Breaking Ground!!

My husband and I enjoyed a weekend road trip this past weekend ALL BY OURSELVES!!  He reported to me last Monday that he needed to go on a parts run in eastern Oklahoma and said that if I would go along for the ride, he would take me to the largest pond store in Oklahoma--Pond Pro Shop in Shawnee (this is where I would do my Tim Allen tool time grunt--if I could).  My response was "OK kids, which friend do you want to stay with??" (Thanks Tiffany and Becky!!) So Friday  morning after dropping little kids at Granny's and big boys to FB practice, we headed out!  We feasted at Joe's crab shack in OKC (our FAVE!) and had to stop for Braums ice cream later that day.  The highlight of the trip though was the 2 hours we spent at the Pond store. 

First I outlined where the pond would go with my garden hose. I spent several days making sure that I liked the placement, and observing the lighting

There was a pond very similar to the images in my mind. So it was good for Jeremy to see, because he is the one that will get it all to work right.  He had the lids off their pumps making mental notes.  It was also good for me to visualize the actual size and how the waterfall fit into the scheme. When we were ready to get the supplies, we had a great guy named Jay that spent about 1 1/2 hours with us--explaining different aspects of the building process and showing us the differences in the types of parts available.  Finally decisions were made, and ingredients were purchased--he even threw in a book on pond plants for free :-) at my request (thanks Dave Ramsey!)

The rest of the trip was great too.  It was nice just to be able to hang out with my guy--shopping, looking, dreaming, eating, and talking.

Sunday afternoon we decided to take the waterfall out while Cami was napping.  After 3 hours of hard physical labor, in 95 degree heat, I was wondering whose STUPID idea this was, and who the idiot was that designed the waterfall in the first place.  We had intended to go to the lake when she woke up, but by then the wind was howling, so we persevered on the pond project. . .and broke ground!!

out comes the huge boulder to await its new home near the pond

Pondless waterfall was filled in, and then the old cinder block retaining wall (which we left in place for the waterfall) had to be removed.  The soil there was, and still is horrible--so I will plant that to succulents to cover it up--those will stay greenish all winter too, and will be short enough not to impede the view from the house.

I'm glad that we continued on the project, because I was able to get excited again (after all that hard work of tearing things down, the last thing I wanted to do was start something new!)

That little Kuboda tractor was a great help, and he had the hole dug down in no time.  I finally made him stop after he was so deep in the hole that his tractor was actually balanced on one tire and his loader bucket as he tried to bring out some more dirt!  I think my heart was beating 150 and my blood pressure was near stroke level--I'm sure that the neighbors heard my screaming.  Crazy MAN--I could just hear his trauma story on the evening news!

What a pile of dirt he made!! Much to the kids' dismay--haha!  That soil will be bermed around the pond this week.  It will level up the pond and allow me to do some plantings around the pond. I also plan to put in a bog garden in a couple of areas by taking my old liner and putting it 18-24 inches under the soil with a few holes poked through to retain extra water.  That will be one of the most exciting aspects of this whole project to me--being able to grow some different plants that don't like our dry climate. 

Our bathtub was NASTY after Devin and Camille got done in it Sunday night!! Just couldn't resist the photo.

Stay tuned in over the next few weeks to see how the pond comes out!! For anyone who stumbles on this blog in search of pond ideas, go to the side of the blog in the area of tags and click on the one entitled 'pond' to see the progress!

I miss the noise of water running already, and can't wait to hear it again soon! I'm not the only one who misses it though, as I noticed a resident bird yesterday perched on my deck looking to where the water USED to be! Wishing everyone a GREAT week!  Fall is comin'!