Who would have thought that

people would have seen this page since May 6, 1999.
Certainly Not Me!!
  
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This page chronicles my pride and joy of 
all my hard work outside over the past 10 years.
Hey, I would have never believed I would be so into this before
we moved to the country, but hey, you never know.

From the looks of our original
back yard, who would have thought
that I would be so obsessed with
landscaping. Not me, no way.
I have really learned
much from a lot of trial and error.
From this mess, thanks to our
contractor who we have
badmouthed for 10 years,
to a beautiful yard.

It was really worth it.

Anyway we learned many things, and we also learned that you
always must try new things, and go with your instincts.
 We were told "that will never grow here" or "I wouldn't do that"
but being the stubborn person that I am (I get that from my mother) we
persevered.  We learned that nearly anything will grow here. We are located
n USDA Zone 4, but real close to Zone 5. We also have found that price is not
always the determining factor in weather or not something grows.
(Case in point:  our 99 cent Rhododendron) Also we found a really great place
for plants and especially trees. Miller Nurseries!! I will get some pictures
of my 10 year old 30-40 foot Poplar Trees.

This Is The Story Of Mudman!!

I wish I could tell you how much fun it is
to have a load of 50 lbs. of clay on your shovel, while building a pond.
Man, no wonder my back always hurts.
I've learned many things on this pond.
The most important is it's
gotta be LEVEL. If not, there is no way it 
will ever look right. One side will be full,
and the other won't.

(P.S. make sure you buy Craftsman® Brand of tools.
You won't believe it, but I actually broke 1
handle, and 2 blades on our lovely soil)

My wife Patrice still hasn't figured out what was in my head when I said
"Do you want to build a pond?" I think that is how it went!

Anyway, we learned that you must have a really good liner. Ours is 45mil with
a life expectancy of 20-25 years. The first few years we went the el-cheapo route
and bought a 4 mil liner. (Wow!!)  It isn't much fun running the hose
out from the cellar in the dead of winter to fill the pond. That was
the first year we left the fish in the pond all winter. That's when we
decided to go for broke and put in a GOOD liner in the spring.

Also you can never have enough rocks. Thank God we live in the country.
I found some really cool piles of rocks from the days when this was farm land.
That's why I always say, "I never met a rock I didn't like."  Little did I know
that I would actually be asking my friends for rocks. They thought I had
rocks in my head!! But low and behold, every once in a while somebody would
call me and say, "I've got a load of rocks in my yard if you want them"
Hey, what are friends for, right?

If at all possible, you have to use quality stuff. 
The liner and pump must be of high quality. I finally had to replace one of my
pumps.  It ran for 4 years and only stopped for 3 days during our
1998 Labor Day  Storm. (we had no power)  But most of all "Take your time."
Don't rush it like I did the 1st time. If you don't rush it, 
you will be happy with what you will get

But now the best is yet to come. My wife and I were sitting outside one
day and she said, and I quote, "Hey, wanna build a new pond?" I replied, 
"Sure". Where would you like it?"
Well, here we go again. I learned many new tricks.
No more busting my back and shovels on this beautiful clay soil.
No way!! Lets use the rototiller (Thanks, Gary & Sue) to break up
the dirt, then just shovel it out and till it again. Man, what a timesaver.
Check out the pictures of the new pond, and yes, a STREAM!!