2001-08-13
More work on the pond. We didn't like how much slope there was going to be and
had some concerns about the water course washing out from below. We had some
small retaining wall blocks around for another garden project and decided to
use them elsewhere. It turned out quite nice really. The pond and garden
around it are taking on a strange mix of modern and natural, but I think it
works together. Pictures. While they're not the best,
here are some fish pictures as well.
2001-08-11
Well, some real work has happened now. We bought the biological filter unit
that we really needed still and put it in. We ran the water course and didn't
find out until around midnight that we had a very large drain in the system,
to the tune of 1 inch in the pond lost every 2.5 hours! We did some detective
work and found it was a combination of bad engineering on our part and bad
molding work on the filter bucket (but mostly it was us).
Pictures. We also released 4 koi into the pond.
I'll see if I can get cleanup any of the pictures enough to put them up.
2001-07-18
Some time has gone by and some very long hours have been put in at work. I
can't remember much of what we've done on the pond (I'm writing this in August
now) but there were a few changes. Pictures.
2001-06-24
Ack, two weeks! Yeah, two weeks without really doing anything towards the pond. We corrected that this
weekend by getting some plants for the pond, getting the stone to go around the edge of the pond, and
by purchasing and laying just over half of the retaining wall blocks we need behind the pond. This wall
will hold the dirt that the shade plants are going in along with the channel for the water course to
run through. Pictures are here. I admit it doesn't look like much compared to
the original pictures (with the duck in the pond, below), but:
| Weight of one retaining wall block | 24 pounds |
| Number of blocks moved | 68 |
| Total block weight moved | 1,632 pounds |
| Number of times moved | 3 |
| Weight of pond edging | 510 pounds |
| Number of times moved | 3 |
| Total weight moved | 6,426 pounds |
I suppose some people might argue with how I count the weight, but it was no small effort to load the cart at Home Depot with retaining wall, drag the cart to the truck and load it, then unload it at home putting it into place as we went. The same thing happened with the edging stone at the construction materials place - load it onto a pallet, then from pallet to truck, then from truck to resting place.
2001-06-10
Well, we've broken ground around the existing flower beds at the base of the deck and we've begun to
lay down those preformed concrete garden block things. I'll put up pictures once we're finished.
2001-06-07
Well, this was interesting. We got home tonight and our yard was covered in grackles, which have also
covered our deck in 20-40 new piles of bird crap. *sigh* They obviously enjoy landing on the trellis.
Unfortunately, we also found an immature grackle floating dead in our pond. I'm not terribly happy about
that right now. Definitely puts a downer on the whole thing.
2001-06-06
So, tonight we put the pump in. It makes a funny kind of spray out the top and generally seems sort of
cool. The pond definitely looks smaller to me now that it's in. We just re-stocked the bird feeder as
well, which may be why a female mallard landed in our lawn! She proceeded to eat some bird seed then
went for a little dip in our pond -- pictures here.
2001-06-05
Jane's dad helped her drop the pond in the hole today. They got it all leveled out and filled with water.
At this point there are a number of things we need to do with it in terms of the pump, chemicals, plants,
landscaping, et cetera.
2001-06-01
Jane has started the hole that our pond will go in ... no pictures yet, it's just a big hole.
2001-05-14
Well, we put a trellis / gazebo thing on the back of our house this weekend, over the
existing deck, with the help of my in-laws. We managed to stretch the work out over 3 days. There are some
pictures of the completed project over here.