As you make your counter-clockwise loop around the Fort Wayne zoo, one of the last things you come to is a pond with a gazebo built over the pond that you must cross over a small bridge to get to.

There are many ducks and geese on the pond and there are little machines that, for a quarter, dispense corn or pellets that can be fed to them. We went through a lot of quarters when we visited.

Of course, these are some fat, lazy ducks and geese. They have learned that they can just stand around all day and be fed. They really don't even have to duck (sorry for the pun), dive or scramble for the food. They just stand there until a piece lands at their webbed feet. Then they bend their neck a bit and scoop it up in their mouth.

As we stood in the gazebo throwing pellets into the pond for the fish, I noticed, a little bit further out from the ducks and the geese, some darkish areas in the pond. Upon a little closer examination, it became apparent that there were a few catfish just under the surface of the water. We remembered from our last visit that catfish like the Goose and Duck Pellets (not that kind of pellet!) just as well as the ducks and geese do so we threw some pellets toward these dark areas in the pond.

As soon as you do this -- bang! -- up from just below the water's surface comes a writhing, excited mass of catfish. I mean a solid mass of fish, scrambling over one another trying to grab the pellets. Unlike the lackadaisical ducks and geese ... the catfish were swarming and fighting to be fed. The more pellets you threw, the more of a frenzy you created. When you quit throwing pellets, it would take a second or two but the frenzy would subside ... until you threw more pellets.

Interesting.

...I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. (John 4:35, NIV)