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| This was the garden when it was first done- a strange man built this little path that wandered into a circle. He never came back to groom it. It became my secret garden. |
The hole got pretty big, and we liked doing it. The next day we were at my house. I asked my mom if we could dig a hole. Our yard was un-groomed, was a real ugly mess and had a lot of dog poop in it. My mom was fine with it and told us "to do it over by that "shrub" over there". Claire and I got to digging. By the end of the day we were up to our waist's in a hole. Now what? Do we just fill it in or... what?
We got my brother to help us with the hole to even it out and get around tree roots and by golly we had ourselves a 4' deep 12'x6' hole. I researched ponds and found that we needed sand, and a PVC liner. I did the math and figured out how much sand we would need to put in the pond.
I was failing math, and it showed when I got home from school and the pond was filled completely with sand. The dump truck had come and just unloaded the amount I had asked for. I only needed 2" everywhere. I was dumb.... it was another two days of shoveling sand. (If you have a 4'd x 6'w x12' L hole with a shelf that is 2' high all around the edge and want to coat every bottom surface with 2" of sand, how much sand do you need?) This could totally be a math question on a test. I think I ordered 1 ton of sand. I think I needed about 25 lbs. durrrrrrr...
Anyway, by the end of the month we had a nice pond, and some fish. The pond helped make our terrible looking yard into a little Eden. It became the focal point, and that "shrub" turned out to be a flowering dogwood. Who knew... it just never got enough sunlight to bloom because of the weed trees that was blocking the sun. I think it also likes the pond.
Anyway, fast forward 18 years, two pond liners later, and 4 total clean outs.... the pond is still there. It is my pond. I once got off the bus from school and would clean out the filter and feed the fish, I spent hours with it. Now it is a swamp with very large fish in it... the pump is pathetic and my mom has just informed me that the water level has dropped a good 9". There is a hole somewhere. Wonderful news.
If you want to get me ticked off tell me something that I love is broken or about to get replaced with something sucky and I will go on a rampage of evil thoughts and have spontaneous outbursts. I turn into a special needs child.
It has taken me about two weeks to calm down enough to write this segment.
It has been decided that the hubster and I will be taking the fish and will fill in my beloved pond. I am beside myself. It has to be done though because my mom is too old to take care of it or fix it. It is just a burden to her now. I'm not around, the pond has to go.
Anyway, knowing how depressed this made me feel, the hubster went out and found a round tub in our yard left by the previous owners. I mentioned that I really didn't want an outdoor pond because of all the upkeep it needed. I have always wanted an indoor pond.
Our front porch is perfect. It has a cement floor, and is surrounded by windows. I drew up the designs, and sure enough the hubster made it happen in less then 2 hours. Crack goes the whip or in this case, no crack at all, he did it all by himself.
This weekend we are going to go and rescue the fish from the death pool, and say goodbye to my childhood happy place. I would also like to add that this pond added value to my mom's house... my mother is a stubborn little moo that wont move from a house that needs a young happy family in it. Instead, the house will rot with everything else in my past. Sorry couldn't help that last paragraph, I have to vent a little!!!! Remember... I'm special.
Here are the photos!
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| This was my vision for the indoor pond. Those are logs that will surround the tub with a base put on top and some rocks and some AstroTurf. |
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| The process: The tub from our back yard |
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| The base which will hold a waterfall and some plants. |
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| The hubster building the base and playing some lacrosse while he thinks. |
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| The pond with the logs and rocks. I still need to move the rocks, paint the wall, add some Astra turf, get the waterfall and pump installed, the fish, and some plants. It always looks rough at first. |
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| My childhood pond. Say goodbye to my tranquil life before. |
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| Can you see the fish? |
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| This is the same garden as the one at the top of the page, when left to it's own devices. I would have to take a weed whacker just to find the path. Nature hates the labyrinth path. |
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| A strange man playing with a boy in our yard. It was my secret garden photo. |
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| Colonel Mustard, the escape turtle. He was very old and smart! |
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| Colonel Mustards house in our back garden. He hated it. |
This talk of ponds reminds me of Diego the Turtle. We thought a young lady had abandoned Diego in the place she had been living, since she moved out, and a month later Diego was found, still alive, but pathetically pawing at the glass of his container as if to say, "At last! Quick! Over here! FEED ME, before I die of starvation!"
ReplyDeleteThe kind man who found Diego had a friend who had a pond in her yard. It was a very nice pond, complete with gold fish and ducks. The man and his friend took Diego to live in that happy pond.
But then we found out that Diego's original human had not abandoned him, and he had not been starving. (He was just faking that part.) Someone had been stopping by to feed him, until the original human could come back for him. So the kind man, and his friend with the pond, had actually not RESCUED Diego as they thought they had, but rather had KIDNAPPED him! And now he will have to be fished out of his happy pond and returned to his glass container. I feel bad about Diego... I met him a few times, and he was a very likable turtle.
We had a box turtle that Claire (my bestie) and I found on a toe path. We took him. I named him Colonel Mustard. I made him a little pond. He escaped. The mail man found him and brought him back. He escaped again. Ten years later a strange man came walking into the house holding the very same colonel mustard. The Evil cat Wicker had found him and was poking him in the head calling him names and such. This time we put him in a caged in vegetable garden with a pond. He hated it. but stayed with us for about a year. I walked out one morning and the strange man had left the gate open... and once again Colonel mustard was gone. He didnt' even leave a note. I suppose he will show up again in another ten years... he was awesome but very slow. I have pictures. I will include it at the bottom of my blog.
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