Building pond in Israel by a Granny!

[GBBUDD]

Speaking of drinking are you? You repeated your story twice and sometimes drinkers forget things they have already done

nope i typed loader in the first version when it was a roller

 

[YShahar]

Yet another update!
When last we visited our intrepid heroes, the liner had just been delivered and was left lying on the patio--a great 11 meter long sand worm waiting to trip up (and possibly devour) the unwary patio pedestrian. Meanwhile, the underlayment was laid and 10 bags of sand were spread on the shelves and pond bottom.

All was ready for lining, but could we--one rather out-of-shape-but-otherwise-admirable-computer-programmer and one granny-with-attitude--somehow man-handle...er, Yael-handle, 300 kilo worth of 60 mil EPDM into the hole?

Well, it took some doing, I can tell you! In the end, I rigged up an old Ikea bookshelf ladder to serve as a ramp, plus some boards wrapped in underlayment. Working together, and with many choice words, we managed to drag the liner, inch-worm style, over to my home-made ramps. Once loaded onto the ends of the ramps, it was up to God and gravity to get the thing into the hole. Needless to say, it worked! We then spent over an hour tugging and straining at the various ends to align the thing just so, making sure to have plenty of excess at the waterfall so as to allow for an overlap of the stream liner. I hadn't been entirely certain we'd have enough liner to go all the way across, and I'd been ready to adjust the design accordingly, but in the end, we had plenty! Here's what it looked like once the liner was in:

I installed the sailcloth (an old Ikea find, hitherto unused) because we were working during the first Sharav (east wind heat wave) of the season. We went from the coldest days we've had all winter to record-breaking heat in the course of one week.

So now it was time to lay the overlay. I ended up losing a day to supply chain issues. I had ordered 400 gram/square meter underlay from a construction company a few towns over, and ended up bringing home a roll of 300 gram stuff without realizing it. So while negotiations were underway to fix the issue, I ended up using the 300 gram underlay under the liner. By week's start on Sunday of this week, the head of the company was in touch with me and I'd lined up a supply of what I actually needed--the 400 gram stuff. So off I went to get it, had it forklifted more or less straight into the back of my little Vitara and home I went. Much excitement ensued when it was time to offload the roll... Our house is one story below street level, so the most efficient way of getting this great heavy roll of 100 square meters of underlayment down into the front yard was... you guessed it...gravity! Yep, I seem to make more use of gravity in my builds than any other tool. A real downer, but I digress...

So I bellowed for His Honor the Cook, who was working from home, and together we tipped the roll over the railing of the sidewalk and allowed Newton's Laws to take over. In other words, we went ballistic... A good time was had by all, and nothing important was broken.

To be continued!

 

[YShahar]

So by the middle of this week, the liner was in, the overlay laid, and it was time to start rocking! But where to start? I had hoped to have most of the rock pile diminished by the end of this week, as Friday begins a week-long festival in Israel that pretty much puts a stop to all work. Since our back patio needed to switch from construction area to entertainment zone, I needed to get at least part of the work finished! So I opted to work on the intake bay, which sits right off the patio. Get that done, and at least the patio area becomes a bit more civilized.

So here is the intake bay all lined, overlayed, milk crates and trash can/ pump vault installed, ready for the next stage:

Time to get to work!

I used the sack trolley to ferry an assortment of rocks from the pile over to the patio. But the real issue was...The Big One. The "intake" bit of the intake bay was meant to incorporate one of the largest stones we had--a 300 kilogram behemah (lit. "cow") of a rock measuring 60 cm by 30 by 40, which would need to be maneuvered over the narrow land bridge dividing the intake bay from the pond.

Once more, HHTC was called into action. Together, using various ropes, cardboard, bits of underlayment, and a lot of brute force, we managed to drag the thing into place. It took us nearly 2 hours, and doubtless caused the neighbors to look up many interesting new words in the dictionary.

But eventually, it was done, and I could start picking out rocks for the intake bay. The goal was to make it look as if a thousand years of flash floods had eroded away the ground, leaving a small pooling area behind. This sort of terrain is common in many places in Israel, so I had some images to go on. Here's how it looked at the end of work today:

As I sat out on the patio enjoying a glass of wine, Arya the Calico Cat endorsed my work and said, "It is good".

 

[cas]

Your narrative has me smiling. It is looking great so far. Keep the pictures coming.

 

[GBBUDD]

I HAD MONEY DOWN ON YOU ..... i bet that you'd finish your pond before @combatwombat finished his gooooooooooooooooooooooo granny

your amazing their lady . LOVE YOUR ROCK WORK .... nO WONDER THE ISRAELI military yhas the reputation it does . there grandmothers can kick some cookies.

 

[j.w]

@YShahar When I first saw that picture w/the white material I immediately was shocked to see you got snowed on,lol! Didn't take but a sec to review and see it was not snow. Do you even get snow there ever?

Anywho, you are making fast work outta that pondering plan and gung ho you go girl!

 

[YShahar]

I HAD MONEY DOWN ON YOU ..... i bet that you'd finish your pond before @combatwombat finished his gooooooooooooooooooooooo granny

your amazing their lady . LOVE YOUR ROCK WORK .... nO WONDER THE ISRAELI military yhas the reputation it does . there grandmothers can kick some cookies.

Well, considering that most of my military experience consisted of lying about in a ghillie suit exercising a single finger, pond building is a nice change! ;-) But yeah, I'm pretty sure I'll have running water before our esteemed @combatwombat does, even though he's got a major headstart, not to mention the purple dinosaur! But whoever wins your bet, I think we should all meet for a drink on my patio once this thing is completed.

 

[YShahar]

@YShahar When I first saw that picture w/the white material I immediately was shocked to see you got snowed on,lol! Didn't take but a sec to review and see it was not snow. Do you even get snow there ever?

Anywho, you are making fast work outta that pondering plan and gung ho you go girl!

Last time our area got snow was the year before we moved in, though a few years back it snowed all over the hills just a few kilometers east of here. But no, sadly the only underlayment available here is this white stuff. But once it's under white limestone, it's not too visible, and in any case, it's quickly colonized by algae.

 

[GBBUDD]

we can do it virtually if nothing else.... I was jealous of all the aching muscles around here so i decided to rip my big bog appart WHAT WAS I THINKING

 

[GBBUDD]

Yet another update!
When last we visited our intrepid heroes, the liner had just been delivered and was left lying on the patio--a great 11 meter long sand worm waiting to trip up (and possibly devour) the unwary patio pedestrian. Meanwhile, the underlayment was laid and 10 bags of sand were spread on the shelves and pond bottom.

View attachment 149534

All was ready for lining, but could we--one rather out-of-shape-but-otherwise-admirable-computer-programmer and one granny-with-attitude--somehow man-handle...er, Yael-handle, 300 kilo worth of 60 mil EPDM into the hole?

Well, it took some doing, I can tell you! In the end, I rigged up an old Ikea bookshelf ladder to serve as a ramp, plus some boards wrapped in underlayment. Working together, and with many choice words, we managed to drag the liner, inch-worm style, over to my home-made ramps. Once loaded onto the ends of the ramps, it was up to God and gravity to get the thing into the hole. Needless to say, it worked! We then spent over an hour tugging and straining at the various ends to align the thing just so, making sure to have plenty of excess at the waterfall so as to allow for an overlap of the stream liner. I hadn't been entirely certain we'd have enough liner to go all the way across, and I'd been ready to adjust the design accordingly, but in the end, we had plenty! Here's what it looked like once the liner was in:

View attachment 149535

I installed the sailcloth (an old Ikea find, hitherto unused) because we were working during the first Sharav (east wind heat wave) of the season. We went from the coldest days we've had all winter to record-breaking heat in the course of one week.

So now it was time to lay the overlay. I ended up losing a day to supply chain issues. I had ordered 400 gram/square meter underlay from a construction company a few towns over, and ended up bringing home a roll of 300 gram stuff without realizing it. So while negotiations were underway to fix the issue, I ended up using the 300 gram underlay under the liner. By week's start on Sunday of this week, the head of the company was in touch with me and I'd lined up a supply of what I actually needed--the 400 gram stuff. So off I went to get it, had it forklifted more or less straight into the back of my little Vitara and home I went. Much excitement ensued when it was time to offload the roll... Our house is one story below street level, so the most efficient way of getting this great heavy roll of 100 square meters of underlayment down into the front yard was... you guessed it...gravity! Yep, I seem to make more use of gravity in my builds than any other tool. A real downer, but I digress...

So I bellowed for His Honor the Cook, who was working from home, and together we tipped the roll over the railing of the sidewalk and allowed Newton's Laws to take over. In other words, we went ballistic... A good time was had by all, and nothing important was broken.

To be continued!

ANYONE ELSE NOTICE ? granny is going to have her koi cross breed there's a lemon tree hanging over the pond and the koi are going to look like kissing fish puckering up from the lemons ...........

 

[YShahar]

ANYONE ELSE NOTICE ? granny is going to have her koi cross breed there's a lemon tree hanging over the pond and the koi are going to look like kissing fish puckering up from the lemons ...........

Oh yeah, I'm really seeing how the skimming action is going to come into its own this time of year. The lemon tree is dropping softball sized fruit into the pond at the rate of one every hour, and is offloading spent blossoms like crazy. I don't remember ever having a harvest quite this rich since we moved in. I'm not entirely surprised, as it's the fallow year, when we aren't allowed to cultivate, so the land is supposed to compensate with a rich crop, but this is way more than I expected! His Honor the Cook is going to need to find some new lemon recipes!

 

[GBBUDD]

I'm sure you have heard of all the bs we are dealing with here in the U.S PEOPLE NEED TO GO EXPERIANCE you can have a garden this year but you can next so the soils cope . water restrictions and droughts. I KNOW SEVERAL FOLKS OUTSIDE THE u.s AND THEY JUST LAUGH AT US FOR OUR FOOLISHNESS . not having any clue how special and unique this country is.

 

[combatwombat]

Looking good! Beautiful rock work. You’re probably going to win. I’m currently tearing apart my cistern to add a second pump vault.

 

[GBBUDD]

Why in the world are you adding another vault? ""

 

[combatwombat]

Why in the world are you adding another vault? ""

Don’t worry about it.