The early challenges building a 1982 concrete pond

[The PondFather]

This is the story of our early mistakes and challenges attempting to build a pond to house my son's turtle collection. I'm posting a link to the story in case someone's thinking of pouring their own concrete pond. This is the story of how NOT to do that. It will be continued in Part 2 next week with leaks, cracked concrete and puny filters.
http://www.aquascapeinc.com/blogs/gary-wittstock/the-pond-that-launched-an-industry

 

[addy1]

lol one reason I have stuck with liners.

 

[j.w]

Guess back then no one had liners for ponds yet.

 

[The PondFather]

Guess back then no one had liners for ponds yet.

They may have existed but no one was advertising them. Had I thought this out better I at least should have used some kind of plastic liner under the gravel to guard against a possible crack and leak. But it was a learning experience and I'm happy it got us into ponding.

 

[DrCase]

With the Internet now , new ponders don't know what old people had to go through

 

[addy1]

lol
Read books, magazines.............. and guess

 

[sissy]

That is not true about liners back then .My dad and I built our pond at our farm with a rubber roofing liner back when I was 11 years old .He came home with a huge heavy rubber roof piece and said Sissy we are putting in a pond .OH boy I was excited until he handed me a shovel .We spent weeks digging a big hole in the ground and then wrestling that huge rubber thing into the ground .Then rain and snow filled it and some water from our well and a year later we had a full pond .My dads first pond was a rubber roof liner in PA long before I was born and he built the waterwheel for it and it still existed until the house burned down a couple of years after they died .I only have 1 pic of it

 

[addy1]

Neat picture of your old pond, glad you had at least one.

 

[sissy]

That was at the house in PA and found when I got all the stuff from the bank boxes there .My mom was not one for taking pics and I guess that is why I take so many .Both my sons have 3 full albums of pics and I have 30+ moving video's of them .I never found 1 real pic of the farm in NJ .Only a couple I took of my 1 son there .I wish I had taken more .My wedding pics were there but there were only a couple .I started going pic nuts after my first son was born .I guess they changed me .My mom only had 1 pic of me as a baby

 

[addy1]

My dad did photography, we used to develop the photos in the bathroom. No clue where they all went, after he died, one of my siblings snatched them all, boxes and boxes of photos.

 

[sissy]

So sad to hear addy and yep some family can be greedy and not sure why .I took my in laws photos and made copies on my puter for weeks so they could all have pics they wanted .I used a good printer and photo quality paper so they came out nice and used photo shop to fix a lot of them .For a couple of year they used one of those cameras the develop the photo in front of your eyes and those stupid things fade .My mom and dad had professional pics taken of my brother and guessing since it was there first born that is why they did it .I have lots of baby pics of him .

 

[addy1]

Surprising how many families the death of a parent or parents destroys the family.

 

[Lisak1]

Surprising how many families the death of a parent or parents destroys the family.

Surprising and ridiculously sad. So sad to see families fight over money or possessions and end up losing the only thing that really matters which is each other.

 

[addy1]

Our family fell apart over an inheritance worth the value of a new car coming to each sibling.

 

[sissy]

When in laws passed here we grouped together more .Mom passed on fathers day and dad passed on mothers day of the next year .There was a decent amount of money for all the children .We also had to group together to clean out the house and paint and clean carpets do repairs and a bunch of landscaping .It was a family thing as dad had everything written out in his will clearly .I think that is what pulls families apart no will and greedy people .OH WELL .pond father at least you have lots of great memories with the grandchildren and sure there will be many more .I guess the learning experiences give you all something to talk about when you sit around the pond .I am sure there are some funny and frustrating stories you all talk about at the pond and in the end you say it was all worth it .Must be funny to hear some of your stories now .I know when I look back I keep saying I must have been nuts and funny thing is I am