I am a believer in: I may not agree with your [univseral "you"] opinion, but it's your right to be able to have that opinion and I respect that. Diversity makes the world a more interesting and beautiful place.
------------------
Five years ago, I never dreamed of building a pond. Instead, I had 8 baby box turtles living in an outdoor habitat. Box turtles aren't aquatic, but they DO require clean water for soaking and cooling off. Most people simply put out plant saucers [or similar] filled with water. Problem is, turtles are messy, messy [they poop in the water], and the chore of constantly cleaning and filling multiple dishes became a non-option. That's what spawned my idea of building an outdoor "watering hole" for them that would have recirculating water -- healthier for them and easier for me [and we all know that "easier" translates to "compliance."]. So, the ideas evolved....and continued to evolve. Why not just make it a small pond with a fenced off, shallow area just for the turts. But, of course, we had to have fish if we're going to have a pond, and a larger body of water is easier to maintain [quality-wise] than a smaller body of water......so......
I won't detail the ideas and changes since that original idea, but there have been many. First and foremost was that the turtles and their habitat [which consumes about a 1/3 of the back yard] was my primary concern and focus. The pond was secondary so we had to figure out logical, practical, and aesthetic ways to make it happen, working with the space and layout that was left. After a year with a great, functioning system that the turtles enjoyed, I was beginning to realize there were many, many impractical and potentially unsafe aspects to my "design." So, a major pond renovation took place and the turtles now have their own bogs within the habitat -- which are plumbed to the pond. Aesthetically speaking, my initial design looked great as I was able to incorporate pond and habitat in a way that made it look nice and somewhat natural. But, now I'm stuck with "safer and more practical" [for the turtles], and aesthetics had to take a back seat. Five years ago there was no way I could have anticipated what was going to work and what wasn't going to work as far as marrying the pond with the habitat. I'm sure I could have hired someone to come in with a plan to totally remake the entire backyard, incorporating the pond, including a complete re-make of the turtle habitat; as well as hiring someone to do the work. In another life, I will seriously consider taking this route. But I have what I have. My turtles are happy and healthy, and I have a [tacky looking] pond that I enjoy.
