Day 13, Thursday, June 11, 2026: Skimmer’s ready!
The work day began with D looking for the skimmer/pump manual in a frenzy. Our experts just wanted to consult the official instructions.
Meanwhile, over by the upper pond, P contemplated the meaning of life, and whether it’s better to lower the level of the spillway so that we need to hide less of the protruding black box.
We consulted our own expert – Claude Fable 5 and a person with a YouTube video on having the spillway be lower behind the spill stone vs above the spill stone. We’d have to build out the rock base a lot more at the sloped back of this area, and we’d need to use a foam gun to guide the water down and out over the lower spill stones and into the pond, to prevent leakage from the sides.
On the big pond side during the afternoon, K had completed the plumbing, cabling and skimmer motor connections. D spent the afternoon collecting rocks for our streambed.
During the evening shift, P and Y went hunting around the property for large rocks to complete the waterfall base on the upper pond. This base has continued to expand and is now encroaching upon our walkway, our spot for the Japanese Maple and our spot for the Globe Spruce tree. We needed to contain the spread while buttressing the area around the spillway! All these big rocks were quite heavy and far away from our work area, so they needed either a dolly or the hand cart, as well as push-pull from two people to position them on either side of the rock pile – we had a lot of loose gravel and dug up ground around here. P was able to lift some of the rocks into their final spots, but we called in the cavalry again for the super large ones!
P and K kept working on positioning the rocks framing the spillway on either side late until 7:30 pm. We ended the day quite happy with how the spillway frame was shaping up. We were almost ready to hook up the spillway to the pipe, but we needed to make sure the lining fabric is well adjusted before we make any cuts there – something for tomorrow.
Finally, hunger won over and the crew called it a day – some of us (ie, K) had started at 6:45 am! After dinner, K, D and E regaled us with more history of the property, how hard George and Nan worked on the upkeep of the prior orchards here, K’s rebellious teenage years, how K and T met, and how K and T built their own house some six years ago. We were also bowled over by K and T’s generous offer to build out our bridge for us as a gift. We (mainly Y) learnt that T is a master at woodworking. Thanks K and T, that’s really sweet and we can hardly wait!
