The
Pond 2001 |
Updated April 1, 2001
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BEFORE THE back yard at 7803 Wight way, yes pretty good patch of grass, but not for long! Rod fell in love with 'ponds' somewhere along the way and we did some searching whilst we were in England last year. And the forthcoming photos are the beginnings of our pond and the grass is now history. | |
| And here is the machine that came and excavated this pond area for us. We had a new septic system put in the front house, necessity, and decided to have them dig the pond while they were here for a bob or two extra. Total digging time was about 10 hours. So here are a few photos of the work in progress. | |
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More digging | |
| Still more digging | |
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Now then..a little history is needed here about 'the boat'. Before our 95-96 trip to England Rod found and purchased for somewhat of a song, this 1917, Montery Hull, 26' classic salmon fishing boat, called Gwendolyn D. It was used for many years on the ocean and had a deisel engine. When Rod decided to buy it he had the motor taken out as his idea at that time was to convert it to an electric engine for quiet use on Clear Lake. However, having spent many many hours beginning this restoration project he determined that it would take the rest of his life and leave time for nothing else. So..it sat in our barn for nearly 6 years. When the pond project came closer to becoming more than just on the drawing board, the idea to incorporate the boat into the pond became a reality..however: this boat, in the barn, NOT on a trailer, posed quite a problem. not a great distance, some hundred yards perhaps, but its NOT a flat-bottom boat, was on blocks with supports holding it up and, well you get the picture..how on earth to get it into the pond? Well, carpenter Rod put his thinking cap on and decided to build a frame around the boat so that it could be rolled, using peeler posts for rolling. I wanted to be at the other end of the county when all this happened and for some of it I was; but we needed to brain-storm to get it into the frame, off the blocks and start it rolling. All of this was finally accomplished and lo, I came home to find it in the position you see, nearly at the head of the ramp to its final resting place. | |
| Rod climbed onto the roof of the patio to take these over-all shots of the diggins for you. | |
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The next series of photos shows you the boat nearly in its final resting place. I was not at home when Rod hauled it, inch by inch, out of the barn on roller logs pulled by the suburban. If I could have planned to be away I sure would have, however that means that no photos of that grand effort are here for you to see. | |
| Well, I was happy to be away and glad it was at the head of the ramp when I got home!! AND that Rod was not under it!!! You can see the roller logs in picture the, but alas as we pulled it along the rollers down into the 'ditch' to be its final resting place, it jammed against the side wall and we could NOT budge it another inch. | |
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We scratched our heads | |
| SO..we called in the army. Well, not quite the army, tho it seemed like that to us. A HUGE crane came and with the greatest of east secured two very large straps underneath the boat and wala..it was up in the air and Rod directing, an inch this way, a foot that way.It was so simple from that point on! | |
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He directed it into the exact spot he planned for it and it was lowered into place. It only took 45 minutes for the whole operation! | |
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That's it, final resting place... | |
| And here are some birds-eye views taken from the roof of the patio outside the back of the house. This patio runs the whole length of the house and I think Rod went from one end to the other with the camera. It sure looks like it would have made a fantastic swimming pool, just a little deeper and so forth! And this is the beginning of the lining going into place, actually this is the easy bit. Getting it sorted at the edges has taken several back-braking days and Rod is not quite finished with that yet. | |
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The hole was lined with sand | |
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And in goes the liner | |
| We had the neighbor girls helping to stretch out the lining and we had to baton it down as the wind was just starting to kick up a bit that afternoon. All we needed was to the liner in a tree..it weighed 350 pounds unfolded and seemed like 2 ton when we tried to move it just an inch one way, even with all of us pulling and groaning. | |
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The pond size is 60 ft by 25 ft and from two to three feet deep. It will contain 20,000 gallons of water filled from out well. We dug out 110 cubic yards of dirt. | |
| This photo is really a laugh, but yes we did begin to fill it right away. This adventure is 99% Rods and he has done almost all the work himself. I only brain-stormed on several points with him when he wanted to be sure he had the best solution to a problem along the way. | |
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This lovely first reflection off the pond made the whole process well worth while and now we have some plants in it, some little tiny gold fish, which will grow, and more plants on the way. Now we are on a rock hunt. Each time we are in an area where there are rocks we have to stop and find one or two. We need large ones of course, so its not just 'grab a rock'. Its grunt and groan to get one into the car. I think we only have three so far, so if you have any old rocks around, just send them our way. | |
| More photos with flowers will follow in due time. | |
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Email Rod & Merry Lloyd
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