Having tried to improve the postal service (see preceding blog), I turned my attention to my pond and its waterfall. Since I built the pond in March 2001, I've had a narrow waterfall in various configurations and earlier this year a daughter-in-law told me about a commercial spillway with a wide (18 inches) throat. This presented two problems: how to position it so the water would drop directly into the pond (and avoid loss of water into the rock and soil) and also camouflage the black plastic appearance. I could not achieve both objectives satisfactorily with the rip rap stone wall I preferred so I built a 20 inch wide spillway using cedar (which should eventually turn grey and blend with the rip rap). I positioned the commercial spillway in the rear of this to regulate the flow of water through the cedar spillway into the pond. The water is pumped from the pond through a Laguna UV sterilizer to suppress algae. To the rear of the pond I cleaned out the brush, laid in some weed suppressant cover and topped this with a layer of cedar chips. The waterfall offers a soothing sound both while sitting on the back porch or sleeping with the window open, and it helps to oxygenate the water for the more than 35 fish in the pond.About the postal service: A supervisor called to say that signs (Please turn off cell-phones) are on order from Washington and another clerk will be called from the back room when the line builds in the service area. We will check on this and report back.
