My Aching Back

Truth be told...
"My Husband's Aching Back" should be the name of this entry.

It could also be called "The Ballad of the Pond No One Wanted". Maybe, "The Hole that Hubby Built"?

Somehow we came upon the idea to have a pond in the back yard. The pond form was in the yard all winter (a cheap buy from the market as it had spent quite some time in the barn). Hubby brought it home in the back of the pickup. The space was chosen last year. Most other yard work this year has been done. The weather was bound to get disgustingly hot any second, so it must be time to break ground on the pond.

All along I've thought the pond idea was his idea. He thought it was my idea.

As we sat down and were discussing some stone choices for the waterfall feature we (OK, I) decided to add, I said "I don't know why you wanted this pond in the first place."
His response? "Me? I thought you wanted it it?"
Well, by this point the hole was dug, bags of pea gravel and sand in place, the preformed pond in place and leveled, a pallet of stone purchased, water pump, cement, pond foam, and let's just say the whole shebang. It was to the point of no return we agreed. We now are working on a pond we neither one apparently want. (it WAS his idea)


This is the 'pre-hole' we didn't want. It was roughed out tracing the upside down pre-formed pond liner. It rained the night before, so the digging went better than first thought.

This is the spot for the pond, just off the back edge of the deck. Just enough room to have a few plants and walk on each side of it once the form goes in.

This is the preformed pond liner moved out of the way so the 'unwanted pond' could get dug. It wintered in the back yard upside down so it wouldn't fill with water. When we lifted it up from the 'winter spot' there was the ugliest patch of grass/weed/ick underneath you ever didn't want to see. I didn't take a picture of that...but believe me when I say...you just don't want to know.

This is Hubby digging the hole for the pond we neither one wanted. (He did, I'm telling you!) This picture was taken at the beginning of the project, when he still had a back. That back is now under one of the huge pond stones that were moved several times in the making of the undesired pond.

He is such a great guy.

I supervised, he dug.

I gave my 2 cents, he said "Whatever you want Babe."

I said "How about moving it over there a couple of inches?" He said, "Don't you need to put a few more bags of mulch out front???"

It's still a work in progress. Even a pond that isn't wanted needs to be done right, or its more work to take care of. I'll have more pictures to come...but right now... my back hurts, too.