Hello, fellow pond enthusiasts. I recently discovered the Pond Boss forum and have found it to be very informative, as well as entertaining. I wish the heck I had found it earlier. I’m currently in the 10th year of a pond project and probably could have saved some time and money.
After reading some of the interesting threads in which others have chronicled their pond construction projects I’ve decided to share my own experience with the forum. Since I’m ten years into my project and the major construction is done,(I hope) I’ll relate my experience in a retrospective manner. I’ll start at the beginning and proceed in chronological order with text and pictures, detailing the different phases of construction .
The location of my pond is on a heavily wooded 17 acre tract. The main body of the property is a 14 acre semi-square shaped valley, equally divided by a dry gully. The gully originates on the south border as a result of being the low point drain for the 50 acre meadow next door. The gully immediately becomes deeper and wider as it traverses the property on a down hill slope. This gully crosses a pipeline r.o.w. at about the halfway point and ultimately exits the north side of the property after achieving a depth of about 30 ft. and a width of 100 ft.
During my initial inspection of the gully it appeared to have red clay sides and bottom. I assumed I could simply dam up the gully and create an attractive, natural looking, low cost pond. I even pondered over the idea of simply forming and pouring a concrete dam across a narrow section of the gully (sort of a mini Hoover Dam)
Golly, how many times did I just say gully? Oh well, better get used to it. They don’t call me “gully washer” for nothing. Actually, they don’t call me “gully washer.” It seemed to be the only pond related name not yet taken on this forum, that I could think of. And I thought of a lot of names, only to be denied, time and time again. I wish forums would provide an alphabetized list of it’s member’s names for new applicants to review before submitting their applications. I must have filled out the application about dozen times. I almost gave up. Don’t ask me what my latest e-mail address is. It’s really lame. Oh well, enough of that rant. On with my story.
Ten years after buying the property and building a cabin I rented a backhoe and installed a septic system. Afterwards, I used the backhoe to build a small 1/8th acre test pond at the upper end of the valley, where the gully begins. While digging a cutoff trench across the gully I discovered the bottom had eroded down to a vein of sugar sand. Therefore, I had to scrape clay from the sides, to cover the bottom, in order to achieve a good seal. Even with the extra, unforeseen work, I completed the pond in about 8 hours. Estimated cost of construction was a mere $100. However, the discovery of the sandy bottom meant that building a larger pond downstream would require more machine work than I had anticipated.
The little pond filled to a 9ft. depth and held water relatively well. It soon became home to Minnows, Crayfish, Turtles, Frogs, Snakes, etc. None of which I put in there. It was really interesting to observe it’s eco-system develop over time.
After much contemplation over the year that followed building the small pond I unfortunately decided the first step of building a larger pond was to cut down all of the trees and brush downstream, in the area the new pond would eventually encompass. I fell and stacked the trees and brush into the bottom of the gully and let it dry for about a year, before lighting massive bonfires one night when the conditions were right. The next step was to use a rented trackhoe to build the new pond, and like any good procrastinator I was successful in waiting another five years before proceeding to the next step..........I'm sorry I've been a bit long winded so far. I'll continue later, when I figure out how to post captioned pics with the thread, instead of attachments. I followed the directions but must have missed something. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, gw
Procrastination for some of us is 2nd nature, but when it comes to pond building and stocking, it isn't a common problem! Most of us get into trouble by diving in head over heels before doing enough research. Then we come here and find out why we have problems... Luckily I got here before I stocked fish.
Welcome to the forums, looking forward to hearing the rest of the story.
GW, here's a weird question for you. What's that steak house on I45 about 40 minutes from College Station? We ate there one time while we were at TEEX, and I can't remember what the name of the town is.
GW, welcome to the forum. I share your pain in posting pics. The only way that I've been able to do it was to open a Photobucket account (it's free), store the pics there, and copy/past the direct link in the pop-up box that says "enter an image" when you hover the mouse over it.
Also, there is an alphabetical "user list" between "my stuff" and "active topics".
Indeed, welcome to Pond Boss Gully Washer! That is a seriously impressive, manly sized bonfire! How high are those flames, man???!!!
Anxious to see the rest of your story and learn about your questions. Looks like you got the fire picture posted okay there unless one of the mods helped out by fixing the link.
As Esshup said, the easiest thing for me, too, has been the free photobucket account (photobucket.com). You just upload from your computer, click the picture you want to share here, click the "IMG code" nest to that picture, then add it here using the fourth icon over on the posting window and add your IMG code from photobucket. One thing to watch is that process normally adds an extra [IMG] at the front and back of the line of code, and you'll want to delete that in the body of the message you're typing or the pic won't show up properly.
Just a minute or two of trial and error and you should have it. Now get back to the story!
Another way to share pictures... if you are into Google-foo, is to use Picasa for your image sorting and management program, and Google's free space for images. I've always liked it, though it has deteriorated a bit in the interest of Google+.
[FireIsHot wrote] GW, here's a weird question for you. What's that steak house on I45 about 40 minutes from College Station? We ate there one time while we were at TEEX, and I can't remember what the name of the town is. It's in a one light town.
[gw] Yes, that is a weird question. I suspect you may be talking about the Texas Legends Steakhouse in Madisonville, on the courthouse square. It’s about a 40 minute drive from college station via Hwy 21. If that’s not it, you may have gone north on I-45 a few more miles to the very small town of Leona, where the Leona General Store / Steakhouse is located. I’m not aware of any steakhouse in that area located directly on I-45. However, I haven’t been out that way in few years.
[essup wrote] GW, welcome to the forum. I share your pain in posting pics. The only way that I've been able to do it was to open a Photobucket account (it's free), store the pics there, and copy/past the direct link in the pop-up box that says "enter an image" when you hover the mouse over it. Also, there is an alphabetical "user list" between "my stuff" and "active topics".
[gw] Thanks for the help with the photos. I did find the list of member’s names. Problem is, you have to be a member in order to access it. The my stuff and member’s list tabs don’t exist on the non-member page. It’s no biggie though, I was just being sarcastic.
[Todd3138 wrote] Indeed, welcome to Pond Boss Gully Washer! That is a seriously impressive, manly sized bonfire! How high are those flames, man???!!!
[gw] Those cedar trees in the foreground are about 20 ft. tall, and that 15 ft. high brush pile was in a 20 ft. deep gully. I guess the flames were probably licking the sky at about 40 ft. above the pile. It was somewhat scary. Actually, that was a more recent burn. I clicked on the wrong thumbnail when uploading. I’ll have another pic of the same fire, a couple of posts later.
Thanks to everyone, for your warm welcomes, and for the help with the photos. Now, I will attempt to add some more posts to this thread.
In the early spring of 2009 I had the time and money to proceed with pond construction. I was between jobs, as was a friend who happens to be an equipment operator. So after hiring him, and renting a trackhoe, it was “Git er dun” time.
During the previous 5 years the charred, and once barren gully had re-vegetated with a vengeance. There were prehistoric species of trees and bushes unlike any I’ve ever seen, rapidly growing in the sun lit, highly enriched soil…… Great, the only thing I had gained from the previous clearing was chainsaw sharpening skills and a sore back......... In the first pic. the two little bucks are standing in front of the previously cleared gully. . .
Golly, how many times did I just say gully? Oh well, better get used to it. They don’t call me “gully washer” for nothing. Actually, they don’t call me “gully washer.” It seemed to be the only pond related name not yet taken on this forum, that I could think of. And I thought of a lot of names, only to be denied, time and time again. I wish forums would provide an alphabetized list of it’s member’s names for new applicants to review before submitting their applications. I must have filled out the application about dozen times. I almost gave up. Don’t ask me what my latest e-mail address is. It’s really lame. Oh well, enough of that rant. On with my story.
If you go to User List and click on display name all display names are listed in alphabetical order.
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