My new goldfish pond build

[Tula]

Nathan, great ideas thanks. we have two chairs that would go great in that spot too. Thanks for the revised drawing.
Lisak it rained like crazy here but no problems around us. How about you? This was the most filled I have ever seen my pond. What about you? Thanks Tula/Addy. When we sold our house last year the people who bought it liked the pond and got rid of it 3 months later!

Ugh, that is so sad they got rid of the pond. I think when we sell, I'll personally rehome my koi, then leave the pond as a water feature, but willing to fill in if new buyers didn't want it. Another option would be for us to rehome the koi. then fill in and landscape the pond area....makes me sad just thinking about it.

 

[Lisak1]

Nathan, great ideas thanks. we have two chairs that would go great in that spot too. Thanks for the revised drawing.
Lisak it rained like crazy here but no problems around us. How about you? This was the most filled I have ever seen my pond. What about you? Thanks Tula/Addy. When we sold our house last year the people who bought it liked the pond and got rid of it 3 months later!

We had so much rain - this has only happened two other times since we built the pond:

The rain exchange is obviously completely full. The overflow is in the rain exchange, but the sump pump also pumps into the rain exchange, so we were just trading water all day long. A nice, slow, day long water change.

We're back to normal today, but more rain is predicted for tonight.

The fish really enjoyed the new expansion all day - I just kept a close eye on the water level to make sure they didn't get landlocked!

Thankfully our house is in what we've been told is the highest spot in the county. We've never had flooding issues in the house. Our basement used to get water all the time because our drainage tile was installed incorrectly and the window wells would fill up with water any time it rained, but we fixed that when we installed the pond and patio, so that hasn't been an issue since. I feel so bad for people who are dealing with several feet of water in their basement in surrounding areas. Not fun.

 

[CometKeith]

Tula. I know. The people who bought our house offered for me to take the rocks and the leftover fish when they closed it down to build a larger garage. I did it but it was really weird digging up my pond after having put so much work into it over the years. Also I kinda felt like an interloper because it wasn't my property. Addy. I think the pond actually helped sell our house but people don't realize how much work it can be. It was under a large cottonwood tree that belonged to my neighbors and the tree would dump a ton of leaves on it in the fall. When I saw it after we sold the house it had lost a lot of water and it was covered in leaves.

Lisak. Sorry about your flooding, but, I've never seen pictures of your pond. It's fantastic. You are more than welcome to visit to help my wife and I plan how we are going to landscape around it. We are on the northside of Chicago close to the Lake.

 

[Tula]

I think most folks don't understand the work involved with a pond. When we bought this house, there was a a small pond with some gold fish in it. It was filtered by an all in one filter / pump, in a submerged "box. It was very pretty and had lovely water lilies. It was definitely a selling point for us, along with the pool and gardens......the previous owners were lucky to sell to folks just like themselves

Unfortunately the pond had been built with some wooden timbers, that rotted and the whole thing started caving in . By that time, the pond bug had bitten us good, so we had it properly rebuilt and enlarged to it's current size.

@Lisak1 your pond and plantings are gorgeous !!!

 

[CometKeith]

I started digging around the yard so I could grade it and found a brick patio under the dirt. It had a thin cement covering over the bricks. I have about half of it up now. This is what it looked like the other day when I started.
My fish are all doing well and I have a really pretty deep pink colored lily flower that made an appearance.I'm planning about a 2 ft row or perennials in front of the pond and a border of annuals in front of that. I decided it's easier to to the work in stages so some of the yard looks nice while I'm doing the rest. This way it looks nice for our tenants, neighbors etc that it's not all torn up at once. Also this way i can do a lot of work myself without having to hire a landscaper. I was dong a little digging tonight and someone decided to cut down my sidewalk from front to back. I was a little surprised but he was pushing a stroller with a small girl in it so I figured he was okay and he said he has lived in the neighborhood 20 years and that he likes the pond and sometimes feeds the fish!

 

[j.w]

Whoa he comes right into your yard and feeds them,uh oh, time for some schooling!
Neat to see you working on your landscaping now and fun watching you do it from my comfy computer chair

 

[Lisak1]

The fun is in doing it yourself @CometKeith - you can take all the compliments then and have pride in your hard work. The other day I was out doing some work in the front yard (my poor neglected front yard! Soon the real work begins up there - another water feature is in my future!) and my neighbor (aka The Idiot) stops in his car and says "I'll give you six bucks an hour to do my yard." Um... no. This is a labor of love, buddy. You - I don't love. He says "well it's not like it's HARD. Anyone could do it!" OK... then why don't you? Ugh. People!

And thanks @Tula ! We sometimes take it for granted. We've had a few contractors over recently getting some bids and they all go "WHOOOOOAAAA" when they see the backyard. The guy this morning told my husband "I build a pond for my parents - but it's NOTHING LIKE THIS!" Makes me happy to see people love it as much as we do!

 

[tbendl]

The fun is in doing it yourself @CometKeith -

I only say that because I'm too poor to pay someone else to do it.
I would have had fun lounging on a hammock with an umbrella drink singing "could you dig a bit deeper dears"... "move those rocks to the left".. Ahhh yesssss
And I'd have been pretty proud of my excellent vision and ability to give direction.

 

[sissy]

you need a fire pit or fireplace wood or propane to keep your self snuggly warm while gazing at the pond on a chilly night .

 

[CometKeith]

Yeah JW. A little weird but it seems like since we are in the city everyone knows your business, When we were in the suburbs there was a little more privacy. I was a little concerned at first he might have been the guy that broke in when we were doing construction so feeding the fish isn't so bad. Rather than lecture him about feeding the fish I figured I would let it go. We are planning gates in the front and back soon so that will stop. If he lives in the neighborhood it's probably cool for his daughter to see the fish. We have invited other parents to bring their children to see them. I met a dog walker last week and she knew all about our pond.
Lisak that's so funny. I'm in construction and the cheapest we pay anyone now is $17 per hour. What was he thinking??I had a guy working for me doing roofing and I was paying him $23/hr and he made over $40K last year. He kept asking me for a raise and I told him I couldn't because what he was doing wasn't really profitable for us. Well he quit because he was mad at us and I heard he got a job for $17/hr.
Haha, Thanks Tbendl. My wife went on a trip this weekend so I'm spending a lot of time on it. I picked up all the broken bricks and put them in the dumpster of my neighbor that is pretty nasty! It felt very good I'm buying dirt tomorrow. I tried getting 6 yards the other day but there is no place to put it so I had to cancel the order after I realized it was 6000 lbs! I'm going the bag route instead.
Thanks Sissy. We just covered the roof of our deck with rolled bituminous roofing so our deck will be really nice every season. I sat out there this afternoon when it was raining and it kept me dry!

 

[Lisak1]

What was he thinking??

This is the kind of guy who doesn't actually think before he talks. Plus he's openly chauvanistic - I'm sure his point was "if a woman is doing it, it can't be worth anything". He's a real winner. I try to never make eye contact because he's bound to say something idiotic.

 

[herzausstahl]

The fun is in doing it yourself @CometKeith - you can take all the compliments then and have pride in your hard work. The other day I was out doing some work in the front yard (my poor neglected front yard! Soon the real work begins up there - another water feature is in my future!) and my neighbor (aka The Idiot) stops in his car and says "I'll give you six bucks an hour to do my yard." Um... no. This is a labor of love, buddy. You - I don't love. He says "well it's not like it's HARD. Anyone could do it!" OK... then why don't you? Ugh. People!

And thanks @Tula ! We sometimes take it for granted. We've had a few contractors over recently getting some bids and they all go "WHOOOOOAAAA" when they see the backyard. The guy this morning told my husband "I build a pond for my parents - but it's NOTHING LIKE THIS!" Makes me happy to see people love it as much as we do!

Lol This makes me think of those "free firewood" posts you see on Craigslist with people looking for free tree removals & you keep the wood! Lol my brother is an arborist & he'd tell me how often people don't realize how much it costs & the work involved. For tree removal in WI your looking about $75 a man hr for someone experienced. He also showed me photos from when he gave a lady an estimate & she showed him what her neighbor had done. Must have been a 40-60' tree & he had rungs nailed to it almost all the way up to remove a few branches. My brother said he basically really risked his life to save the 500 bucks my brother would've charged him for the job to rope in, climb, & do it safely. I'd tell the neighbor for his 6 bucks it might get him a few potted plants from a 13 yr old too young to get a minimum wage job at $7.25 an hr!

 

[herzausstahl]

I only say that because I'm too poor to pay someone else to do it.
I would have had fun lounging on a hammock with an umbrella drink singing "could you dig a bit deeper dears"... "move those rocks to the left".. Ahhh yesssss
And I'd have been pretty proud of my excellent vision and ability to give direction.

You just needed to find the right guy to smile pretty at & say could you please move that rock & dig this hole for me in the yard. Lol

 

[herzausstahl]

Yeah JW. A little weird but it seems like since we are in the city everyone knows your business, When we were in the suburbs there was a little more privacy. I was a little concerned at first he might have been the guy that broke in when we were doing construction so feeding the fish isn't so bad. Rather than lecture him about feeding the fish I figured I would let it go. We are planning gates in the front and back soon so that will stop. If he lives in the neighborhood it's probably cool for his daughter to see the fish. We have invited other parents to bring their children to see them. I met a dog walker last week and she knew all about our pond.
Lisak that's so funny. I'm in construction and the cheapest we pay anyone now is $17 per hour. What was he thinking??I had a guy working for me doing roofing and I was paying him $23/hr and he made over $40K last year. He kept asking me for a raise and I told him I couldn't because what he was doing wasn't really profitable for us. Well he quit because he was mad at us and I heard he got a job for $17/hr.
Haha, Thanks Tbendl. My wife went on a trip this weekend so I'm spending a lot of time on it. I picked up all the broken bricks and put them in the dumpster of my neighbor that is pretty nasty! It felt very good I'm buying dirt tomorrow. I tried getting 6 yards the other day but there is no place to put it so I had to cancel the order after I realized it was 6000 lbs! I'm going the bag route instead.
Thanks Sissy. We just covered the roof of our deck with rolled bituminous roofing so our deck will be really nice every season. I sat out there this afternoon when it was raining and it kept me dry!

Great example of the grass isn't always greener! I wonder if pride stopped him from avoiding his $6 an hr pay cut to come back & work for you?

 

[herzausstahl]

This is the kind of guy who doesn't actually think before he talks. Plus he's openly chauvanistic - I'm sure his point was "if a woman is doing it, it can't be worth anything". He's a real winner. I try to never make eye contact because he's bound to say something idiotic.

If it makes you feel better those kind of guys bug the crap out of me. Like my 9 yr old telling me she might like working on cars as our oil change was done & we were getting in our car. I said go ahead & she said but only guys do that! Luckily there was a girl working in the oil change bay I could point out to her immediately. Shocked me as I try to never let my girls believe there isn't anything they can't do.