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Monday, October 20, 2008

Tranquil Pond



I mentioned in my last post that we just put in a pond. This is something we've always wanted to do, but never had the space for in California. I wish we could have had a professional install it, but that was WAY out of the budge (by thousands of dollars!) So we decided to try it ourselves.

Here are Floyd (my hubby) and Cody (one of my doggies) outlining the shape, size and location of the pond. The ground here in my part of Texas is mostly rocks and rock slabs. So we decided to build the pond up rather than digging down.



We built a rock "retaining" wall up using stones we found, bought and dug up from the ground. Filled in the sides with purchased dirt, and laid the liner.
After we laid the liner, skimmer and water fall, we got a truck load of more rocks! It's amazing to me that with all the rocks around us, we had to buy more.



The preparation for the pond took many week-ends, but we built the liner, rocks and put in the water in one weekend. After about a week, we added plants and fish.

Finally finished! It was waaaaay hard to do. It was so labor intensive that I was only happy that we were done. I wasn't happy with the pond at all! However, that quickly changed now that the memory of the hard work is getting farther and farther away.


I've only had the pond for a short time, but we've already had so many stories revolving around it. I sit at the edge almost every day after my morning walk and do nothing except for feed the fish, watch the birds and spend quiet time with God.


Lots of easy to care for plants line the edges between the pond and the retaining wall.
Planted inside the pond and along the water's edge are calla lilies, miniature cat-tails and water lilies.






This is the back view of the rock wall on the path side. It's dry stacked and amazingly stable and strong with the dirt holding everything in place.

I almost forgot to include a photo of my fishies! We bought 14 little gold fish and two little koi thinking that most of them would not survive the "new" water. Not only did they all live, but they're growing fast! The two white ones are the koi that are named Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb.

I hope you enjoyed my pond-building adventure. There's still so much to tell you about our little bird, frog and snake friends who come around for a visit. But that will wait until later.

Blessings!

Patricia :o)

13 comments:

Paula said...

Wow!! What a great job you guys did on that, Patricia- It's so peaceful looking!

Alison Gibbs said...

How peaceful your pond looks. I just love looking at water.
Thanks for your prayers and thoughts for my Dad. We are waiting on more tests to be done to know what we are really dealing with
Alison

Sweet Cottage Dreams said...

Patricia, you and your husband did an amazing job building your pond. It is just so pretty and natural - looks like it has been there for years and years. What a perfect place to go and enjoy some quiet time with God. Enjoy!!

xoxo
Becky

PS: Hi Cody from Doogs!!

Unknown said...

The pond is just gorgeous! What a beautiful job you have done. I would love to have something like that!! I bet you will really enjoy it.

Hugs,
Amy

Julie said...

Wow - that is a lot bigger then it looked in the first photgraph! It is really beautiful too. We had a pond at our last home and it was so relaxing to sit by it...but I do have a warning for you:
One time when I had to get into the pond to get some debrit and a branch out...a crawfish the size of a small lobster gave me the scare of my life!

ShabbyInTheCity said...

Color me jealous! What a great place.
I gotta tell ya...that water sound at the start had me about to run to the loo! LOL.

Solange Belém said...

Oi Patrícia,
parabéns a você e seu marido pela idéia genial, a lagoa ficou linda!
Estes peixinhos são uma beleza e decoram muito bem.
Um abraço e ótima continuação de semana.

Sua amiga, Sol

Yesteryear Embroideries said...

What a beautiful pond! It looks like it has been there forever. Have a wonderful time enjoying it. Blessings, Kathleen

the tattered nest said...

bravo!! to you and your husband for taking on that huge task...it is lovely. You must feel like you are on vacation every time you enter your back yard!

Lallee said...

Your pond is just beautiful. I would never know it was new. It looks like it has been there a long time. Wish I could come sit and enjoy!

Solange Belém said...

Oi amiga,
vim te desejar um maravilhoso fim de semana, com muitas alegrias.
Um abraço,

Sol

Anonymous said...

This project was worth all your hard work - som beautiful and a place to "escape".

Anonymous said...

Patricia,

Thank you for visiting my blog and entering my altered bottle give-away and for posting about it here.

I love your pond! It looks so tranquil. What a wonderful place to sit by and read or dream. It also looks like it's a natural part of the landscape. Beautiful job!

Diane from Diane's Musings