Hey there, Brenda. Lots of research does make things easier and total immersion in the topic, just like learning a new language, helps you catch on to the things that are important. This forum has a lot of info being talked about by lots of people, some of whom get pretty technical. There are plenty of others who keep it simple. Now I am going to be mean. Sometimes the limitations we cannot change make us give up some things we really want. A list of each can help see the realities. After I looked at the pond you like and read what you wanted, I realized you can't have all of it. I don't want to discourage you. You can still have a lovely and totally satisfying pond/water garden. The pond you like is a rigid preform. It is probably 72"x48" and 18" deep. It holds 125 gallons and will take 3-4 3" fish. Those dimensions are for Maccourt ponds which seems to be the most common preform. There are some new ones that are foldable made of virgin vinyl but that doesn't seem to be what you are looking at. There are also some pond kits that include plastic liners and EPDM rubber liners are very versatile. The volume of water in any of these ponds would prevent you from having koi. Koi grow to very large proportions and soon your fishies wouldn't have room to turn around, literally. I have a 1000 gallon pond and some of my 6" koi are now 12-14" after only one season. One that is 3 years old is now even larger than that. In addition I have a population of comets, sarrasa and other related fishies and they started breeding last year. Many of them started as 1" feeder fish. All of them need room to move! Fast! I'm getting nervous. There are many colorful fish other than koi that you would enjoy but you would need to control the numbers and figure out a way to keep them over winter. I put my gourami and guppies in the pond for the summer and put them back in aquariums in the winter. The cold would kill them. In your zone, it is possible for an 18 inch pond to freeze solid but more likely it would only have ice to 4-6 inches. I would wait through a full winter to see just how deep the ice goes before investing in fish other than goldfish. Gases that accumulate in the water could kill larger fish with only that much free water. An EPDM or plastic lined pond could give you the depth you need but the volume still would limit the number and type of fish. Don't despair! No one ever got it right the first time they were designing a home and you are designing a home for fish... and plants. Now that I have managed to scotch some of your dreams, (sorry, sorry, sorry) the necessary hardware can be put up for discussion. Sandy Here is a link that might be useful: preform ponds

Well, I feel rather silly! I guess I googled a similar one and thought I had read it here, along with several other tasty sounding appetizers here that I want to try - and got lost in cyberspace! Thank you so much, ginger st. thomas - I really appreciate it. Have a great day! ~cj

Well, I don't know about the white dipping cheese, but here are a couple of recipes to get you started - both enjoyed by my family. For a simple nacho cheese sauce, mix 1 pound of cubed Velveeta with a can of diced Rotel tomatoes. Microwave until the cheese is melted, stirring every minute or so. * Exported from MasterCook * Chicken Taco Filling Recipe By : Serving Size : 1 Preparation Time :0:00 Categories : Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 1 package taco seasoning mix (4 Tablespoons) 1 cup chicken broth 1 pound boned and skinned chicken breast halves Dissolve taco seasoning into chicken broth. Place chicken breasts in crockpot and pour chicken broth over. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. With two forks, shred the chicken meat into bite-sized pieces. Use in soft tacos, hard tacos, burritos, nachos, etc. To Freeze, place shredded meat into freezer bags with the juices. Press out all the air and seal. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I think I probably gin-up my dry pinto beans, after soaking, I add chopped onion, bell pepper, a whole jalepeno, chopped garlic, chile powder and bacon grease or a ham hock, before they get soft I had salt and a little brown sugar.