What do you think

about this idea. I have an old kiddie swing with a slide attached for the grandkids. It has just about seen its best days and I was sitting out beside the gold fish pond pondering and thought if I brought the slide to the pond and ran water up it so it would come back down the slide like a waterfall would it be tacky? Wife said tacky. I said clever idea. I would run some morning glory or moon flower up the sides of it. What do yo think? Tacky or clever.

Tacky... but tacky is good, too. You might have every kid within 20 miles stopping by for your water slide.

I like it cousin Jim....then we'll get a "resident Otter" ....they will love the slide, and perk up the yard. Jo

i think you are on to something here. if you can hide the slide. when we were kids my father wanted to hide our 4' pool he dug a hole in the ground and put the pool in it. then he used that dirt to build a small hill (we called it a mountain) with a waterfall coming down rigged it so the pool filter ran it. and planted all sorts of plants. it looked really good. what do you have to loose? best laid plans come from a dream :)

Oh no. That idea is out the window. I love kids but not in my pond.

But Jim! I was just reading this and thinking about the grandkids deciding on a warm summer afternoon to Waterslide on in and swim with the fishies. And if the grandkids didn't some neighborhood child would! Youp poor fish wouldn't like it much but man would you be a hit with the kids!

Jim, you have me interested. My son who is now 31 had a slide that went with the swing set. I still have that slide out behind the barn. I think this is a good idea. If you get yours fixed please post a picture. The whole height of the slide wouldn't have to necessarily be used. You could sink the legs in the ground to make the incline less steep. Then you could possibly cover the area of the slide with some rocks to make the water flow down and around the rocks. Might even be able to attach them with some of the gook used to lay tiles. At the bottom of the slide you could have a waterfall effect. Let me know how it works before I get my hands dirty trying it. ha!

You could plant lots of vines on it too. ahh,,try it. If it looks too tacky take it out. "T" :)

Jim, you never said what color the slide was?? Is it the bright blue color that I have seen in just about every yard in town? If so I would try painting it black to keep it from looking soo much like a kiddy slide. Then hide it with vines and such. I am interested in seeing it now, so like someone else said, go ahead and try it and if it looks tacky then take it down. Weather you leave it or not, be sure and post a pic so we can see it K?

Shoot,paint the slide a solid color and then paint some sort of design; like a waterfall effect and some salmon on the slide like their swimming 'up' stream. Can paint some painted rocks and other water plants on the slide to brighten it up a bit.
Plant some vines to cover the legs of the slide or some tall potted plants beside the slide..

Wonder what kind of contest the completed project could be entered in? Has Dave listed a catagory called maybe the Most Bisarre? LOL!

Since Bobbie thinks the whole idea is tacky SHE could enter it into the most unique Lawn Art contest. It could be the most interesting Tombstone for a DH ever! And he would have built it himself :~)

Oh my...........a pool party at Jim's place!!! Everyone got their suits &
Towels???

"eyes"

And fishing rods??

LOL Louisa! Who need a rod when you can slide in and catch em in your bloomers!

Jim, I'd give it a try. I like the ideas mentioned and you just may be surprised at how it actually turns out. I hope you post pictures and let us see.

I can hardly wait to see a picture so I will know whether to start a slide pool also.

Oh why do you all give him so much encouragement, he's bad enough without being encouraged. If anyone passes by and sees a slide in a pond or next to a pond just think about me hanging my head. For sure he is going to do this especially now. Bobbie

This message was edited Friday, Apr 26th 6:06 PM

Hey Bobbie, Don't look at it as "tacky" just look at it as "unique" LOL one of a kind for sure!! lol

Jim, just wondering if you are going to take the ladder part off of it or leave it on there?? Maybe if you just use the slide part and no ladder, it wouldn't look soo much like a kiddy slide. but then that is just a though lol

Well here's another idea that I sprung on Bobbie today. We have a lot of Iris. Probable 200-300 maybe even more. We got a lot from Bobbie's mother yard after she died. We call them our Alabama Iris because that's where they came from. Then we have a bed of Iris that we collected here in Georgia and every time they start making a circle I separate and make more. Then we have a bed of Iris that came from my GGGrandfather and GGGmother from Tennessee. I told Bobbie today I was thinking of making a giant bed and combine them in one bed. Here's the rub. I told her I was going to get my DIL to get some spray paint and outline in the yard a map of Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia and plant the Iris in the shape of those states and place them accordingly. She said have you gone crazy.LOL
I could get state flags and place a flagpole in each state with the flag. It would be a monument to the Iris lovers in our families that left us their treasures. Now I'm not crazy because I think it would be very unusual and something that we might have to explain to everyone but I bet they would say good idea after they heard the explanation. Bobbie put that white jacket up I am just kidding. Help someone she thinks I'm crazy. LOL

Sooo Jim does this mean the "slide" idea is now on the back burner? LOL
The iris idea sounds good to me...but then again so did the slide idea! LOL

Oh no Molly the slide is still on. I posted without checking. I went to my grandsons baseball game tonight and I asked Bobbie to post that I would do the slide on Sunday and post pictures. I guess she forgot and I didn't check. Taking Bobbie on a trip tomorrow so I won't have time until Sunday. I think the Iris will take a long time to get it in place. Maybe we can have a plant swap here and everyone that comes can pitch in and help with it and get paid in Iris.

Well, since I just checked in and saw this, I don't really have a vote. I am sorry to hear that the slide is tacky, since I did exactly that in 1974. I even went so far as to have a little concrete boy and girl posing with the darn thing. She had a basket of moss and he had a fishing pole with a tennis shoe dangling from it. I rigged my small pump so the water came through clear plastic from the kiddie pool you couldn't see in the hole in the ground, ran down the slide and cascaded off of some flat rocks. On the opposite side of the "pond", my son built a small arched bridge that appeared to cross the pond just off the patio. On the patio wall, which was the back of the garage, the kids put some cute signs that said things like "no fishing from the bridge", "beware: man-eating fish" and "Water not potable". The rails of the tiny bridge were crooked limbs, and once when I was having a cookout, a little boy yanked one off and chased the other kids around the back yard, and ever after, it was unstable. So, of course, we had to hang a sign on the end of it, "Lean at your own risk". The nearby privacy fence had a sign on it that warned, "Management not responsible for accidents". Another advised: "Divers not allowed after sundown" A small toy boat sat on a rock near the bridge, with a tiny sign attached that said "Boat rentals - $1 per hour or $5 all day" When people remarked on how natural the pond looked, we told them we were digging a hole to plant a rose bush when we hit an underground river, and we had no idea how deep or large it was, but we had occasionally seen some really large creature stick its slimy head up. So, you think this is/was tacky? Oh, my, we never suspected!

Go Aimee go. I knew it would turn up that some one had done it before. Thanks for all those ideas. I hope you don't mind me using them. I bet it was beautiful and semms to hold a lot of good memories for you.

I say Do IT! Go Jim Go!! (your wife already probably knows I'm Mr Tacky anyway!) This sounds like a great idea and I've decided to keep my eye out for a slide next time I go to the dumpsite just so I can mimic ya!.
I like the idea of slowing the water down coming off the slide. Wonder if you can set barriers or blocks of wood or something to make it into steps...each step would pool up before dropping down to the next one, then the next one, etc...(and you could also put a bit of barley straw in one to help inhibit algae growth in the pond).
I'm waiting for the pic now!! Go do it!

Good ideas shoe. I'm going to give it a try.

Whew! It's okay, and I won't get banished to the back of the barn? As I recalled that area and the time in my life, it was indeed good and so many sweet memories. The truth is this: I was a single mother with a house full of kids, and when I bought that small house, I was mostly attracted to the master bedroom's location in the ell of the house, formed by the br and garage at the very back of the house. There was a glass sliding door to the patio, and I saw that as a place for me to use as a getaway, to sit with an uninterrupted cup of coffee in the precious few moments I had at home in between my two or three jobs. The sound of moving water is so soothing to me, so I knew it had to have a fountain or something to provide that. I often slept with the doors open so I could hear the water in the tiny pool with pump I placed, at first, on top of the ground. Then I decided to enclose the patio for privacy against the neighbors, not 10' away. The kids and their friends pitched in and helped so much, and even though the fence was sort of out of line, it was wonderful. So we had a party to initiate it. Well, there went my little haven. It was cozy, and the kids and their friends loved it as much as I did. We just sort of followed our hearts, no plan, and the result was that a part of many people was included. The first sign was the brainstorm of a neighbor boy, leading to other inspired letterings. The shoe came from the street, thrown from a passing car, I suppose. The little statues were gifts of boyfriends who wanted to get in on the act, thanks, fellows. And eventually there were enough places to sit, but at first the kids all just perched around wherever they could find, including the bridge where one girl couldn't resist taking off her shoes and dabbling her toes. One of my boys yelled out that there was a man eating fish in there, so another sign appeared. My favorite sign was probably the one designating a smoking area, 6 square inches of concrete. right next to the little alcove we built for the garbage cans. Oh, it was a fun time. We were young, poor, and blissfully unaware. There, we laughed, cried, worried, triumphed, plotted and planned. And now we are old!

Well I won't be able to carry out this project Sunday as I though. I guess it will be later. Here's the reason.
http://davesgarden.com/showthread/236175.html
I'll be digging and planting all day.

And Bobbie is probably hoping you'll forget about it by the time you finish planting all those new babies!