#Thegreatpoolpondconversion - 200105
We bailed some water.
We remeasured the top wall for level. Yup, it is.
We measured the actual ups and down contours to estimate the liner size.
Then we backfilled for a few hours.
We are tired. We are not kids. We’re tired of keeping the water out and fighting off the rain. Our bodies are tired. And with the end sort of in sight out there in the distance, well, we’re getting weary and want this phase to be over. It’s time to dig deep (as it were) and nail those last few marathon miles. Then we can start the next phase of the ironman, with the heaving lifting, hardest work and the weather behind us!
Near the end and still not predicting. Nope, not again. Ok, so we estimate we filled about ⅓ of what remained. You do the math if you want.
Back in the beginning, before we developed a system or learned any efficiency, we laid 2 rows of bags, then backfilled, then laid more bags, etc. In fact before that we’d make six bags, lay them, make 6 more… Amateurs.
This close we wanted some visual accomplishment so we finished the wall before backfilling. So now there’s just more to do all at once. And it’s monotonous because there’s nothing else to do to distract us from shoveling sand, wheeling sand, pounding sand (as it were). Expect a couple more days of this. And backfill pictures are not riveting.
At least we remembered to take them.
We tested the sand with a moisture meter. A bit of moisture is ok, actually preferable. Bone dry sugary sand doesn’t compact well. Most of the walls are ok. At the bottom, it’s off the scale. Obviously there’s a lot of water under the sand. We’re a little concerned about just digging in the channel and having it cave or the walls shift. So we came up with a plan and ordered… nah. Wait for it.
We were gifted three sets of underwater solar powered lights and we can’t wait. They were sitting on a shelf in the barn all forlorn. So we mounted them on some trees and they cast a glow on the tarp at night.
There is now an index of all the postings since this great conversion began.