History of the Pond
Part II (Spring '97)
Let's Build A Pond
After seeing our pond, Dad decided that it was time to build one for himself. Mom wasn't sure about digging a big hole in the lawn, but she didn't say no, and we figured she would come around once it was done. We were right. She loves it now.
Since I had some experience by now with our own pond, I offered to help my folks build theirs. Also, Dad has been on Interferon treatment since January, and has been too weak to do a lot of the physical labor required.
They live about five hours away by car, so I was not going to be able to spend a lot of time helping. We talked a lot and drew some rough sketches of where it would go and what size it would be. Once the weather started to warm up, Dad hired some kids to did the hole. When that was done, we looked at the calendar and picked two weekends that I could help. In the mean time, they bought the liner and pump, and I drew up plans for the plumbing and filter.
Weekend #1
When I arrived, the first thing I realized was that the hole needed to be deeper. Since I usually get up before everyone else anyway, I used that time to add another 6" to the depth. The hole also used up too much of the space that would eventually be the waterfall, so I fill back in some and added some flat rocks to build a support for the falls. Here is the completed hole.
Next we cut up some old carpet to go under the liner. Then the liner itself was installed and the water added. As the water filled, we lifted the liner and let the water stretch it to the shape of the hole. When it was mostly full, we started adding rocks to the edge.
The final step for this weekend was to start building the water fall. We chose flat rocks and started building up from the edge of the pond onto the adjacent planter next to the shop. When I left, it was about half way finished.
Weekend #2
The first day consisted mostly of finishing the waterfall, constructing the filter, and installing the plumbing. Things went better than I expected, and by that evening we had functional pond ready to be filled with fish and plants.
Day two was set aside for adding some life to the pond. Since this was Mother's Day we first went for a nice brunch for Mom and Grandma. In the afternoon, we went to Mill Creek Ponds in White City, OR to get plants and fish. As we drove up, I told Mom that I wanted to buy her two lilies for a Mother's Day present. By this time, she had done a lot of reading about pond plants as was pretty excited about the pond. She thought that would be a wonderful gift and readily excepted.
Here is a picture of the proud owners with their first plants and fish in place.
