Pond Lily

I finally got a chance to get a picture of this blossom open. The pond keeps giving that's for sure.

The fish were up and about but I couldn't get them in the picture. They seem to grow every day also.

New Pond pictures

The pond flowers and landscaping has filled in very nicely. I will try to get pics posted of the water lily open. The inhabitants also are filling in nicely.

Mr. Bigs or is this King? The kids usually name the frogs and they aren't around to tell me which guy this is, but he is definately the big boy in town tonight.

Here he is making some noise protecting his pad. I think I was getting too close for his comfort.

And here are our goldfish. They are still pretty small and very fast swimmers, so getting a picture is pretty hard. Please excuse the blurry shots.

They are starting to look for Robin when she feeds them, so hopefully as they get bigger and more accustomed to us being around, I will be able to get some good close-ups. We started out with 25 and we think we have 15 or so left. We are very much enjoying our pond and waterfall.

Pond and Waterfall almost done

This morning we went for 4 loads of rocks from our neighbor's property. It was just a perfect day for this kind of work.

The new pond pump came this week and we hooked it up yesterday. Robin liked the flow from the top, so we were a go for today.

Our friend Jeremy found this great rock for the lower, slate, stream. The water line fit perfectly in the back side of this rock. Thank you Mother Nature.

View from the top seemed to change every ten minutes or so.

With some finishing touches this week and some new plantings around it, I think we are done with this project. I will post late summer pics when everything fills in.

Building the stream

Today was stream/waterfall day. We got a late start after running some errands this morning. We were at a stall point right off the bat, nothing seemed to flow, literally. Robin and I just stared at the stream bed and I decided to run water while we pondered what to do next. Things started coming together and after a trip to the hardware, we were laying down rocks!

We have achieved the sound we are looking for, the look will be awhile yet.

We have a T in our water line right now, so the volume of water being supplied to the upper tier and lower waterfall is split. We are going to get an additional pump, then it will be the volume of water coming from the top that we are looking for and more volume in the waterfall above.

View from the top.

Not bad, so far, still alot of tinkering to do. We will hide the water line with small rocks and eventually moss will grow in and help hide the liner. We have many more small rocks waiting to be added, but we ran out of time today. I had two things to get done before dark, get the potatoes and onions planted and go fishing with my son. With a little hustle we got it done and got our planned fishing trip in. The bail of hay we got from a local farm was so huge, we covered the planted area and the rest of the garden, and still had plenty for the hay loft. I like to think the barn is glad to have hay back in the loft.

Day Three Pond Project

Okay so day three started with a trip to the sawmill and feed store looking for spent hay for the garden. We even checked with our neighbor, who rumor had it had some BIG bales for sale. We came up empty and we felt like we were burning the morning up, so it was on to the pond.

It was all going very well and we got it full and then it happened......

We both knew it wasn't deep enough. So, I did what any sane man would do in this case, I pumped it out and started digging. And took a couple off action shots of course!

Round two and we are much happier with the depth.

Now it is on to the waterfall/stream portion. Oh yes, there is more to this pond project than just a pond. We've had this stream/waterfall running in the past, and, never quite got it right. With all our past mistakes to guide us, hopefully we can get this the way we want it.

This is about where we finished up tonight. The tiered effect is new to us and tomorrow, with rested muscles and backs, we should be able to get close to the end.

Day Two

Today was supposed to be day two of the pond project. But instead it turned into the hose hook-up on the north side of the house, trip to the garden center, and plant some stuff day. Finally picked up the onion and potato sets to plant this week along with a Heritage Rasberry plant.
Before the rain came Robin and I did manage to scoop the remaining muck from the old liner into a wheel barrow and then, with the heavy rain coming, we decided it would be best to leave the liner in place to protect the dirt underneath. We all ended up on the front porch for the storm and I snapped these pics from there.


Robin was able to plant the blueberry bushes and the strawberries before the downpour.

We also got this beautiful Japanese Maple planted. Robin got a great deal on this, you are not going to believe it, but she paid $12.00 for this! We have been looking at these, and they are always pricey, she can smell a bargain that's for sure. As I type, the storm has passed and it is clearing up nicely, the birds are singing and we have a few more things to do before dinner. The new liner came today and tomorrow it will go in.

Day One

Here is where our pond project begins. The pond was put in by previous owners, the liner has been losing water from holes around the top, due to UV damage. The large blob that looks like leaves in the top photo is a couple of water lilies that have tripled in size. We had to use a shovel to split them apart and the potato rake to pull them out. We were moving right along and then the first shower came, no problem, we'll work through it. Then the downpour came, no problem, we'll take a break. The rain was short lived and we finished what we needed to today.

Robin knows I love action shots. She did not mind the frogs jumping around, but she did mind the snake we disturbed, three times.

Pumping the water down.

This was taken minutes ago. Of course the sun shines after you clean up, just makes you want to get dirty again! We will do some digging tomorrow morning and be ready for the new liner when it arrives.