Nancy's Pond- Days 29 thru 31

Days 29 thru 31

Saturday morning started out at 6:30AM. I spent the night before in Tampa so I drove home and got started while Wayne ran errands. My goal was to be done today......
First I started draining some water so I could remove the skimmer and paint it. While that was going on I started sanding the 2x8's that were to be the ledges. Managed to get the 2x8x10's sanded, weather-proofed and stained before my arms wore out. Also got 2 coats of paint on the skimmer. Had to add a 1x4 to one wall to bring it up level with the rest of the pond walls. I got it covered and attached. Got in the pond and trimmed the extra liner under the last drop of the falls and was working on fixing the Barley Bales. They weren't floating with just a cork so I used some of that 1/2" poly pipe from the Drip System and used figure 8 closers on each end. It worked much better than the cork and they are black so you can't see them. This was all before Wayne got there.

Wayne nailing up siding: Once Wayne got here, he started working on the 2x8x16 ledge. Then I put him to work adding the overflow pipe under the waterfall. Just a 1" bulkhead with PVC pipe running into the flowerbed. While he was in the pond I had him remove the strainer since it didn't seem to be doing the job. That was a big chore because it was underwater and right next to the liner. While he was doing that I took care of the 2x8x16. Once those things were done I put the slate and feather rock back in the bottom. Once that was all done it was time to replace the skimmer. It is barely noticeable now that it is black. Then we went to finish the outside walls. Got all of it cut for the walls and attached.

Wayne working on the ledges- Then it was time to work on the ledges. That slowed us down considerably. Those boards were hard to make notches in for the posts. And then cutting the 45 degree angle for each corner. We managed to get 2 ledges up before we quit for the day. Then we went out dancing with some friends.

Two ledges done- it will look like I wasn't doing anything since I'm not in any pictures. I told Wayne to pick up the camera occassionally and take pictures but as usual he didn't listen. :-) So somebody had to take the pictures (and believe me I was working). My whole body tells me that.

Sunday morning started out about 8:00. Woke up to a nice Algae Bloom going on. GEEZ.......... Started working on the siding for the back of the filter box because my neighbor was waiting on us so he could make some Dado cuts for the overlap and I wanted to cut the large pieces before cutting the small sections for the rest of the wall. Wayne suggested we put doors on the back of the filter for easier access. We got all that done before 9:AM. Then got it all nailed up except the doors. Then we went to work on the 2x8x16. That was a job because it involved 3 posts that had to be notched. We had to quit about noon so Wayne could go shopping for his sister's birthday. When he left I played around with the rocks on the waterfall. Got the first drop done. Then it was off to the party. Once we were done there we came back and finished the board. Then we had to make some minor adjustments on the lattice and get it up. By then it was dark and we had to quit.

DAY 30

Instead of taking a chance with the chicken wire piercing my liner I figured out I could just wedge slate for the uprights. Wayne calls this "decorating". It will take lots of adjustments before I get it exactly how I want it.

DAY 29

DAY 31

Back to the work week. Monday I spent almost all day outside with the kids. Have you ever tired to get work done with 4 kids between the ages of 1 and 4? First I got the filter drained and cleaned out, then drilled the holes on the bottom of the PVC pipe. Then washed the pea gravel and put the filter back together. Then I added Peroxide to the pond because supposedly it kills algae. Well I waited an hour and nothing so out the water came. Then I started working on the waterfall. Finally got all the ledges done but I'm not sure I like the sound so I'll need to play with it more. I think I have too much rock on it now and it is weakening the sound. Then I started working on the hinges for the door on the back of the filter box. Then I cleaned up stuff around the front yard. When Wayne got here at 3:00 I had a section of lattice down and had changed the artificial lillies and gazing balls around so they couldn't get tangled together. While he worked on the 2x8 ledges, I weather-proofed & stained the siding that we put up over the weekend. Then it was on to the electrical. I wanted to move it over to the wall of the filter so it was out of the way. I am never sure about electrical stuff so it takes me longer than it should. But in the end it all worked. Wayne finished the ledges about the same time I finished wiring and when that was done we could basically call it FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There are a few things I need/want to do yet like put the LV lights back in place, hook up lights on the waterfall, put a "T" on the filter to run the spitter, plant some plants and move the chimnea around but other than that we are done.
So it took us 6 full weekend days, 3 of our part time weekend days and 21 of my part-time weekdays to finish. (and I'm not sure it was 21) Not too bad considering we had to basically do everything twice.

Sure can't see that skimmer now. It's under the piece of slate. It sure does keep the top of the water clean.

My little electrical handywork. I went from 2 outlets and 1 switched outlet to 4 outlets and 1 switched. Drilled a hole in the wall for the pump cord to go through.

Back of the filter box. There will be 2 doors, one for the top of the filter so I can get to the ball valveand drain valve and one at the bottom so I can get to the pump in case it ever needs primed.