Day 20, Thursday, June 18, 2026: An Operational Pivot
The crew had a short day today. In the morning, P and Y worked on adjusting the level of the gravel underneath the entrance of the stream higher. P2 continued adding a few more large flat rocks on the side of the waterfall stack, and along the future garden path. He had to remove an old pipe. P and Y also added some more rocks to the border of the stream. Then P started up the motor to see how fast the water was draining. It appeared that we had more evaporation in the flow than we had accounted for and the bottom pond’s water level stayed a couple inches below where we wanted. The lower waterfall still had leaks. So, we would have to swap out the new rock we had replaced last night, and try to seal up the gaps so that all the stack rocks got some water on the front faces. P2 left early, and P and Y also wrapped up before 10 after placing a water lily in the lower pond to see how it would do.
Our bridge builders had an update for us in the afternoon. The fully constructed pieces are now being treated. The pictures show the masterpiece coming together under T’s dexterous hands!
Back in West Kelowna, the crew was off during the afternoon shift and resumed in the evening. P worked on reconfiguring the level of the stream mouth connected to the upper pond, though the glued liner and overlapping fabric pieces made it an exercise in adjusting by touch and feel.
Y joined P at about 6 pm and they both tried to flatten the gravel from both ends of the joint. They ran the waterfall pump to see if things had improved, but the structural issue in the level of the mouth was too much to sweep under the fabric. Eventually, P got D’s extra pump and started pumping the water into empty rain barrels and a kiddie pool.
Of course, to put this plan into motion, we had to undo some work, i.e. remove the rocks and river stones from half the stream. We added more gravel to flatten the mouth. We shoveled more fine dirt from another part of the garden to supplement the gravel because we’d run out of loose dirt.
Finally, P decided on using a flat wooden block that he was using to figure out leveling as a part of the dam itself to make the lower pond to stream outflow as smooth as possible. We paused here to get dinner – we have a lot to revise tomorrow morning. Tomorrow, we will fix all these issues and more! À demain!
