Hey Tribe,
It's Christmas Eve!
Just a quick note to let you know who will be guiding Santa's sleigh this evening.
Ever since Rex received the news he'd made the team, he's been practicing his dashing through the snow skills.
So, tonight, if you hear the pitter patter of paws, it's just the B (as in Bear) team coming to eat your cookies.
Hey Tribe,
Rex and I tried something new today - we entered a Dryland Mushing race!
Dryland Mushing is dog "sled" racing with wheels, such as a bike or a scooter, and without snow.
We are not a speedy team: Rex runs at an easy pace he could maintain for miles and miles and is slow enough I wouldn't be seriously injured if we crashed. Our lack of speed worried me, not because I knew we wouldn't "win," but because if we were too slow a team behind us might lap us on the trail; Rex can be reactive to other dogs, especially when he is on a lead, and I really didn't want him to pick a fight with another racing team.
However, today, I think he felt my eagerness and he put some pep in his step and we raced. We really raced! So much so that we caught up to the team ahead of us and passed them, with Rex not even glancing at the gray husky. I was so relieved and happy and had such fun as we cruised through the trees toward the finish line.
Rex is such a good boy and I am so proud of him. He always tries his best and we have a lot of fun together, no matter what we're doing. I can't wait to enter another race with him as my partner.
Hey Tribe,
Yep, our baby girl is 5.
Fly and I went on a hike we've never done before and it was such a fun morning/afternoon!
Our friends, ThePurposefulWanderer and SalPal, joined us for hiking and blueberry picking.
Since we went early, we were the only ones on the trail and Fly was able to run free and try to catch as many ground squirrels as she wanted.
We found two lakes, which Fly tested for swimming suitability.
The water in this area is so clear and I absolutely love walking along the sandy bottomed streams that tranquilly flow out from the lakes. I could spend all day here and be quite content.
As the morning progressed, we could see people in the valley below us and Fly looked down at them with the air of one satisfied with accomplishing something ahead of others.
When we returned home, Fly spent her afternoon hunting goldfish and swimming in her pond. The pond has been her most favorite thing this year!
Happy 5th Birthday, best girl!
Hey Tribe,
This is the last installment in the DIY Dog Pond series and we will be talking about finishing touches and general observations.
One of the important things about the pond that I wanted to mention is the placement of the water filters. As mentioned in the supplies post, I have four mechanical filters working to keep the water clean and healthy. Two of the filters are like little fountains and I've placed them along one side of the pond, the ramp side, mostly because they aren't designed to be placed in over 4 feet of water. My skimmer cleans surface water, so it is placed in the shallow end of the pond and it feeds a little waterfall (my favorite feature of the pond). It is the filter placed in the deepest part of the pond that is the true unnoticed workhorse of the pond, however, because it has the important job of pulling the oxygen depleted yucky dead water that collects at the very bottom and bringing it up to the surface where it can be refreshed and made healthy again: the filter pulls in and cleans the dead water and the little frog spitter literally spits the water out onto the surface of the pond. It is essential that the pond water be cycled and not let to grow stagnant, both on the surface and down in the 7 foot depths of the pond.
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| Fly watches the fish, 7ft below the surface, swim around the bottom filter. |
We waited about a week after pond construction was completed before introducing the fish to their new home, but once they were in there, they made the place their own. In early morning and evening, they can be seen near the surface, playing around in the bubbles created by the fountains and throughout the day they swim about in the deeper sections, out of reach of eager dogs. I believe they have grown even larger and must be eating well, because we do not have any mosquito larva visible in the water, and we have not fed them at all this summer.
At least one frog has visited the pond and the shallowest part of the pond is a favorite location for frequent bird baths. Bees land on the turf skirt and sip the water that wicks up the edges and dragonflies do flybys and skim the water's surface. It's a busy pond. I've added rocks and places to accommodate all manner of visitors.
It is also Fly's new favorite pastime, though not necessarily for the reason I thought it would be. Ever the predator, I thought she would just run the edges and hunt the fish, which she does, but she also seems to enjoy swimming just for the sake of the swim - even after she has made an unsuccessful dive for a darting goldfish - and she will paddle back and forth before eventually making her way to the ramp and climbing out to hunt the edges once again.
I am also pleased to report that it is the perfect size for me to take a dip and swim about for a bit; the 7 foot depth means I can really swim without feeling like I'm in a tiny wading pool. I enjoy sitting on the shelf, my body mostly under the water, with Rex standing next to me as we watch Fly hunt fish and swim laps.
This DIY Dog Pond might have started out as a fish pond turned dog pool, but it has become much more than that - it is a summertime retreat, a preferred destination, and an activity we don't even have to leave home to enjoy.
Hey Tribe,
This is a continuation post in our DIY Dog Pond series. We're talking about the hard work part of the project here.
In the grass of my front yard, I staked out a rough outline of where I wanted the pond to be and the shape I was hoping for and TheFather got busy with the backhoe. It's a good thing I wanted a ramp built into the pond, because our little backhoe needed one to get in and out of the pit that was being created. We found trash in the pit, probably from when the yard was originally being constructed, and a giant rock that was so large and heavy that we barely got it up and out of there.
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| Look at that giant rock! |
To make any minor corrections and to smooth out some places, we used shovels to move the dirt and rocks. It was hard work.
It was roughly finished just before winter and the pit sat empty until Spring. Unfortunately, with nothing to support the sides, some of the dirt fell down into the bottom of the pit like little erosion areas, so our sides became a bit wider than planned and the bottom wasn't as deep. Then, it was decided that a crabapple tree was too close to one side, so we transplanted it across the driveway where it won't as easily drop its leaves into the pond.
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| Crabapple on the lower right is no longer there. |
Finally, after all the dirtwork was complete, we lined the pit with old tarps to act as a cushion for the pond liner, so the many rocks exposed in the dirt wouldn't be in direct contact with the liner and possibly cause a puncture. This pre-liner can be bought from pond places, but old tarps should work just the same and we had them on hand.
Then, with some friends to help us, we pulled the liner in place and I tried my best to minimize the inevitable wrinkles. We initially placed a new tarp over the liner, to act as top protection from dog claws, but removed the tarp after the first day, because it make the pond look yucky and we came up with a different solution to protect our liner. It took four days to fill the 20,000 gallon pond with a garden hose and our well: we didn't run the hose all the time, but would fill for a few hours and then let the well pump rest for a few hours, since I was concerned for the health of our well and the aquifer we tap into for our house water. Possibly it was an unnecessary precaution, but we weren't in a hurry to fill the pond.
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| Fly was in a hurry to get this thing filled! |
Once the pond was filled with water, we took the excess liner from the edges and folded them back over and into the lip of the pond, so they drape back into the water and act as an additional layer over the pond liner. It tends to float up in the water a bit, so I weighted down some spots with rocks and other areas are left to float and they provide shelter and hiding places for the fish.
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| Before I weighted down the excess liner. |
The astroturf stuff we placed on top of the liner edge and let the edges of the turf drape down into the water as well. This stuff is the genius of our pond design. Not only does this turf cover the edge of the pond liner and "finish" the edges of the skirt by hiding the liner, but it provides a secure walking area around the perimeter of the pond. It prevents dirt and grass clippings from getting into the pond, which keeps the water cleaner; by draping the edges into the water, it gives the dogs some traction for climbing up and out of the pond and simultaneously protects the liner from being clawed and scratched. I lined the plant and filter shelf in the pond with the turf as well, to protect the liner from direct contact with feet and paws, plant pots, and filters and it provides traction for walking, since the bare liner is a bit slippery. Seriously, that astroturf stuff was well worth the additional cost to the pond project!
I weighted down the edges of the pond liner and the turf cover with rocks. Three large rocks are placed so people can sit on them - including the beastly rock we unearthed and pulled out of the pond during the dig.
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| The beast |
Eventually, when I finally decide on where to best place my pond filters, we will run permanent wiring under the pond skirt. We generally only run the filters during the day and turn them off at night. What I do like about the wiring setup I have (and will keep) is that all four of my pond pumps can be turned off and on at one location, rather than having to go to each pump to plug/unplug them.
So, that was the actual build. The next post will discuss finishing touches and overall pond observations.
Alright, now that the planning is complete, let's review supplies. There are a lot of links in this post so you can click and see exactly what I bought. I don't get any kickback if you buy these things, I've just been happy with what I bought, so that's why I'm sharing.
I ordered pond liner from Everything Ponds and was very happy with their customer service and shipping. Since dog nails would/could possibly be in contact with the liner, I opted to buy the Premium RPE 40mil liner, which is the most expensive, but also the toughest option. It should be very durable and I plan to only have to buy pond liner once in my life (for this project); I have no interest in patching liner and fixing leaks, so I bought quality.
For a long time, I was sucked (pun intended) into the myriad of options for water filters and I nearly went crazy with allllllllllllllllll the various ways, methods, strategies, and diy thingys that can be implemented to maintain a clean and healthy pond. Pond people can get intense about water filtration. Finally, I decided I'd keep things simple and bought a few pumps/filters that I just need to plug in and clean occasionally. I'll post any filter updates here.
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| 7 feet of crystal clear water. |
A skimmer is a must have for pulling in all of the crazy amounts of dog fur that floats on the surface of the water every time a dog swims. I got one that just sits in the water, rather than a box kind that I'd have to build into the side of the pond - that seemed like a lot of work, and this one is easy peasy. It needs a pump to suck the water, so I bought this super quiet pump that was recommended by someone else: I think it is a little too high tech for me, but it's working ok and is strong enough to do what I want it to do.
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| Look at all that dog fur! |
I connected the other end of the skimmer/pump to a little waterfall box and it is so cute. I bought some filter materials and turned the box into an actual water filter, so I can benefit even more from the pump moving the water. I created something similar to what Ha Y N Fish Keeper shows on youtube (he's fun to watch, by the way).
Two "all in one" filter set-ups provide water cleaning and aesthetics to my pond: I bought two of these filter systems, because I liked the lights and the ease of use. So far, they are super easy to use and clean.
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| I need more lights! |
One final filter is a simple box filter that I run with another quiet pump of the same brand as mentioned previously, just a lower powered version. I connected it to a little frog spitter to return the filtered water back into the pond.
So, I have a total of four filters for my pond: three filter below surface water and one filters surface water. If you do the math for how much water these filters clean, it comes to about 4,350 gallons per hour. This is extremely inadequate, according to the pond websites, for my 20,000 gallon pond. However, I believe my pond will remain sufficiently cleanish regardless, based on my small number of fish and keeping the surface clean of debris, but I guess we'll find out! I'll link an update post here and let you know how it's going.
In addition to mechanical filtration, I bought two live lily plants and several cloth pots to sink into the pond to act as biological filtration. I also sourced some local pond plants and bought two bags of pea gravel to plant the roots in the cloth pots - the pea gravel seems to be cleaner (after I rinsed it) than using "pond soil" that is commonly sold. So far, my plants are thriving being planted in pea gravel, and I assume are taking up nutrients from the water. I can do a post on the plants, if there's interest, but essentially they exist to pretty up the pond, provide shade on the surface to prevent algae growth, remove nutrients from the water to prevent algae growth, and provide additional oxygen to the water. I'm trying to keep my pond water as clean and healthy as possible, since I don't have a beefy mechanical filtration system.
Around the edge of the pond, for the skirt or apron, I bought what was advertised as cut to length astroturf/artificial grass, but it seems more carpet-like than turf-like. I am very, very happy with this purchase: it covers the edge of the pond liner and makes my pond look "finished" I think.
Rocks are not something I had to buy, because Alaska is essentially a giant gravel pit and I had plenty of rocks on hand, but they are another thing I used for the pond, so I'll mention them here; one more tool I should mention is some sort of digging thing, you know, to make the hole for the pond. We used our backhoe and shovels.
Alright, those are the supplies. All-together, I believe the project cost about $5,000. It could have been made cheaper if I had been less extravagant with the liner and if I had not added the skirting astroturf.
Shall we dig in and make this pond happen? Construction is next in the series.
All great things begin with an idea, in this instance building a pond in my front yard, which we talked about in the DIY Dog Pond, Intro post. If you were inspired by that post, or are just really bored, I'm going to chat about taking the idea and moving it to the planning phase.
Still with me? Let's chat!
Water freezes here in Alaska, typically about 3 feet deep, so the first decision we made was the depth of the pond. I want the fish to be able to live year-round in the pond, rather than move back into the dining room each winter, so we decided a portion of the pond should be 8 feet deep so the fish can live under the ice. Apparently, fish metabolisms slow down when water is cold, so they sort-of go dormant down there in the depths. I plan to swim in the pond and have a dog that likes to jump into the water, so deeper is better. In the spring, I'll include a post here about how the pond, and fish, fared through winter.
Along with the maximum depth area, we also designed shallower areas of the pond so it could be safer and more usable. I wanted a ramp that began at one pond edge and slowly sloped down deeper into the water - this is for safety, so someone in the water can use the ramp to exit the pond rather than trying to climb up a straight side. We also built in a wide shelf that runs the length of one side of the pond and is roughly 3 feet deep: this is for plants and filters and those who want to wade rather than swim.
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| Rex likes to stand on the shallow edge of the shelf. |
Speaking of pond placement, we didn't want it under any trees or large shrub that drop leaves, petals, pollen, and other stuff that will gunk up the bottom of the pond. Who likes touching gunk when they swim? Gross. To that end, we did have to relocate a 40 year old crabapple tree - hardy soul, it's been dug up and moved twice now since I've lived here, but it appears to have endured the transplant (again) and TheFather is rewarding it with copious amounts of water as it re-establishes itself. In Fall, I'll include a post here about how we deal with leaves that are blown into the water.
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| No more tree above Rex. |
Alright, that's the plan! If you're a visual person, here's a very rough sketch of the pond layout.
Next, I'll review the supplies that turned this project into reality.
