SUMMER 1999

The summer of 1999 turned out to be a very busy season. I decided to add a waterfall to the pond (something I should have done in the beginning) and build a cedar deck on top of our old concrete patio. What we had not expected was our above ground pool breaking at that time. The pool was not worth fixing and we decided not to install another. The problem was that the only access to the rear yard was across the cement patio, unless we accessed the rear yard from a neighbors yard and removed some of our fencing. We opted for the easiest option and accessed the rear yard over the cement patio that we were about to build the deck on. This meant that the pool would have to be removed and top soil brought into the rear yard before the deck could go up. There was also a 16' Dogwood tree planted in the middle of the cement patio that I intended to relocate which also had to be done and then there was the waterfall I was adding. With all these things that had to be done prior to the deck we were barely able to accomplish them all before Fall set in. Believe it or not my wife and I relocated the tree by ourselves, (something to see) and we are hoping that we were able to save the tree. We accomplished the tree relocation by me digging the tree loose and then with my wife's help we rocked the tree back and forth as we threw dirt under it. The tree slowly came to the level of the patio and then was lowered on to a small cart attached to my lawn mower. The tree was then replanted in the back yard and hopefully will survive the trip. The waterfall was completed without too much trouble and once we had the topsoil moved from the front parking lot to the rear yard , and I had finished the waterfall we completed the construction of the cedar deck and were able to enjoy both the deck and the finished pond for the remainder of the summer.

 

 

 

Above left is Devin one of my grand sons placing the terra cotta roofing tiles, that I had used for the previous waterfall, around the perimeter of the pond covering the area that was exposed above ground level after I raised the sides of the pond to compensate for the difference in the level of the ground at the rear of the pond. By raising the sides of the pond at the front and sides it was only necessary to contend with a variation in ground level of several inches at the rear. This enabled me to grade the rear dirt and do away with the retention wall that was constructed of the rocks increasing the size of the pond. On the right a picture of the pond just about completed. The only thing left to do is cover the top planks with a capping of roofing tiles.

My boss "Kelli" and myself as I began work on the Waterfall. In this photo I have already moved most of the rocks that surrounded the pond and am in the process of placing them around the Waterfall that I constructed using cinderblock and an additional liner. I used spray foam insulation to seal the liners where they joined and I overlapped the waterfall liner over the pond linerapproximately 2' to prevent water loss. In the background is my Heron decoy I use to keep Heron away from my pond. This summer I lost several small fish to a Heron that had been visiting my pond unknown to me. One morning my wife, upon exiting the rear door of our house, came face to bill with a heron who was in the process of eating one of my fish. She alerted me and I chased the Heron and picked the fish up placing it back in the pond. It's wounds didn't seem to be that severe and I thought it might recover. About an hour later my wife came back from shopping and once again encountered the heron. I purchased some netting to cover the pond and although it stopped my Heron problem, I wound up killing my big Bull frog when it got it's leg caught in the netting which cut it off. I immediately removed the netting and was fortunate to come across another pond site whose owner had been bothered by Heron. It was on that site that I learned about the effectivness of using a decoy. It seems to work fine, and as suggested I just have to remember to move the decoy around the pond once in a while. Don't know if it is necessary but I do it in case it necessary and so far I haven't been bothered with heron again.

 

 

 

 

In the picture on the left is a small backhoe I rented that my son Tom used to dig out the concrete walk we had around our pool and then to carry and level the topsoil that we had dumped in our front driveway pictured on the right

 

 

The picture on the left shows Tom hauling the dirt to the back yard from the front driveway. The backhoe barely fit between the garage and the house, but he was able to accomplish the task without damaging the house or garage, quite a feat. On the right is the area in the yard where the pool once stood.

 

 

The only thing left to do was to build the cedar deck which would be just about at the edge of the pond and around 2' higher giving a nice view of the pond. The deck was completed in time for us to enjoy it before winter arrived. It was on one of these final days in Autumn, while I was relaxing on the deck beside the pond that I became aware of no activity from my fish. Realizing that the tempreture was still warm enough for them to be active I investigated and was saddened to find that 5 of my fish were dead. I later discovered that someone had thrown an explosive in the pond killing the 5 fish that were in the shallow end. I immediately lowered to pond removed the fish and refilled the pond saving the fish I had remaining. One of the fish killed was a Koi my Grand-Children had named "Big Momma". Big Momma was one of the first koi I placed in the pond and had for five years. Unfortunately, this year Big Momma along with four other of my fish were killed when some thoughtless person threw an explosive in the pond. I only wish I knew who it was.

PICTURED BELOW IS THE LAST PHOTO TAKEN OF BIG MOMMA

 

Site Created by Thomas Hansen
Edited_April 25, 2004