With one set of obstacles out of the way we were ready to begin a toad free pond. I really hoped this would turn out to not be a toady mess like the other and I knew it had real potential but not without a lot of hard work first.
The picture below, and the album for this part of the project, is good to look at before reading further. I’ll reference things in the pictures which will baffle and cause consternation if you haven’t looked at the pictures first. Ok, maybe not this degree of mayhem, but look at the pictures please!
View the album: diggin it
The layout and size of the pond became another obstacle.
The boss had concerns. Was this a small, patio pond, a medium size bird pond, or were we going all out, with a quarter acre duck pond, fishing pier and pontoon boat dock? Of course the duck pond was intriguing and “hey, the neighbors have ducks, why not us!”
But really, No! Not an option for a number of reasons. Not the least of which, I was planning on digging this by hand. Yes by hand! No power tools for this guy. I want to feel every cubic inch of dirt in my shovel.
But first a visualization was needed. What size would this be, kind of…
The outline on the lawn, the very lawn I was mowing when this idea came into being, is the size of the water footprint. As it turns out the overall size would be 3 foot larger on both sides and about 5-6 foot longer on the backend where the majority of the inside dirt would become the outside dirt berm.
Flashback: I have dug in our dirt in Pueblo West and let me tell you, you can go from a walk in the park to a murderous jack hammer needin’, pick axe wieldin’ mad minute in under two seconds. I had nightmares from my greenhouse experience with this dirt. I was not looking forward to that experience again. That is a story for a different day.
But I was hopeful! Hopeful, with good cause, I thought. This location is close to the house. The dirt was new dirt, put in place by the finish grading process and so I suspected it would be softer than normal and pleasantly so. I was right!
With shovel in hand I began to dig. The digging was quick, the dirt was soft. The shovel went in easily and progress was made. The outline picture was taken on Aug 18, 2022 and the final hole pic was taken on Aug 21, 2022. It didn’t take the entire 4 days. It only took a part of 2 days, hours really. As I think back on it, maybe even minutes; it was so quick.
It was the days of sore muscles that I remember. Muscles that I didn’t think existed, hurt; but hey, if you want a pond you’re gonna have a few crumbs… or sore muscles. That’s the cost of a pond.
Cost! Cost is something to consider. It was one of the obstacles that stood in the way of the duck pond, with pier and boat dock. What was this idea going to cost? I have to do some research! I hope it’s not excessive? What am I going to do if it turns out to be ridiculously expensive? I have this gigantic hole in the lawn? What then?
Not really. The research came much sooner in this process. Weeks in advance with meticulous research, cost estimates and several quotes on materials. Again, not really. The research was done a few days before, minutes really. Ok, so actually I did some research while on a digging break, sitting in the shade drinking water. It was mid August remind you. It was hot and this was a perfect time to find out if I should start filling back in this hole. Turns out I didn’t. Whew!
The cost for a pond can really add up and so doing some research is really the best plan for success. I had done some research before arriving at a huge hole, but not much. Remember I had a pond one other time. The toady mess! I wanted this one to be different and I knew more precisely just what to avoid from my previous experience.
So what was it that I planned for, quite literally while diggin this pond. I wanted this pond to have: a real liner, a couple – maybe three, water falls, a few fish that didn’t die each winter, and maybe a good water filtration system. Could I have it all? It seemed realistic.
Oh yeah, it will need lots of rocks. 15 ton ought to do. I went to order the rock right then! Turns out, 15 tons was to much; “Oh well, maybe a 2nd Pond… I wonder?
Before closing this chapter out, there was a problem. You may have already spied it out from the pictures. As I dug, and not to far into the digging, I came across what I knew was there. I hadn’t worked out the solution quite yet but there it was, a sprinkler line. Smack dab in the middle of my new glorious pond. Well that sucked.
I briefly, for a few minutes thought, no problem. I’ll leave it right there; it’s a black pipe, it will blend in and no one will notice. The better part of me said to myself. ”That’s really low rent”, “You can’t leave that hideous line right down the middle of this wonderful, beautiful, ecological centerpiece.” Spend the 20 minutes it will take to route that eyesore down and around under the pond liner so no one will see it. So there you have it. Obstacle overcome.
The boss didn’t even know there was a problem. Whew!
I hope you’re enjoying my journey to pond ownership. If you have dreams of owning your own pond I’d like to know about it. I can share some more adventures with you and especially I would like to know when you plan to start so I can schedule myself out of town and thus avoid the potential hazard of helping you dig your pond.
Truly, if you’re thinking about building a pond, I’d be glad to help you any way I can. Even maybe a few shovels of dirt to help the cause. I can’t promise it won’t be a toady mess, but it has a real chance of being fantastic.
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