THE WATERFALL
In our last installment we mentioned that the waterfall project was underway. In this extended story Mrs.T gives a more detail to the project. However, some background is needed. We already had a pond/pool against the highwall behind the house. Unfortunately it was neither deep enough nor stable enough to hold fish or supply water to the falls. The main stone around here is sandstone which sucks water up like a sponge. And the spring which is mentioned below is rather weak. So the original pond would go up and down according to the rainfall; sometimes it would be quite high but would fall to a puddle without precipitation. Thus, a liner was needed to insure a pond of constant depth, especially so the fish could over winter. Also, it was not possible to drop a waterfall onto the sandstone wall; eventually it would wash away and possibly collapse. A concrete pad needed to be made to stabilize it.
Our neighbor Jamey harvested our trees and also does concrete work. He is our major contact when we do not know whom to contact for projects. He assured us that he could do the job. Brian handled the heavy machinery. Darren did the concrete and electrical work. Ray pitched in a bit; Duke and Bill provided some consultation.
Pictures before, during, and after construction can be found at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/
Come and see it for yourself.
Before we started building our house a couple of years ago I had great plans. Not for the house, although Dan and I had been working on house plans for years. In addition to the house I had plans for the stone highwall behind where the house would be built. I wanted a waterfall.
Many people spend fortunes building little stone walls for pleasant little waterfalls in their gardens. Here we had a forty to fifty foot stone wall already near our house what could be simpler? Well….
I had talked about this project with our neighbor Jamey, but we planned to wait until the old house was sold. But Jamey came down and explained that because of the economy he had no work for his guys and asked if we would consider doing the project now. The price was higher than we had hoped. But thanks to the recent generosity of Dan's parents we had some savings available. We talked about it and agreed to go ahead. I was so excited! In two weeks I would have my waterfall. They promised.
The first part of the work was slowed down because of rain. It was impossible to do the grading, etc. in the mud. A couple of times I thought the guys were really going to get their Bobcat and stuck but they never did. (Brian was not happy about working in the mud. dt) The first part of the job was very frustrating for me because I like to do things myself. By great expense of will power I stayed inside, peeking out of the window most of the time and letting the guys get on with it. Dan used the excuse of taking pictures to go outside a lot. But let's be honest here, I think almost everyone at one time or another has had an urge to get on one of those machines and push dirt around. The Bobcat was too small to be really intimidating. I think I could have done it with a little practice. Darren told me it was easy. But I refrained.
After initial grading and pulling down of trees it was time to drain the existing water – or so we thought. Jamey hooked up a sump pump to a long hose thinking we could drain the water off down the hill in a day or so. The water level began to slowly inch its way down and then we had a really hard rain. We were back where we started. Two more days of pumping and then it rained again. Jamey decided to leave the pump on over the weekend and if it did not pump it out he would have to get a bigger pump. At this point I was beginning to suspect that the project might not get done in the original two weeks that was projected.
Well it rained all weekend so Jamey got a bigger pump. The water level really started sinking and I was optimistic. But as the water level fell we found something completely unexpected - a large turtle. It was about 10 inches across so both Brian and I thought it must be a snapping turtle. We tried poking sticks at it. This is the traditional way to catch snappers. They are very grumpy turtles and if you poke a stick at them they will snap at it and refuse to let go so you can drag them out by the other end of the stick. However this turtle would not snap. He pulled his head in and dove under the water and swam away. Hmmm.
"I'm not sure this is a snapping turtle," I told Brian.
"Well, stick your finger in the water and see what happens," he suggested.
Needless to say, I declined. "Well it certainly is the most polite snapping turtle I have ever met," I muttered.
I went to fetch a five gallon bucket. When the water receded a bit more Brian and I managed to herd the turtle into the bucket. "I really don't think this is a snapping turtle, "I said, "Its shell is wrong." (Snapping turtles shells have points on them but this shell was smooth.)
Brian repeated his previous suggestion.
What is that awful smell? I thought, as I lugged the turtle up to the house.
I went inside to do more research. The computer had a listing for turtles of Ohio. I was hot on the scent. And guess what I found out? We had a stinkpot turtle. Yes that was really its name (for reasons you have already figured out). I went outside and dumped the turtle into a large plastic tub and added some water. I dropped in a large leaf of lettuce for it to munch on. The turtle dived down and came up wearing the lettuce on its head. Either this was a turtle fashion statement or it thought if it could not see me, I could not see it. I left the turtle and went out back to rinse the bucket out several times. By the time Brian left that day the pond was almost empty and we were all confident that another half hour of pumping with the big pump would empty the pond and we could go on to the next step.
Many of you may be aware that Dan has a very nasty habit of getting up at ungodly hours in the morning. (Actually I think God approves of early risers. dt) So at six the next morning I was not enthused at his insistence that I come and look at something. I was even less thrilled when he showed me that our pond, which was almost empty the night before, was now half full. Did we have pond pixies? No what we had was a spring! I went out to check on our tub resident. He was still wearing the lettuce leaf and smelled no worse than any other turtle. (Stinkpots are kind of like skunks in that they give off foul odors when they are upset.)
When the guys came to finish emptying the pond they found another large turtle. Stinky number two was duly captured and ensconced in his own tub while everyone discussed the situation. The suggestion was that perhaps we had a spring at the bottom of our pond. After subsequent pumping it was determined that this was in fact the case. Now we had a problem with what to do with the stinkers. Before we had been assured that the pond could be emptied, graded, lined, and refilled in two or at most three days, I had thought we would just keep the turtles in the tubs and return them to the restructured pond when it had water. Now what with the spring we were unsure how long it would take.
Keeping turtles that large in tubs for very long seemed cruel, so I scooped them back into the five gallon bucket and lugged them one at a time about a quarter of a mile down the ridge to another pool. (Boy were they heavy!) The turtles were not very pleased with this procedure and let me know it in their own special way. I washed out the bucket and both tubs and returned to see what the plan was now.
It was more complicated but eventually after constructing a little dam in front of the spring the pond was drained and the liner was installed. Then the pond was refilled and a pump was put in to pump the water to the top of the rock. The first pump did not do the trick so they tried a second pump. Alas no!! By this time the frogs had returned. And one morning whom should we see but Stinky who had decided to come back home. During all this I was driving around spending my secret stash on various moisture loving plants. The boys cheerfully planted them in the locations I pointed to.
One day our neighbor called Dan to see if we wanted a couple of Koi (Japanese pond fish) which were deeply discounted. Dan was unable to contact me as I was plant shopping so like the true bargain hunter he is, he agreed. (Rather difficult to turn down a 75% discount. dt) They appeared later that day, a red one whom I named Scarlett and a white one whom I named Rhett. They were dumped in the pond and have not been seen since. Everyone tells me that since I haven't found them floating they are doing fine. Supposedly these Koi will eat from your hand but that has not yet occurred.
Finally pump number three appeared and we had a waterfall!! It was all downhill (so to speak) after that. We added some more plants and got some smaller fish to eat any mosquito larvae and spent quite a while moving the pipe for the waterfall back and forth to decide exactly how we wanted the water to splash. The electricity is all hooked up and we have a switch in the house so we can turn the waterfall on and off. Is that decadent or what?
The local wildlife seems to approve also. Almost every morning the birds come and bathe in the little splash pool. Chuck the groundhog has sauntered by twice to check it out. Two Canada geese, with half a dozen goslings toddling behind stopped by but after a close examination moved on finding the pond did not exactly meet their needs.
So almost every morning Dan and I turn on our waterfall, slip into the hot tub (au natural of course - dt) where we can watch it out the window, and relax. Life is good.
Thanks Mom and Dad.
Dan and Rebecca
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