Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help I think I bought a catastrophe!

I am so glad to know that it is normal, you have no idea! Your idea is good girlfriend, go for it!

I couldnt agree more.A little burn here,a little effort there,and the place will be magnificent.

JHAP posted... WOW. No need for such drastic action. Who recommend THAT???

If us forum members can't drink, bear arms and have dynamite then I'm telling you right now I quit!

And I'm quite sure TomG and Sunil will be right behind me.

Not behind you,either beside or in front,woudnt want you to get shot by accident.And I'll have the beer,so you KNOW Sunil is coming along.And since the ladies have a good attitude and sense of humer,I guess a couple bottles of cabenet will be in order too>
Oh,and great pics by the way.

What's next, ban Diet Mountain Dew?

On second thought: get the stimulus money, and wear those beads in your photo.

Sounds like Hubby visits the same Haberdashery that I do.

anything to do with lonesome doves, Dave?

Awww man!! I don't qualify for 'Stimulus Money.'

I work!

But I do have these!!

Please, Tom, you are scaring my children.

"If Dad runs out of Dew, he'll go crazy and kill everyone."

The stimulus money could be used to set up a training program for the bored fire dept, infrastructure and safety training, they wouldn't have to be there all the time. Someone at the county level needs to get creative.

Wow!
Look what I missed for a week!
I just spent 30 minutes catching up on this thread. I've seen some hijacking before, but you all just adopted, corrupted and baptized Anna's thread....and made her a warm part of the Pond Boss family. I see a reunion in ya'lls future.
I wanna meet the fire department.
Oh...yes...back to the pond.
Since the pond is a key component to your land purchase, the first thing you need to do is have it evaluated.
Start with the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service). They'll be in the USDA office in the county seat of that county. Have them come out and take a look-see. They are free. Their mission will be to tell you the status of the dam. They can tell you if it needs repairs, the best way to do it and how much dirt would need to be moved. Hopefully (I say "hopefully" because this agency is often understaffed and overworked and I hope you can get someone out there pretty quick), they can work up some specs and teach you what the "problem" is so you can speak with contractors with more knowledge in your hands.
Next, ask the NRCS who they suggest would be good to talk to about repairing the dam, or otherwise fixing the leak(s). They should give you a list of reputable contractors. If they don't recommend someone, press them a little bit.
Then, call two or three nearby earthmoving contractors and get them out there to see what needs to be done and give you an idea of cost. Here's the most important advice at this point. DON'T ASSUME THEIR ESTIMATED COSTS TO BE ACCURATE!!" They can't be. They really won't know the costs until they literally dig into the project. Assume the cost will be at least 25% higher than the highest estimate.
While all this is being done, call Southeastern Pond Management in Birmingham or Auburn, tell them your problems and ask their advice who to talk to. Tell them you have a leaking pond, where it is and that you are considering renovating the pond. Ask them for advice, too. They may be able to give you some good advice and refer you. You are building a network, here.
From there, decide what to do.
It may be a simple fix, it may be complicated, depending on the leak.
Here's short primer about the way ponds act. The minute a dam is finished and a pond begins to impound water, it begins to fight its way back to becoming land again. Over the years, silt accumulates, plants grow, then die and decay. The pond bottom builds up with soils and organic matter. Over a period of time, a pond becomes more shallow, then parts of it become a swamp, then different plants grow, the pond shrinks, becomes a shallow, marshy wetland and then begins to grow terrestrial plants again.
I've actually been around long enough to see this happen....
As pond managers, we want ponds, sans the aging.
Your pond looks like it's had a pretty long life. Most likely, the dam has either had tree roots cause voids in the dam, or burrowing animals such as nutria have dug through and created avenues for water to escape.
If that is the case, you will likely need heavy equipment in there to fix it.
If that's the case, study it thoroughly. You will have several options.
Option 1 is to repair the dam and let the pond refill.
Option 2 is to repair the dam and renovate the entire pond (probably the best option).
Option 3 is to cut the dam, bulldoze it down, go to another spot and build another pond (I've seen many instances where this cost's less money).
The first thing you need to do is make sure the dam can reasonably be fixed. That's why I advise to get the NRCS people out there. While they are there, have the NRCS evaluate the entire tract and advise you what other conservation measures you can take. That will help bring your thoughts into a plan and help you prioritize what you want to do.
In my mind's eye, it looks to me like you will do your due diligence, choose to renovate the entire pond and design it like you want it to be for the dogs, for recreation and for serenity.
And, I don't think it will be as expensive as you might fear.
For a 1.5 acre rural pond in Alabama, I would be surprised if it cost much more than $6,000 to renovate.

Anna:
With advice like that you have to be hooked, these guys are the pros and know what they are talking about. It will be beautiful, you never said if there were any fish in there now, or if there is a home on the property, a real home.

$6,000!!!!!! IS that all? I was having sleepless nights over $6,000?? I was thinking $20K!! Fencing is going to cost more than that. Wow! What a relief.

Thank you so much for the incredibly detailed reply. Today we visited the NRCS and the "Pond" person was out, we did leave our number and hope he calls soon. We asked about other programs and were told that there were 104 people ahead of us. But we were told we do qualify for WHIP, EQUIP and LIP. We also signed up with the USDA to get a farm number and stopped by the County Extension Office to talk about eradicating 7 acres of prickly pear cactus and returning it to pasture or grassland.

We came away with 10 soil sample boxes and a ton of brochures.

Our wants for the property are simple. To improve it aesthetically for our own use while being good stewards of the land with minimal damage/intrusion to the existing wildlife and ecosystem. If at some point in time we can find a way for the land itself to offset some of the costs involved that would be great too.

There is a rather large population of Gopher Tortoise on our property and while they are not yet considered threatened or endangered in our county, we do plan to try to preserve and improve their habitat. Anyone got experience with them?

There's no way I can end this without telling you about our Sunday. It all started with our first hostile wildlife encounter(and of course we left the gun home). This critter tried to come up the bank after us.

Meet our little friend.



So, I send hubby off to find an armed neighbor while I keep an eye on the snake. The first neighbor did not keep ordnance in the house (what???) so he went to the second neighbor, thinking it was Pete's house whom we had already met. Pete owns the annoying jackass who is the bane of existence for the whole neighborhood. This crazy jackass will not stay in his pasture and tears out fences, grazes in everyone's gardens and poor Pete has not been able to catch him since he bought and turned him loose two years ago. Turned out it was not Pete's house it was Mr. Smith's house and my was he a hoot. He's about 80 million years old, grizzled, thin as a rail and the old type of southern gentleman who wears his jeans starched with a crease and has a pack of Swisher Sweet cigars in his shirt pocket. Mr. Smith wobbles out of the truck, shotgun in hand and introduces himself as Catfish. While walking him across the damn I thought he was going to fall over, he was none too sure on his feet and stumbled several times. He is so frail the gun looked like it weighed more than him. When we got to the spot where the snake was, he kept squinting and saying he couldn't see it. This snake was at least 6' long and as big as my forearm! Then, without warning he says "Oh, I see em.", and blammo, blows his head clean off with one shot! We were really having our doubts about his eyesight and aim and darn if he did not surprise us.

After dispatching the snake we all sat down for a neighborly chat. The jackass came up in conversation and Catfish told us he had offered to shoot it for Pete but that he had declined. Pete's been trying to give him away for a year. Anyone who wants this varmint is free to have him, the catch is that they have to catch him. Anyone want a rogue donkey?

I'm telling you this is going to be quite the adventure. I'm so glad that I found this warm and humorous forum to share it all with. Thank you all for the help.

Oh and Bob, do you really want to meet the VFD? Arson article

Catmom there are some LMB and I have seen tadpoles and turltes. There is no house on the land yet except for the MM. We are going to build a two story barn and convert it into a house. We already have plans and hope to start by midsummer. Wish us luck and you know I will post pictures.

Anna:
What kind of snake is that? How creepy!!!!!!!! One thing about Michigan, we don't have a lot of snakes. Wonder how old he was, and if he has any friends? Now I bet you have a strange dream, in fact lots of strange dreams to come in the future.
My mom & stepdad lived in Cullman Alabama for a few years when they retired, (and in fact, the built a house with a big pond, but I was not interested in that at the time) is your place near there?

I think a Cottonmouth snake, but I could be wrong. We are in the very southeast corner of Alabama about 5 hours south of Cullman. We are in the coastal plain and are 10 miles from Florida and 20 miles from Georgia. If you know where Panama City Florida is, we are 70 miles due north.

IF the snake has any friends, I am afraid they will have to go too. I can't risk a dog or person being bitten. As much as I hate to kill anything, self preservation comes into play with these varmints.

Funny story, Anna. You have a special knack for spinning a yarn. Ya'll arent from Bama are you?

Anna, get your gun!

You must be psychic! How did you know?

Finally, someone else here to sing show tunes with.

Good! Since you made contact witht the NRCS, I'll give you the next piece of advice. Here's how to go from 104 to 50. CALL THEM or STOP BY about once every two to three weeks. That automatically moves you up the list. While most of the others on the "list" sit, show the NRCS that you are actually active with your property.
If you want to move up even higher than 50, stay friendly, call weekly, always smile over the phone and even invite them out for reasons other than what they do for a living.
Keep thinking along the lines of total stewardship. You are on the right track.
I, too, love the way you spin the yarns.
Sounds like we might have a new writer for Pond Boss. Journal your adventures.
Pond Boss is always up for writing about "real world" pond adventures.
If you are interested in writing a story, let me know and we'll talk about it.
Your story is fun to read.

Oh, yes...my favorite part of the arson story was the line "there are no fire hydrants in the area." Nice dig from the writer.

Do a search on Gopher Tortoise and you will find quite a bit of information. When planning out your property try and determine where they are digging their tunnels and try not to disturb (if at all possible) that area. You can plant various types of plants that tortoises like to eat. If there is a large population of them naturally at your place then all you really need to do is to not mess up their habitat too much. I use to raise several species of tortoises (never any Gopher Tortoise, they are highly protected in California).

NOTE: I am pretty sure JHAP means an Internet search, not a Forum search. -Theo

The characters are named and the stage is set! This will become an EPIC Theater of the Absurd!!!

We have life threatening action (Snakes, VFD)

We have adventure (Pete's Donkey)

We have Love (the Love Shack)

We have mystery and intrigue (VISITORS of the Love Shack)

We PROBABLY have deep, enlightening, and insightful conversations (No doubt plenty of herb has been consumed in the Love Shack)

We have a VERY solid plot (The dream of the beautiful restoration of the "Diamond in the rough")

We have side splitting, soda snorting comedy (the whole damn story!)


THIS is what Hollywood SHOULD look for!




Oh ya! HOWDY Anna! Sure glad you came!

Anna:
If you ever get rid of the beads, I want them, maybe a silent auction?

And this is my life! But there are a few more characters that will need to be developed as the story unfolds. Of course we have hubby. Bless his heart he is an Alabama transplant from San Francisco. The first time I took him Blueberry picking he asked me if he needed gloves! He's a complete green horn and a real city boy. He doesn't like to get dirty. Large learning curve coming on for him.

Then we have my six dogs who each have their own personalities and irrepressible sense of humor. Some days I think I only kept the ones with mental disabilities. They get into more mischief and cause more chaos than any bunch of hairy mongrels I know. I will develop them more fully as the story goes along.

We have the closest neighbors (that don't keep ordnance in the house), Don and Kammie, with a K. I don't know why she introduced herself that way? "I'm Kammie, with a K." Did she think I was going to send her a letter? This is Don's third marriage and apparently wife #2 got everything. I have a sneaking suspicion that Kammie (with a K) might have had something to do with that unfortunate turn of events. Don is an avid beer drinker and on the weekends you don't see him without a Miller Lite in his hand. Even for breakfast! They are a clean and neat couple in their early to mid forties.

Around the corner we have Wayne. He lives in a small brick house surrounded by an acre of junk! He does have two tractors and keeps the road clear and grated when the county forgets we exist. Wayne seems to be a nice, dependable simple sort of older country fellow. Always ready to lend a hand but not as agile as he was in his youth. I'd estimate him at around 60 something. When he smiles it looks like his teeth are too big for his head! He is something else but I think he will be a fast friend.

Then we have me. I'm a German transplant to Alabama via the Military. My father had two sons (my brothers who tied me to the clothes line and threw dog poop on me) but I was the one he took fishing and hunting and taught how to do most everything including operating power tools. He instilled a fearlessness in me that I cherish. I own a Health Food store for pets. So yes, I am a closet tree hugger. I'm the kind of person who takes bugs outside and sets them free rather than kill them and I recycle. I have to deal with people and their pets all day. Many of the pets have chronic or terminal illnesses and I help to develop diet and supplement programs for them to extend their quality of life. I also get to roll around on the floor with puppies and older dogs all day, so all in all I have a great job. Except that I work about 65 hours a week.

So the stage is set and the adventure begins. This is going to be one wild ride!

Start the bidding!

We could be cousins.

Did one of your brothers lose his shins in a boating accident?

Anna:
How much do you think the bidding should start at? I would love to present my annual report to our homeowners board wearing those beads. They fit right in with my mid-life crisis.