Time to Dig

June 6, 1998: I started digging today, and about 6" down I discovered a row of cinderblocks buried beneath the dirt & grass. Not difficult to remove, but definately an annoyance. Hubby woke up (he works graveyard), and came out to see what I was up to. Now, I have never dug a hole before, and hubby could see I was having problems. He pointed out that the digging would go much easier if we stripped off the grass first. Yup - he was right!
Tommorow we will drag off the mountain of crab grass that we stripped off so we can use clean dirt that will settle properly around the rocks in the waterfall.

June 8, 1998: We needed to build up the south end of the pond about 4" to contain the runoff from rains and daily flower waterings, so we spent the day edging the walkway with landscape timbers to contain the dirt. It looks so good! We soaked the built up dirt and tamped it down to help it settle. It has already made a dramatic difference in the appearance of out yard and pond hole. Rain at night is also helping to keep the dirt soft enough to dig. We have great black dirt that digs easily as long as it isn't dried out. The rain is actually a plus, as it is going to make us wait until the dirt we built up settles, and forces us to do other much neglected yard work. Boy, building a pond can sure consume you! I bought "Water Gardens" by Charles B. Thomas, which I highly recommend. It really gave me alot of sound advice for everthing from digging to electrical to leveling to winterizing plants & fish. (Hey Mr.Thomas, can I get my 13 bucks back for all this free advertising? *L*)

June 10, 1998: It was SO hot out today! Hubby & I went out & dug for about 1 1/2 hours, now that the ground is level and becoming very packed down. It took hubby digging 2' down in the heat to decide to go rent a backhoe. YEAH! I have decided that the only thing worse than digging is throwing the dirt out of the hole. It is thankless, backbreaking work. I even briefly contemplated taking the garden hose and filling in what we already have dug and just having a completely natural pond.*L*

June 11, 1998: The hole is dug! There is still abit of finishing work left to do, and we still need to get our rocks, but it is no longer the overwhelming task it was becoming. That tractor was worth every penny. We also got the foundation dug for our room addition, so that too is out of the way. Hubby managed to cut the main phone line and put a hole in the side of the house with the tractor. At least the hole in the side of the house is one that needs to be redone when we get the room added on, so no big deal there, but the look on my teenaged daughter's face when she found out we had no phone was priceless! The phone company came right out and fixed it, but you'd have thought she was dying. Now we have a mountain of dirt to deal with that is only truly appreciated by my 10 year old son!

My son on one of the dirt piles (the smaller pile is in the bottom left corner

June 18, 1998: Hubby & I debated whether or not to put in the 6" ledge around the edge of the pond. We knew everyone says to do this, but we had no idea why. I did some more research and discovered that this ledge is so the water can come right up to the bottom of your rocks, and if desired, slightly overlap the rocks, for a more natural effect. It also helps hide the liner. This may seem to be pretty simplistic stuff, but I have to understand why before I will jump in and do something. Almost every decision we have made so far has been extensively researched (by me!). I got some really sound advice yesterday at the Watergardening Forum . I was told that I shouldn't stress the little stuff - just personalize my pond and enjoy. Sounds good to me! Realizing there are a million "right" ways to go about this is sure a load off my mind. By the way, if you've never visited the Watergardening Forum, you should. This is the BEST informative site I've seen yet! Anyways, hubby & I went out yesterday for more rocks. We lugged home so many rocks our poor old truck was groaning! And yes, I did too help - I carried my 40 pound end while hubby carried his 280 pound end! Today we were arranging our rocks around the pond, and hubby decides he doesn't like the kind of rocks we had. So out we went again to find some rocks that met his requirements. At this rate, we will be ready to add the water when we retire (in about 30 years!) I am going to use yesterday's rocks to build a rock garden. Since by nature I have NO patience, I am going to start building my rock gardens tomorrow after I go out and haul another load of rocks home.

June 21, 1998: We laid the rocks around the edge of the pond, and we STILL didn't have enough! So two truckloads later, my yard became a rock quarry, and we decided that one more load should probably get us ready to go. If we don't have enough for a waterfall, at least we know all the best spots to look! *L* Hubby has to work days this week, so hopefully next Saturday will be the BIG DAY! I am so ready for water and so tired of looking at my hole and "using my imagination". I am going to work on the landscaping behind the pond this week, since life got in the way and I didn't get to start earlier.

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