This is the pond kit I have coming, it got really good and bad results, some people really liked it, others did not, but I am not looking for a deep pond so the pump may work for me when it wouldn’t work for others. I was willing to take a chance on it.

Watching Eric dig got me excited, because he digs, the hole gets bigger, it goes fast. For one thing I have a different environment, I hit tons of lava rock big and small and have parasites that need to be jarred found under those rocks, and touched one and got all slimy so had to scrub my hands in salt for awhile… but I see the speed Eric works at and I want to match it, I want to push myself to be consistent and do a bit everyday and try to beat the shipping of my pond liner to have the hole ready.

Eric’s way to dig, get the spade shovel, put your food on it (obvious right? I didn’t use to), then put the dirt in the wheel barrow pointed the way you are going to move it so you don’t have to turn it (obvious right? I didn’t use to) very helpful actually, he showed how the spade sculpts the sides and a flat shovel can level the bottom, as well as what shelves look like in real life. I really liked the video.

The material I dug out was mostly red gravel and some dirt that I carried uphill to lay on a particularly hard to walk area of our garden, it has spiky sticks that poke you, which are left over from dead fern vines, so… you could say it was an uphill battle… but carrying the gravel gave me a break from digging so my muscles could switch between digging which is hard on the back and carrying which is legs… that actually kept me from getting tired, I just had to stop to serve meals and play with my kids. This path is new, from what was not needed in the pond area.

I watched this video with Carl, wow, he is so legit of a pond builder. It was really helpful. I’ve built two tiny ponds in the past, but Carl had all sorts of tips that I never knew about, like filling the gaps with landscaping foam, using soft fabric under the liner, allowing very artistic and intuitive rock placement, how to do the lights, the way he runs the electrical, just in general he is at a professional level and I am at a amateur level, but there were some things he did that I could copy, like adding the foam, switching to 1/2″ corrugated tubing which kinks less.

After watching Carl’s video I spent $160 more on materials… tubing, pump, water lotus seeds, more pond liner, a fogger, landscape foam, but I think that in the end the difference between a cheesy looking fountain and a really nice one is reflected in taking more time to place rocks aesthetically and or using better materials.

My back can feel the digging now, perhaps I should have filled the tires of the wheel barrel with air so I didn’t have to carry the gravel uphill in buckets… but life is never perfect.

I’m reading “The Most Powerful Goal Achievement System in the World” book by Mike Pettigrew right now and I really like it, I don’t read it everyday, but I do try out the activities and it has helped me believe in myself a bit instead of thinking “I can’t buy landscape stuff, because I won’t be able to figure out the plumbing,” or “I never finish what I start”.

I’m really excited for this project, because although it’s going to sound all crazy it feels like God speaks to me in the garden, or the garden does, and just makes suggestions, such as put a pond here, the edge of the pond will be here… it’s very like “Field of Dreams”-ish because I’m not religious.

Maybe it’s just me connecting with an inner aesthetic I was out of touch with, but I feel right when I’m arranging certain things kind of like an internal feng shui meter or something. It feels like things kind of vibrate when they are out of order and then just stop doing that and are like magnetically in line with where they are, as if they “snap” where they should be like a magnet to a fridge. It’s pretty weird to talk about, but that’s what free speech is there for… might as well use it while it lasts.

Mike Pettigrew had me do a vision board, which I don’t normally, because I thought people who did those believed things would just magically happen… but it’s not for that, it’s just to feel like you can actually do those things, then you still hammer out the logistics and do the work, but it makes it feel like you can do it, which is part of having the confidence to start.

I used the MyGoals App, it includes a vision board, life purpose, gratitude and affirmation section, I like it, simple, free, easy to use.

The goals I set were grow pumpkin (in progress, just got the first flower), grow watermelon (have a sprout, but not going that well this year), read to kids (going super well, we made it a habit, but it’s not 100% consistent, but it’s most the time and very fun now), clean home (ha ha ha… I do the floors everyday, vacuum and steam mop, I pick up most of the toys… but there could be more done, improved though), plan (this one I want to do more, it falls behind the others), respect my family (sounds vague, but actually going really well, started PCIT training and it helps a ton), Tai Chi Master (going okay, practiced more this year than ever before).

So all my goals are going pretty well, but it’s not that they are completely done. I also exercised once in my banana costume and posted that to my gym website as B-5O.

But I still feel a bit overwhelmed that I don’t have a TB test lined up for my daughter yet, she will need that to enter school and there is a sense I don’t know what is going on in my own life, which I hate.

Hopefully the pond fixes everything somehow?

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