#Thegreatpoolpondconversion - 200726
We got up eager and excited to a pondalicious, frogalicious day!
We filled the trays with pebbles and/or dirt, anchored the plants, and put each tray into place.
All the plants showed up except the cypress centerpiece.
We discussed it briefly though we already knew what was going to happen today and what we’d have to do when it finally shows up (get wet).
We would not be dissuaded. We made our own tree.
Then we fired up the well pump and started filling!
Filling is a lot of work.
(We’ve been waiting for months to take this picture!)
About 60% done:
We forgot that there wouldn’t be a “2 ton” pot filled with dirt and cypress on the bridge.
It started to float away so we corralled it back into place and weighed it down.
When the water got high enough, we connected the solar. Nothing happened.
What could it be? How could it go bad in such a short time? Sitting out in the heat, dry? Did some animal chew up the wires?
Nope. As soon as the clouds cleared, it started right up. Works perfectly.
Filling is actually only a milestone. A great one, and most of the point.
Not the finish line.
While we’re not ‘done’, we are converted.
We have a pond!
Somehow our pump flow calculations were way off.
It only took 4.5 hours instead of the 8 or more we anticipated.
It took us a year and three months to get here; about 63 Sundays of 2-3 hours a day.
It’s a great feeling to know everything turned out as we designed it.
Most everything went according to plan - except for when the rafter collapsed last december and we dug and bailed for like 2 months.
Remember?
The rest has been spot on. We haven’t had to compromise or redesign anything.
When we switched on the waterfall we knew we got what we wanted.
A couple more photos:
the lights at night (still working on this)
We’re about 80% done with the pond itself. There’s still some border work, settling in the solar, more plants, etc.
Now that it’s filled though, the urgency is off.
And we have some flexibility in deciding what to do each weekend.
Paint the deck, build the plant beds…
It doesn’t have to be all pond, all the time.
Meanwhile it percolates. Distills? For a couple of months until it’s ready for fish.
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