Sunday, October 9, 2011

Pond Update

After much pushing and prodding, I finally got my husband outside to help with the pond. We didn’t get a lot done, but about as much as we could.

First off, let me just say that trying to buy pipes to make a waterfall system can be hazardous to your relationships. It isn’t nearly as simple as buying a pre-made waterfall, but decidedly quite less in cost. After scouring the PVC section at Home Depot for what seemed like a half an hour, somebody finally helped us figure out what we needed. However, me being me, argued that we had quite a bit at home and should just get what we need to make that work. That wasn’t going to work anyway, now that I think about it, as those pipes are indoor drain pipes and not thick enough to withstand colder weather.

So, we had our pipes, we had our adhesive foam to make the center waterfall work where the upper pond connects to the lower pond, and it was time to get back home to finish this project once and for all. I foamed in the rocks where I wanted them after carefully wiping them off, only to have the foam ooze out from everywhere it possibly could and it got all over my hands and I couldn’t find the acetone and had gross tar-like hands until my husband pointed to the large can of acetone next to his workbench in the garage. Figures. I was looking for the fingernail polish remover… not that we keep that stuff lying around the house or anything, but I just thought we had some leftover from when my sister would come over to paint her nails and put on makeup and learn how to become a lady. Yes, from me. [sigh]

After I was fairly certain all the residue was removed, I returned to help with the waterfall wand itself. Basically a one foot by one and a half inch black PVC pipe with a cap on one end, a hose connecter on the other, and holes drilled to allow water to come out. I hope it works because I wedged that sucker in pretty good and it’ll take a miracle to get it back where it should go after all the rock finagling I had to do just to get it where we wanted it and nearly invisible too. Alas, I was far too focused on trying to get the damned thing where we wanted it, I didn’t go inside to take a picture for all you Do-It-Yourselfers out there. Maybe I’ll draw you a picture, or better yet, wait until it is all done and water flowing through it before doing so. You know, just in case this was all for naught.

However, one good thing came from all of this so far, and that is that the neighbor loves our progress and offered up her plants by her backyard pond for us to thin out and use. I love having awesome neighbors, and while I miss the neighbors we had at the old house, I’m equally impressed with the ones we have here. Well, most of them anyway. The ones directly across from our driveway leave a lot to be desired.

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