Hello From Mike in Eastern Colorado

[MikeH]

Hey all,

My name is Mike, I live in Eastern Colorado and I have been given the green light to create a pond by my loving Wife. The pond is actually going to be part of a backyard makeover. See I turn 50 this year and I really wanted a motorcycle but my wife really did not want me to have a motorcycle and I said OK, fine, how about a wood fired pizza oven and a pond. In the end she decided I had less chance of killing myself moving tons of brick and rock and concrete than riding 1300 ccs of machine down the highway.

I have been reading this forum for about three months So I am armed with lots of questions. In fact, the wood fired pizza oven will also be built with the help of an internet forum so this shall be an internet built backyard. I can’t believe what a blessing it is to be able to have all the years of experience and information directly at my finger tips.

I have been wanting a pond in the back for the last ten years. I had helped a friend dig his and had always thought they were great additions to the yard. The sound of water and the visual eye-candy that a pond create are extremely relaxing to me. In my mind I have built one hundreds of times but was daunted by all the stuff I didn’t know. I have bought many books and while they are filled with great information, we all know that there is nothing better than being able to ask and talk to those who have been there.

I am going to leave this post as just an introduction and then toss out my questions in a separate post. But I will also use this post to see if I can post a couple photos of my current back yard. The play area is 25 by 25 and that is where I see the pond. The grassy area adjacent to the current covered patio is where the outdoor kitchen is going to be...let me restate that. Those are the places I see the kitchen and the pond but they have not been officially agreed to by my wife. She has last say but that works great for me because so many times I have come up with the perfect plan only to have her make it better. Anyway, I am typically inept at posting photos so we will see if this works at all

Thanks in advance,
Mike

 

[superdaft]

Really looking forward to see your progress Mike

 

[taherrmann4]

Welcome to the forum and we are here to help.

 

[koiguy1969]

why is it us men have to ask our wives for permission. yet you dont read about all the women here asking their hubbies?.....look at it this way. at least the pond and pizza oven is something you can enjoy together. if she didnt want you "riding" you know you'd have never gotten her on with you!! OH WAIT! is that a good or bad thing? anyways, you'll both enjoy the pond and so will all your company that comes by. welcome to the group! Mark

 

[baeya]

Welcome! You will get lots of great information here, I did! I've had my pond for 8 years and it was always green pea soup until I found this forum and one Skippy filter (you'll find directions on this forum) later, 1 week later and now my pond is clear! Have fun with the build, do it right the first time! My suggestions are to have an area about 2 to 3 feet deep so you can have lilies and the other half at least 4 feet deep (mine is, but I wish I would have gone 4 1/2 to 5) so the fish can winter over and have plenty of exercise. Another idea I found just recently that I wish I would have done was to build a pond collar around my pond for a much more stable and finished look. Here is a link...

http://66.147.244.221/~nelsonwa/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Pond-Build-II.pdf

 

[HARO]

Welcome to the forum, Mike. One question: were you ever in the hotel bussiness? John

 

[j.w]

Mike

 

[sissy]

well happy birthday and hope you make sure you do not strain yourself doing all that work .I guess your wife is right about the motorcycle though as my son has wrecked 2 harleys .One was a guy ran a stop sign and the other was last year when a cop off duty drunk ran a red light .Both times lucky he was not hurt bad .With a pond you can only fall in and swim with the fish and with a pizza oven well a few burns are nothing .make sure you build the pond close to where you are enjoying your pizza .I love veggie pizzas

 

[johnnyi]

On the other hand, I've been riding (a Suzuki VStrom DL1000) for years every day and have never been scratched. I definitely get the connection between riding and ponding.

John

 

[addy1]

Welcome!

That will so much fun for you during the build, making a wonderful pond and pizza oven. When you are done we will come over for pizza while we view your fish.

 

[MikeH]

Thank you all for the welcome.

Koiguy, I used to wonder the same thing about asking permission. For me it isn’t so much asking permission as it is making sure she does not have any good reasons why I shouldn’t do some of my crazy schemes. Also, I realized two things; the first was that when she and I work as a team we make a lot better decisions. Second is that I think women tend to do it more naturally than men do so to them it isn’t something to talk about. Anyway, it worked out for me because as much as I enjoy riding I like Pizza better and Sitting by her next to the pond will beat riding alone.

Baeya, Thanks for the link, I like the idea of the collar. Also I have kind of assumed I would try for at least some of the pond being five foot deep.

HARO, No never in the hotel business

Sissy, straining myself is something I already did. In fact I am sitting here right now recovering from hernia surgery yesterday. But I figure that between my kids and some I can scrounge from the neighborhood I should be able to find some slave labor to dig holes and footings

Johnnyi, I know what you say. I have a few friends around here that ride like that and have never had any problem. My wife knew I would be careful but like sissy said above, it is the other guys in cars you can’t count on. And the fact that our kids are 6, 9, 10, and I am a stay at home dad who homeschools the kids had a lot to do with her feelings as well.

Speaking of which, how awesome is it going to be to have all this schooling in engineering, Pizza construction and pond biology for the kids?

 

[addy1]

We have two beautiful harleys, one from my past hubby (he put 30k into it), one was new hubbies. Neither has been turned on since we got together. I worked in a trauma hospital for way to long. I told him I would rather we had a long good life together than ride a harley

 

[baeya]

Do yourself a favor, Mike, have someone come in and dig your hole for you with a backhoe (I think thats what they're called). It will take them no more than an hour and you won't have any blisters. We had a guy that builds septic systems come and dig ours.

 

[fishin4cars]

Welcome aboard Mike, You made the right decision, pond and pizza oven will make you and her happier and you'll enjoy more time together. But on a side note, I just broke down and bought a bike, the wife and I have been talking about getting one for some time and when a good deal came up I decided it was now or never. Funny how that middle age crises hits at about 50 isn't it! LOL



Now if I can just talk her into riding it with me! LOL

 

[addy1]

Do yourself a favor, Mike, have someone come in and dig your hole for you with a backhoe (I think thats what they're called). It will take them no more than an hour and you won't have any blisters. We had a guy that builds septic systems come and dig ours.

laughing baeya, even with my backhoe, bucket tractor it took me over a month to dig my hole. But my backhoe is not one of the big ones. Never would have gotten a pond dug without it, so many rocks