In retrospect...

This was our pond. Yes I said was. This winter the pond pump went out, and along with the fact that I was already falling out of love with this pond, was the fact that I didn't want to spend a penny more keeping it running. Lets face it the pond was not a selling factor for me when we bought this house. Yes it was pretty and sounded beautiful. But I run a daycare, and I have four kids, one of my children has gone through a serious health scare as many of you know. Four months of non-stop seizures, and a very intense diet has been followed since then to stop them. Which takes a lot of extra cooking, prep and planning. I don't have time for extras, and fishing algae out of this pond every other day was just getting to be a little too much {we are talking copious amounts, no matter what we tried}. I'm a gardener, I'd rather spend any extra time I can scrounge up daydreaming in the garden. Plus I've been dreaming of the extra yard space. Our backyard is fun, but it's not very big. So anyways I finally talked my husband into ripping it out. And what a mess it's been.

It was really pretty at first, so I was a little sad to see it go. To bad it was so much work to keep it looking good. We really couldn't enjoy it much as it had to be behind an 5 foot {ugly} fence to keep the kids safe. Some day I'd like to live on property with a little creek running though it... that's my sort of water feature. :)

My husband rented a little tractor thingy and we got serious. Sort of scary to jump into a big project like this, because if you change your mind... well there just isn't any going back. Not that I was going to change my mind, but I know my husband hasn't been as keen on the idea as me. Probably because he has to do most of the work. Around here I churn out the ideas and he gets them done. ;)

So thankful for this hardworking man who trusts in me so much that he will make my ideas happen, even if he doesn't "see it" like I do. Makes me want to work extra hard to make it super cool so that he will feel like it was all worthwhile.

One little snag in our plans is the fact that this soil, if you can call it that, is practically pure clay. And doesn't drain. Which is probably why the previous owners turned it into a gorgeous pond, because it was pooling up regardless. Soooooooo, um, yeah. In retrospect, maybe the pond was a great idea. Shesh.

Scrambling for a better plan.

...and I think I've got one. I will make this work. I will. And when it's done I will show you the results, they will be stunning. {Not really, you can't really top a beautiful pond, it will be more kid friendly and fun... but that's what we are all about around here!}