Pond Project

The next few entries will be catching up on some promised pictures.

The pond project is functionally completed until next spring when the drainage ditch is expected to be continued down the edge of the lawn and woods. The homeowner would like to create a tick barrier next year.

Anyway, these are some photos that I took at the time, showing a bit of the process. Dug a ditch down the center of the pond that serves as a fail-safe drainage for whatever water gets under the liner; placed a layer of landscape fabric in, placed in some perforated pipe and 3/4" gravel, then wrapped it over to prevent debris from clogging the pipe. This ditch was pretty hard digging. Had to use a pick ax and shovel a little bit at a time. Got a couple of blisters from that, don't you know.

There is quite a lapse from the time of the layer of sand stage (to protect the PVC liner from puncture on the bottom side) to where there is only a bit of the liner visible. Installing the liner itself goes pretty fast. Piling rocks next to it, and on the shelf inside of the pond went a little less fast. Was able to drive up stones I selected elsewhere on the property to the pond site via a lawn tractor and old Wheel Horse lawn trailer. I believe I've written about that previously, so there's no need to repeat myself.

It began as a tradition... of leaving some relic(s) of the time period behind in every stone project I've been a part of since 2003, either with a great friend of mine or in solo work.  There's just the air that as we found old things inside of some walls that we deconstructed or "cannibalized" --- one along an old route in Scotland, Conn., near the home of Samuel Huntington, the first president of the Continental Congress --- we should put items in the stonework that will be discovered many years from now.

Usually, it is a soda bottle or other odd knick-knack found elsewhere on the site. Sometimes it is hidden entirely, other times, it's been a blatantly visible Pepsi bottle in a crevice in an otherwise historic 19th c. barn re-creation. It certainly won't have the cachet of finding coinage of the realm, etc. in other time capsules, but it we considered it our "calling card."

This picture came out quite blurry for some reason. I remember that it was pretty cold out that day and my hands were in the water, so they may not have been very steady. Working on this in the fall may not have provided the neatest work site, but the leaves are going to fall in it every year anyway. Can't do anything about that except rake them out late in the year or in the spring.

Can still see a bit of the liner showing. I moved the two large stones that had been in the middle of the lower pond section to the side, and placed the liner over them. Before that, I placed some old shop towels against the rocks for a buffer (FYI: this is not entirely unconventional. The manufacturer suggests old carpet sections).

In this last group you see the "functionally complete" pond. The water level is very high right now, but the ground nearby is reasonably dry... which was the point of the project. Tried putting one of the water lilies in a container (wrapped the soil with landscape fabric) and transferred it to the lower section. We'll see how that survives the winter. Also removed a number of thorn bushes that had been to the left side, which clears out the area a bit and makes it both more enjoyable to walk around, and possible to mow.

There are some stone outcroppings into the water in the lower section to allow for some frog landings next summer. As it was, they were staying mostly in the upper section... then again, the construction probably scared them off a bit. It'll be interesting to see how they like the new habitat. Also reinforced the bridge with some large flat stones.... Then again, I don't want to encourage any walking across of the bridge. As the ice moves things around, I'm not sure it will not remain as stable as it is now.

All in all, not a bad little project.