The rock work is almost finished in the stream and pond. Tuesday 8 oak trees to come down so no work on the pond. I hope to get a few pics of the tree removal which should be entertaining but noisy. More to come soon..
This message was edited Jul 18, 2011 7:06 PM
Congratulations on the move and great to see you posting again. You don't do things by halves, do you, BeaHive? What a fantastic project. Just a word of warning - under no circumstances give Mrs Ed your address. You'll go to bed one night and wake up in the morning to find every last rock gone. She will be having very serious rock envy.
Just received a d-mail from Mrs Ed. She will need a mighty large suitcase to get all these rocks back to IL. I think it would take her more than one night to get them all. I hope this will be my forever home and garden so I hope to get it perfect this time. The last house was close..but hated the neighborhood with the houses so close together. This one feels just right..so far!
Loved your pic's of Big Hook & family that you posted today. Beautiful! Hope all is well with you down under!
Yes, BeaHive, all is well down under. Thanks for your comments about the ospreys. They're good subjects. I'm hoping to get down there this afternoon, but it's starting to cloud up. Oh, and I'm sure Mrs Ed will have a very large suitcase attached to the business end of a crane. Just be careful. LOL.
mwahahahahah.
Stop giving away all my secrets.
Your rock envy is well known, Mrs Ed. It's no secret.
Ah yes, but don't think anyone knew about the crane.
Ah, my laugh for the morning. Are you guys really up this early or is this site posting MY time on your comments. I am facinated with the rock also. It is so different from what I have. Mine are big greyish slabs. No ledges so needed big slabs to form the walls on the 4' end. Can hardly wait to see the pond and river with water running. And the fishies will be soooo happy to get out of the small pond into the new one.
Beahive,
Just curious!! Will it be cheaper to put a well rather than using city water? With your drought problem the city might be charging more. It is looking good!!! Bellie
I know when my neighbor had his swimming pool filled, he contacted our local fire dept and they came and filled his pool.....
Beahive - I was wondering how far is your new home from your old home? How did you move your fish?
To answer all your questions : The big boulders are called orange rock. They are very pretty. I do not plan to put in a well. As far as I know there is not a drought in the Willamette Valley region of Oregon. We had very heavy rains this weekend. In fact we had about two inches of water collect in the pond. It had to be pumped out so they could lay the rocks monday. I will call the water dept and try to find out the best way to fill this pond. It rains so much here that once it is filled the rain keeps it topped off most of the time. At my last house I kept the auto fill off 10 months of the year. My old house is about 45 minutes NE from this house.I moved the 9 fish in a rubber maid storage box with a lid. The movers lifted it for me to my car.
Tree trimming was completed today. Great crew and very brave to shimmy up the trees.( 100-150 ft tall) iT was a very noisy day and I am now enjoying some quiet time.
look at all that awesome moss!
for anyone taking notes, that's
1-Zone Envy
2-Rock Envy
3-Moss Envy
Starting the climb up.
Since I donated all the fire wood to charity they were kind enough to cut up slices that I plan to use as temp stepping "stones" in some places around the yard that will not have paver work yet. With a little wood sealer and staining, they should last for a while then can be replaced by stone pavers later.Many more in the back yard.
This machine is the stump grinder. It is a big boy's version of a remote control car except it does not go very fast. It was a tight fit getting it past the shed to the corner of the yard but they made it without scatching the paint on the shed. Cool machine. Well I hope we are back to the pond building tomorrow.
Looks like your daylilies are about to sprout in the foreground. What a huge project. You must be exhausted 'supervising'!
Yeah the DL's are starting to pop. I am so glad they survived winter in pots & the move. They are dying to stretch their roots in this new garden. I am exhaused supervising, but woiuld be more tired hauling those rocks for sure. Just happy I have the best team working on this project. :)
My gosh. You moved the DL and they still bloomed. Amazing
The wonderful crew are still here after 11+ hours. They are amazing. I fed them pizza & salad and they are re-charged to keep going. Today the skimmer was put in place .
The underwater lights came out of the boxes and will be hooked up very soon.
More boulder placement today. Wow..these guys are strong!
7:45 pm.. fine tuning the skimmer.
Getting so close to adding the water. I am told it may be tomorrow. So excited! Getting all my water plants ready for their new home. The marginals arrived today. The water lilies have been potted up and some will be planted directly into the river rock too!. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings. Yeah!
This message was edited Jul 20, 2011 9:21 PM
Around 9PM and some last minute rock tweaking going on. Filling tomorrow I am told. Yeah!
They have gone home to their loved ones. I am sure all will sleep very well tonight. Thanks Jamison for making this wonderful pond!
Looking forward to tomorrow!
By the way, Jamison has joined DG and hopes to join in the conversations once time permits.. I have been keeping him very busy. Garden paths project still to come.
and the excitement and anticipation builds....and builds....gosh, you would think it was MY pond. lol. I am so excited for you
Thanks. I am excited for me too! We are going to read the water meter before and after to get a reading on the actual gallon.
NativeVA.. Jamison says with the rock diplacement and the more shelves on this pond, the gallons will be less that 5400. I just calculated
12' x 20' x 3'. I guess there is a more scientific formula to be more acurate. Beyond me...I will look at the water meter tomorrow..LOL!
Exciting.
I'm sure my DH knows all those calculations. He was asking me to ask you about the cost per unit, blah blah blah. Geek!
Well Jamison, good job. Now head over to Illinois! ;-)
Hey Jamison. Been to Alaska yet? lol. They could use some good competition around here. Wish you had been here four years ago.
after my pond was finished, it was filled with well water , let it run doe 24 hours then a almost total water change to remove all the dirt from the rocks. I think it was few days later that the plants were introduced then the fish.My pond is 8 years old.
Very exciting!!!
Bellie
The excitement begins as the filling begins.
The potted water lilies, the koi castle and some more water lilies were added into the nooks and cranies before the water got to deep.
It's getting deeper!!
1/2 way filling...ooooooooh the suspense is killing me !!
It is full now and looks just beautiful!!
Here is the view looking down the stream . Pretty wonderful I must say! Jamison you and your crew are just awesome!
Here is the backside view of the pond. Pretty also. Tomorrow it will be up to me to start planting around the pond. I have Siberian Iris,hosta's,astillbes, ferns,sedum,and an assortment of marginal water plants to plant. No rain in the forecast..its going to be a fun day getting my hands dirty again. The gang will be away for awhile working on other projects and taking a few days of R & R. They need it for sure after moving all these rock!! When they return they will be working on the pathways around the pond. More heavy lifting with the pavers. Rest up all and enjoy your time away!!
Bea, Thanks for the compliments,. I'm glad you like it, and I am so looking forward to see your plantings. No pond looks complete without lots of plants in it, and around it!
mstella, Bea posted a picture of some irrigation piping, and the source line to the pond's automatic fill valve; we did not put any drain at the bottom. We are pumping most of the water from the skimmer to a biological filter at the top of the stream (Pond Builder bio-waterfall), and we ran another pipe to the bottom of the pond with three outlets to prevent stratification.
shrubbs, Snakes are not a concern here in the Willamette Valley but racoons definitely are. I've seen them do a lot of damage to plants before, and they get fish sometimes too, but 2 ft. deep water or more helps keep them safe. The coons are glad to get wet, but they won't swim to get fish, so I am told. Coons have been implicated in claw holes in liner too, when it's unprotected by rock.
Fantastic, Bea Hive and congratulations to Jamison and crew for a job really well done. Jamison, after you've been to Illinois to see Mrs Ed and up to Alaska to see what projects mstella has for you, you might like to head downunder for a breather.
"we ran another pipe to the bottom of the pond with three outlets to prevent stratification."
I thought stratification was a good thing. Or do you mean to make sure the water changes out completely, like no dead spots. Wouldn't that sort of function like a bottom feeder to the skimmer?
Thanks MargaretK, my wife said she would love to come with me to Australia!
mstella, yes, we want to keep circulate everywhere to keep oxygen everywhere. No dead spots. The skimmer circulates effectively to 2 ft. deep, but Bea's pond is 3 ft. deep so we ran an outlet to the bottom. And yes that's like a bottom feeder to the skimmer, just the opposite direction. Besides, I'd rather not cut the liner below water level any more than I have to.
