ChiCho Saves the Day

My Backyard Pond

Since the early 90's, when water features became things that people liked to add to their outdoor living space, I've lived near water. At first, it was a small pond that took my late husband 2 years to dig and complete. It brought me the most delightful pleasure. I would come home from a difficult day at work, and sit by the pond, watching the fish, frogs and flowers. My tension would just melt away.

Then I moved to the country. Our first home was on a big lake, we were located on the back of a small cove. But watching the water and the ducks and geese and fish were again a source of comfort and a place to really let the cares of the day or week melt away.

Lakeside living really wasn't too much the late Mr.'s cup of tea, he liked the woods. So we found a place in the country that had 160 acres of woods, but a beautiful large pond/small lake as its main feature, not even 50 feet from our back door. That lake will forever remain in my memory as my dream place, I loved going down and sitting by the lake, feeding the fish some extra worms I had lying around, or kayaking across its smooth surface.

When we moved back to the city, and bought a new house, the plans were laid immediately for a water feature in the back yard. Materials were purchased and stacked up for the time when Mr. SewWhat felt up to building, which unfortunately never happened. After he passed away, I tried to fathom myself building a pond, and knew that would never happen. So I found a local company that specializes in water features who bid and got my job of making my water feature come to life.

The picture above is the result of that job. It is beautiful and home to some nice size goldfish. But the one aspect of the pond that was doubtful in my mind was the second side waterfall, coming out of a wooden barrel immersed in the water (barely visible under the blue/violet flowers on the right side of the picture.) I was afraid that this wouldn't last. And it didn't.

The barrel slowly started to spread apart and not support the water container, so things sort of shifted to the side more and more each month. Plus, water would leak out occasionally, and this was a worry.

So I called my favorite pond builders, and they came out today to change things around a bit. Poor ChiCho, his hands froze as he began the job, after all it is November 19, and there was ice shards on various parts of the pond. But later on, it warmed up and things got going a little bit better for him.

The results are very satisfactory. I'll post a picture of the new pond tomorrow. But ChiCho also had some ideas for another water drainage problem I've had in my yard since I moved in, that being a leaky egress window to my basement that leaks water in during heavy rains. In speaking to ChiCho, he is a 20+ year veteran of landscaping businesses, and he sounds like he knows his stuff! I'm going to have ChiCho back again for more chats and some problem solving sessions until I get this backyard drainage issue fixed. He might just be the answer to a lot of prayers and questions I've had trying to get this house to not fall in on me as I try to maintain it!