I dug out this that was dated October 19, 2003 and was a thread on AWGS titled Pondaholism by Sarassa. This was my long drawn out post.
Hi, I'm Esther and I'm a pondaholic. My family doesn't get fed on time, the fish do. The house doesn't get vacuumed, the pond did. I put Koi clay in the pond and my house looks like I put it there too. I don't rake the yard but I did the pond. The house plants die but the pond plants get excellent care. My closets are a mess but the pond supply cabinet is in great order. We run out of milk and bread but I have enough Koi food left over for a year. The house can be cluttered but there'd better not be a rock out of place in the pond/waterfall. I didn't notice that my DH had gotten a haircut but noticed that some scales were missing on top of Big Blue. I had promised to make my 2 year old granddaughter curtains for her room in their new house but the frame for the net to cover the pond got made first. The grandkids came the other day and I "let" them net leaves in the pond and feed the fish for something fun to do. To add to the fun they could put leaves in the Skippy and watch them bump down the waterfall and get to skim them out again. Then we planted tulips and other bubs around the landscaping by the waterfall. I drive 20 minutes of my 60 minute lunch hour to come home and make sure the pump and waterfall is OK and get a glimpse of the fish. I have had the deicer made for a month now and we won't have ice for a couple of months. I have temptations to steal rocks from neighboring landscaping. I carry a shovel in the back of the car in case I see a nice plant in the ditch in the country to add to the landscaping. I work on the pond and landscaping by the porch light. Now that it is cold and the fish haven't been coming up to eat for about a week, I needed a fish fix so just went to the store and bought 7 .15 feeder fish, a placostamus and a small apple snail and put them in the 10 gallon aquarium. I needed new dishtowels and found myself looking for ones with Koi on them, when I remembered that the theme in my kitchen is Dutch/tulips/Delft. I got some cool Koi embroidery designs to do with my embroidery machine and want to redecorate the bathroom "Pond". (By the way, we did that two winters ago.) I am toying with taking up stained glass and the first thing I would like to do it, you guessed it, Koi/pond. A customer at work, (at the bank) wondered what the marks were on the underside of my arm...Wouldn't you know, black expandable foam that wouldn't come off. I have stopped wearing fingernail polish because my hands are in water, muck, and dirt so much it just peels off. I leave a pair of huaraches ( ) by the front door so I can slip them in in a hurry to go out to the pond. I get excited about going to Lowes/Home Depot to buy plumbing fittings and tubing to rig up the spitters and TT. I got mad at my DH because he didn't think to feed the fish a few weeks ago when I went straight from work to get groceries. In fact, I think we had more "words" during the making of the pond than we had during the 19 years we've been married. And when it's too dark and too cold to be out by the pond, I sit at the computer and read what total strangers are saying about their ponds. I get up early in the morning to find out if any of those total strangers have responded to a question I've asked the previous night. The curser on my computer is a fish,. The icon on my IM is a fish. The screen saver is a water/fish scene.
I have heard of Calvin Klein and someone suggested there may be a scent that he has developed. My answer is: I didn't know that Calvin Klein had anything to do with the scent that I wear. I think it is by somebody, maybe a cousin, named Koi Klein. It is rather unique too. I can only smell it after I've been in the pond. Must be some strange chemical phenomenon. Oddly enough though rather than attracting people to me, they seem to creep away waving their hands in front of their noses. I think it's a new way of saying "goodbye". I wonder if it will catch on.
Carol had said that I must be her mother because she had the same symptoms. My answer: I would love to have you for a daughter. You see I never had one. Wouldn't we have fun together? My daughter in law tries to act interested but her eyes keep glazing over whenever I talk pond/fish. Do you think that is because she loves the talk so much it brings tears to her eyes? But then again it could the the Koi Klein I'm wearing.
Eve said her husband asked her to do laundry because he was out of underwear and instead of doing it, she went to Target and bought him 10 pair so she could put off laundry for 10 more days. I said, "Laundry, he expects you to do laundry?? It's a little much don't you think? There is just so much I will do around here and that tops it. I hide my underwear so DH has to go out and buy his own. By the way I would never shop at Target. They don't have much in the way of pond supplies. I have got to talk to the managers of Lowes and Home Depot. I don't see why they couldn't carry a nice line of groceries and clothing. Then we'd never have to shop anywhere else."
Is there any hope for me? Am I incurable? Am I the only one with any of these symptoms? Is there a treatment? Will I have to go to meetings? I suppose it will be PA (Ponders Anonymous). Is there a group for my family so that they can learn to understand what I am going through and help me recover? You see, I haven't always been this way. I have always wanted a pond or stream and have been collecting articles and books about water features for maybe 20 years. We have had an inground pool for 32 years but it just isn't the same. OOOOOOOh I just had a thought-----------wouldn't that make a wonderful Koi pond? ???? Oh dear, wonder what DH would think of that.
