was nice this weekend in DC so I visited Roosevelt Island, took some pictures. The problem I always run into, taking photos on my phone, is the contrast between full sunlight and dark shadows is so extreme that anything in direct sunlight ends up washed out, unless I avoid any darkness in the frame. But that still leaves everything looking kind of flat, most of the time.

The built-in HDR on earlier generations of the phone (a Samsung Galaxy) was actually quite good, but the one I am using now seems to have it dialed way back. And the ISO doesn't go down low enough (I think it needs to be 50 or so, since 100 still leaves everything washed out). Maybe the sensor is just bad for full sunlight (it's noticeably better in low light, so perhaps that's the cause).; 9/5/16, 7:48 PM