Friday

It's so humid right now that I have difficulty breathing outside, but after the day clears I should be able to finish chipping out the rocks beside the waterfall. My sister turned it on early this morning and the flow hasn't been disrupted or diverted by what has been removed so far, so that's good. We backed the algae bloom off last week, but it seems to be getting ready again. The water is dark brown to almost red this morning. That kind of alarms my sister but I convinced her that we might see several drastic events as we let the plant and animal life populations stabilize. The fish haven't been fed all Summer, and about 150 of the larger ones have been fished out in the past two months, so the fish population should be about right for the amount of water they are in and the natural food available.

Waterfall Progress

I almost have the stone/wood bench detached from the West side of the waterfall (it covers the cavity under the waterfall that I need to fill in) and now it may rain. That's really okay because it can't do any more damage to the shop than has already been done, but Bill may still need a tranquilizer or five. He came out today to see how I was going to repair the leaks and as usual, brought out the absolute worst in me. Instead of asking how I had decided to fix it, he demanded to know why I was doing what I was doing. It was hot, the rocks were heavy, broken concrete and wire were poking into me, and I snarled back, "because I'm the one doing it and it's what I choose". Speaking from a mellow, reflective, pond-induced serenity point of view, I find that some old people can be really annoying and just need to be made aware of it, while others require much stronger action. It's still touch and go between Bill and I, but considering the first 20 years that I knew him, we really get along well now.

Another Pond PM

I still don't have a lot of energy yet, but worked on the waterfall for part of the day. Rocks are heavier, boards are more contrary and the sun is hotter now, and most of that is just me. The water was unusually beautiful today and evening on the berm was still nice.

Okay - I'm Serious Now

I stopped the river that ran through his shop, but can't stop the small stream. For whatever reason, concrete and sedimentary rocks are porous, and many drips become a small stream. I am taking the bench apart and will fill in the cavity between the shop wall and the underside of the waterfall. I argued for that when we built the structure but Bill wouldn't have it. Now he doesn't care what we do but if we don't stop the stream he is shutting down the waterfall. Like I told my sister yesterday, "unfortunately, water runs down hill, so we have to create an uphill side near the shop.

Cracks Patched and One Mystery Solved

Not really much of a mystery. I've had the pond fill-line shut off today so I could patch on the waterfall some more, and I thought that the drain-line was off also, but all day I have watched the water level go down. How could that happen? Just a few minutes ago I walked to the dumpster and noticed that my sister has a sprinkler going from the drain-line. The missing water - mystery solved.

More repair work done on the waterfall and will know tomorrow how well that works out.

Under 100 degrees today and that has been nice.

Sunday Evening

Beautiful day and we accomplished several things at the pond. First, the amount of water flowing into Bill's shop has diminished considerably, but not enough. I just have to trace the rest of the cracks and repair them, which will just take time. Kevin, Christina, and Jacob fished again today and caught 13 more. Jake also cleaned the excess penny-wort out of the East side of the pond and it looks much better now. Cashmere, Cashlyn and I sat on our favorite berm for a few minutes of our favorite evening ritual, then Camron and Jake showed up needing to be entertained. We talked about movies with them until it got dark. It was a pleasant day.

Sunday

Kevin, Christina, and Christiana were visiting Cashmere and Josh yesterday and caught fish for their dinner. I was working on the waterfall and it was nice to see young people enjoying the pond.

Interesting Day

Okay Then - not total success yet

The new pump works great and puts out much more water than the old one, and the drain line is working and we are once again removing water from the bottom of the pond. Success there. I also have an aeration pump in place to keep the water moving since we won't be using the fill line every day. Successful with nearly everything but so far I have failed to keep Bill's hobby shop from flooding. Now I have found the major source of that water and should have it corrected soon. I have been needlessly rebuilding the outside of the waterfall structure, and although it does drip a little water back behind it, I can now see that the real flooding comes from the pond itself, back underneath the spillway and waterfall structure when the pond surface reaches the bottom of the spillway. I just have to let the pond lose enough volume to expose that area, then fill it with concrete. I can't wait.

"Later, That Same Evening"
Kevin and Jacob caught several nice looking fish and cleaned them for tomorrow's dinner. I finished the waterfall repair and we can try it out tomorrow evening.

Success

I rowed around and traced the drain line until I found where the riser is located, then Jacob dived down and cleaned it out. That took a while but wasn't really so hard. I have already reset the pump and we are watering from the bottom of the pond again. I also located the cracks in the waterfall that are causing the shop to flood and have the cement to fix them as soon as it gets cooler this evening. Photos later.

Totally Productive Day

I got 1/2 of the berm mowed and part of the hand-trimming done. I wanted to have it finished because Linda, Cashmere, Cashlyn and I have started meeting on the NW berm during the cool part of the evening. Cashmere brings a blanket for the baby and we just sit and talk and enjoy the herb garden (I always mow a part of it, for one thing, to keep it at bay, and also to release the smells), and the sounds of the birds. The algae seems to have started blooming but there aren't any fish in crisis. We may have taken enough of the large ones out to keep a crisis from occurring.

Success!

We got the pump replaced and then replaced the downhole pipe with polypipe while we were there. Still need some fine tuning to get the system secure for winter, but it is working again - the main objective. Will mow when I have recharged.

I'm Back

James and I need to work on the pump tomorrow morning, then I'll start helping Linda and Cashmere with the pond again. I do love the place and it's actually too much work for any one person. Sort of a critical time and I hope I haven't waited too late to respond. The algae is about to bloom and the pond has lost 14-16 inches of water while we have been working on the pump. We'll start turning the water over with the small pumps if we can't get it fixed by tomorrow afternoon. Luckily there have been very few clouds for the past few days and the respiration cycle is still stable.

A Colorful Day

The waterfall patch seemed to double the amount of water pouring into the shop. How does that work? Time to get out the power tools.