Finishing the Patio

The guys from Knee Deep Ponds came and finished laying the new patio yesterday. They did a great job of designing the screen to hide the oil tank and garbage/recycle cans. I love how it's two levels instead of one long span and also how they topped it with a rail to match the deck; so useful for setting things on.


In the "you don't see this every day" category, while we had Ben's brother's trailer this weekend we picked up twenty-five bags of mulch at Home Depot. It was pretty interesting to see how all that mulch was moved around.

Last night Paul fell into the pond by accident, slipping on the top of the skimmer and into the pool with a huge splash that scared all of us half to death, including the fish. Now that I know he's all right, I wish I had a picture of his face when he first surfaced! He didn't know what had hit him.

I'm heading off to Boston for a few days with my sister and our friend, Janice, for our yearly "girl's get-away." Should be fun!

A Little Place to Sit

When I went down to see the ponds at Knee Deep Ponds, I was very taken with this little seating area. I loved how the flagstone came right up to the edge of the water, providing a comfortable "front row" seat for enjoying the pond, and how some of the spaces between the flagstone were filled in with plants.


So in our contract, we asked for something similar, specifying the use of flagstones going up to the water's edge. How that would be done and exactly how it would look, we weren't sure.

This was unfamiliar territory for me and Ben. In all the other work we've had done on the house, we've had very specific plans in advance. We tightened up the contract somewhat, but in lieu of detailed drawings or specifications, the final contract stated: Your pond will have its own distinct character. Your input will be the most important part of this creation. We encourage your feedback during the layout and the construction.

After quite a bit of on-the-site thoughtful design decisions made by Knee Deep Ponds in extensive consultation with me and Ben, this is how our little seating areas turned out. Ben and I are thrilled.


In order to make the flat sitting area on the other side of the pond, the crew had to do a lot of regrading to level out the significant slope. It was a tremendous amount of work.


As the work progressed, it became clear that this area was perfect for a larger patio. It had shade and a cooling breeze when the rest of the porch was broiling in the hot sun. It offered a different and pleasing view of the pond and more seating. The more I stood there discussing the placement of specific stones with Matt and Gordy, the more I loved being in that spot. It seemed that we should just go ahead and make a large patio there, but we hadn't ordered enough flagstone. When Ben came home and sat there for a while enjoying the coolness, the gentle breeze, and the view, he needed no persuading; putting in a larger patio was clearly the thing to do regardless of the cost of the additional stone and labor.

So while the pond is officially "done," we will soon start phase two, when a new trash can storage area will be constructed, the area in front of that will be regraded, and irregular flagstone will be put down to enlarge the current seating area.

It's hard to believe what's being created out of an area that used to contain the dog kennel!

The Bridge

The crew from Knee Deep Ponds installed the bridge across the pond yesterday. They brought in four long supports they had made in their shop, attached a wooden pad at each end, and moved the bridge into place. It fit across the pond nicely.

It was just the right height; perfect for sitting on while dipping your toes in the water, yet not too high to block the view of the waterfall. Seeing it in place, a design confab was held and we all decided to abandon the original plan of adding a middle and a top rail and protective vertical pickets.


I wondered if the bridge would appear too "heavy" when the decking was added, and one of the crew had the idea to offset each piece of wood, as you can see below.


I absolutely loved the lighter effect this little detail gave. The crew also rounded the edges of each board so there are no sharp edges to cut into our legs as we dangle them over the sides.

I really love how the bridge turned out and appreciated all the thought, as well as skill, that the crew brought to the task of making it.


Among other things, it is a perfect platform for taking photos of the water lilies.

Knee Deep

Paul was on the trail of a rare green koi he had read about on the Internet and was happy to find that a local pond supply store had a small one for sale for the exact amount that he had saved from his allowance.

But once the small koi was released in our big pond, it was hard to spot him.

What's a fellow to do? Go in for a closer look.

Give a camel an inch....

Well, our pond company isn't called Knee Deep Ponds for nothing!

Watching and Waiting

We spent most of yesterday watching the fellows from Knee Deep Ponds hard at work.

It was so interesting to see how they placed the plants in little rock pockets and hid the underwater lights with strategically placed rocks.

The Aquascape system they use has a skimmer at one end of the pool and a pump in a waterfall at the other end, and we watched them being installed.

Then they got ready to start filling the pond with water, siphoning off the water they had collected and dechlorinated in the big plastic 100 gallon tubs.

And the pond started to fill!

It was quite dramatic when the waterfall began to work. And quite loud! But then Matt cleverly arranged the stones so the water ran more smoothly and the resulting sound is properly soothing.

If all that wasn't enough for one day, we then drove down to the big ponds where the company breeds koi and picked out several beautiful fish that will be put in the pond on Monday, when the guys come back to finish off the flagstone around the pond and construct the bridge.

After such an exciting day it was wonderful to come home to a peaceful pond and soothing waterfall and watch the underwater lights come on as the sun set.

The Pond, Day 3

This is how the pond looked early this morning. The waterfall has been placed, the skimmer is in, and the liners are lined with rocks.

It took a lot of digging, toting, hammering, and hand placing rocks "just so" to get to this point, all in 90 degree heat. None of this hard work was done by us; the boys and I watched from the air conditioned house, coming out occasionally to take photos, ask questions, and refill the cold water dispenser.

That big, flat rock in the bottom of the photo below is making the "fish cave," so the fish have someplace to hide from the heron who lives in the big pond next door. I think the water is going in today, which means we'll soon be able to add fish. The boys are very excited about going to pick out some koi from the local pond supply place. From their Internet searching they have discovered that there are green koi (really?); well, that's what they tell me.

I'm pretty excited about seeing how all these big flat stones will end up forming a flat edging to the pond and a little patio area near the tulip magnolia.

Oh, and, of course, the bridge. I think Ben is excited about a bridge along the lines of Monet's bridge at Giverny. A little shorter, of course, but you get the idea of the simple railing. We want to be able to lean over the top railing and also rest our hands and heads on the middle railing when we sit down on the bridge to dangle our feet over the side.


There's lots of excitement to come.

Irresistible

The pond builders left about 3:30 yesterday, and about 4:00 the kids found the ten huge plastic tubs the builders had left behind, each filled with 100 gallons of water apparently set out to dechlorinate. They proved irresistible.