And again some more... You can see rain drops on the rocks. I worked and worked and worked, trying to get the waterfall just the way I saw it in my mind. The hardest part for me was getting up and down off of my knees, and climbing in and out of the pond, to retrieve rocks of different specific sizes, shapes, and thicknesses. Thankfully my sons and grandkids helped me sometimes...
About to attempt to rebuild our deck pond myself, with helpers. Intimidated!
- Thread starter Lump
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j.w
I Love my Goldies
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You are really moving along nicely and won't be long now.....................but don't you get snow and really cold weather there?
I quickly came to realize that it is much easier to visualize a completed waterfall than it is to build one. Not only must you get the rocks level with sides secured against loss of water, but after reading all those posts here about trying to make it look natural instead of manmade, I was determined to try to make it look as natural as I possibly could, within the limitations of available space and rocks that I had at my disposal. I assembled it and tore apart again dozens of times over about 5 days. The fact that I had no equipment to move the rocks with made it tough on an old man's back
, I can tell you!
And again. I even tore it back out a few times after having applied foam. I waited until it dried, but then didn't like what I saw. So I ripped it back out, scraped away the black foam residue, and did it again. And again.
Soon I was coming up against a deadline. You see, back in early July when I started this project and drained the old pond, I rescued my one surviving goldfish, about 4-5" long. I had bought it at a bait shop a few years ago, and it was the only one not eaten by a roving mink last year. I took that lone survivor down to our lake, and put him in a fish basket...the kind fishermen use to keep their catch alive. I planned on him being in there for a week or two, and hoped it would survive the heavy wave action, snapping turtles, and curious kids in the neighborhood. But then I sprained my ankle, and the work pace slowed. I fed him once a week, but never expected him to survive. But by late October he was still strong and healthy in that old basket...unbelievable will-to-survive! Now I wanted to help him if I could. But they drain our lake down nearly 10 feet, starting on November 15th. I HAD to finish that waterfall and all my pump hookups, etc, to get that pond flowing, so "Tuffy" would have a place to live!
I worked like an animal on the pond every day after work. But with the end of daylight savings time and the shorter days, I began working by flashlight, etc. Finally I started getting the actual waterfall itself looking closer to what I wanted (within the given space). It still looked like it had been dropped there out of an airplane or something, but I was hopeful that when I get some landscaping in around it and cover up all the liner, deck edges, etc, that it will look nicer. My youngest son is looking it over in this photo. He and other family members were a big help.
Then I got a sudden chance to go to the Rocky Mountains with a friend. He needed me to drive him there and back in my pickup truck, and offered to pay expenses. I agreed, IF he would agree to help me bring home some big pretty rocks. We had a deal, and I found some FABULOUS rocks there. Too bad we couldn't lift the really, really cool ones I found. 
So at last, about 2 weeks ago and using my "new" granite rocks from out west, I finally got the waterfall built into a shape I liked. I still didn't have the edges of the liner trimmed, tucked, or covered, and didn't have deck boards replaced, etc. But now I could connect all the pumps, fill it with water, and give it a try.
While I had been at a trade show in Las Vegas, first week of November, they had HEAVY rains at home, so mother nature actually filled the pond most of the way. I put lots of waterfall foam in all the seams between rocks, etc. But here I made one of my errors of the project. I underestimated how quickly it would "skin over," in the cool November air. So for several seams and pockets I waited too late to throw gravel at the foam to get stuck in it and disguise it. I'm hopeful that time and natural algae, etc, will disguise it for me, or I'll have to rip it out and replace it correctly next summer.
With the lake drain-down date looming near, I finally got all the 1.5" pump lines connect, wiring in place, filter assembled and installed, the waterfall finished (for now, anyway), and was ready to see if everything would work. The pond was full of water too. First I got down in the water and worked for about 2 hours picking out all the leaves and debris. Then I climbed out, and surveyed the situation. The liner edges were all still exposed, dirt not yet shoveled back in on top of the hoses, boards not yet replaced on the deck. But it ought to hold water. And if the waterfall worked as it should, and if the pump were big enough, etc, etc...it ought to work. I plugged in the pump, and stood back and waited. Voila, it WORKED!!!
I still needed to hide the edges of the liner, and so many other small tasks. But at least now I could go down to the lake, put my poor survivor goldfish into a bag of lake water, and immerse the bag in the pond to allow the water temperatures to adjust gradually. After about 30 minutes I released him. Now, two weeks later, he can be seen each day happily swimming around. I'm sure he is glad to be out of that basket!
I know it is still pretty ugly at this stage, even with most of the excess liner trimmed and tucked away. But I hope it will be greatly improved when I can plant hostas and other interesting plants around the falls, and add some water plants in the pond itself.
I added that really cool piece of driftwood on the house side of the falls...although it is not really driftwood. I found it in the deserts out west. It is a very old juniper stump, which probably died a hundred or more years ago. The light string worked out nicely, but the photos which I took after the water cleared were on the cell phone that was stolen. I'll try to take some more, first chance I get. However, right now it is sleeting and snowing, and it is always dark by the time I get home from work each day.