the pond

(warning:  loooong post!)

We have a pond.  It looks like this:

We built it ourselves, a two-year project that we finished (for the most part) last year.  It was a lot of work, but it was fun, and we love being near the pond throughout the summer.

We started by digging a big hole in the ground...

then picked up loads of rocks out of the corn and soybean fields across the street and hauled them to our yard (a family affair - all three of us were out there.  The neighbors thought we were crazy)...

We made our own filter from instructions we found on the internet here.  Our boy was fascinated by how it worked.

We then lined our hole with newspaper we scrounged from the neighbor's recycling, carpet scraps found in the attic, and leftover sand from some forgotten garden project...

and filled it up!

Then began the slow process of rock work...

and building the waterfall and supporting flower beds (more rock work)...

and filling the flower beds up.

(before)

(after)

Our pond is inhabited by some of these

And this year we have a lot of these.

We also planted these, which we enjoy when they bloom (our son loves to look out the window to see if there is a new one.  "Mom!  There's a pink one today!"):

But our favorite part of having our pond is watching these guys:

We started out with 29 cent pet store feeder fish, but have since upgraded to some prettier ones.  We've been careful to not spend too much money on fish, because we seem to have the knack of losing them.  Last year we lost several to a hungry heron.  This year, the blizzard of February sent a ton of snow sliding from our roof straight into the pond, which we think trapped several of our fish and they froze to death.  Poor little guys.  So we recently made a trip to the garden center to replace some of our beloved fishies.

Our son is an excellent fish-picker.  Once he had chosen the ones he wanted, we had the lady net them and bag them up.

("are you okay in there?")

 We brought them home and set them under an umbrella (it was HOT that day) until they were acclimated and could be released into the pond.

It wasn't long before they had made some new friends and we could spot them swimming around with the others.

Next on the agenda:  a patio out our back door where we can sit near the pond, listen to the waterfall, and entertain family and friends!