Today we started on our stream. We had an area in our yard that just didn't look right, so we worked out some plans to add a stream, which also will give us a natural filter. At the top of the stream we are going to use a fiberglass horsetank, from which we will drill a hole in the side to attach to fittings.

This morning we got up bright and early (so 8:30 isn't really all that early, but hey, I'm on vacation!). We laid out all the pipe, pieced it together to make sure it would fit, and then glued it together. This is not as easy as it sounds! We spent the better part of the afternoon trying to get the fiberglass tub for the top pool in our stream cut and level. It was level two days ago, but it rained again. We got the fiberglass cut, got the liner laid over the top, and discovered that that perfect rock we had picked out for it didn't fit ~ too fat. Cutting the fiberglass was such a mess that we were relucant to cut anymore. Pieces of it blew into the pond (24' away ~ darn Kansas wind!). So we found another rock which isn't quite as nice as the first, but maybe next year we'll tackle that tub again! Now for the big moment! Everything was glued, leveled, cursed over, laid down, or propped up. It was time to turn on the pump. Since a Sequence is an external pump it has to be primed before plugging it in. Because of the way we have it set up, the water kept running into the pond through the intake pipe before we could get it plugged in. Finally we got it going. We decided immediately that our next purchase would be a float valve!

We had thought we had all of those rocks laid down in the stream perfectly so that when the water came, it would flow over the rocks. Big surprise! It flowed over the sides of the stream. We shoved more dirt under the liner. It flowed under the rocks. We rearranged rocks. It still flowed under the rocks. We shifted some river gravel. It still flowed under the rocks. We decided that we liked it just fine! We sat and enjoyed the sound of running water for about an hour, and then drug our weary bodies inside. Tomorrow I'm going to purchase some of that spray foam and see if I can't get that water to flow over the rocks.

I spent all day Saturday removing the small mound of dirt beside the pond. Then I buried the PVC pipe so it looks respectable. Things were beginning to look so good that I moved all the rocks scattered about the yard and put them where the waterfall will eventually be. I realize I'm going to have to move them again, but I needed to mow desperately! The grass was 1 1/2' tall between the rocks, and I couldn't get the weed-eater in between them. It's easier now to pick out rocks for edging the stream since you can see them! Then I landscaped the west edge of the pond. Amazing what some grasses and bushes will do! I still have several bushes that I bought for $3 - $4 each on clearance that need to go in the ground. I was planning on having hubby borrow a tractor to move more dirt by the stream to build up the edge so it doesn't look like so "planned", but alas, it's raining again.

Today hubby borrowed a tractor and hauled several loads of dirt over to the stream area. We spent alot of time smoothing it out around the edges, and it looks fantastic! Now, instead of a pile of dirt with a stream in the center, it is beginning to look as if nature could have actually put it there. Tomorrow I'll plant some grasses, shrubs, and flowers around it, drag in some more rock, and if I can get all the river rock unloaded and moved beside the pond, I'll run to town to get more landscape timbers to edge it off.