Yes, I finally did it ... those of you who have been reading this blog know that I've been psyching myself up to install a new waterfall on my pond for about 2 months now. Well, I can finally say it's complete.

The waterfall ... I feel as if this should be accompanied by music, scary, horror music, something that might suggest --- Stephen King's The Waterfall! It will frighten you beyond belief!

I guess I can say now that it wasn't that bad ... although the wounds are still fresh. I should start from the beginning.

Yesterday started out with lots of promise (heck, any day I don't have to get up and go to work already has a huge "thumbs up" from me), my dad came up early and we prepared to start the waterfall project. (pictured here is the old waterfall, looking pretty pathetic)


First off, we had to get some new 1-inch piping to go from the pump to the waterfall. We started at Lowe's, but they were all out. So we went off to March Lumber in Limerick, where we've bought supplies before. Along the way on Ridge Pike we came across the new Towne & Country store and my dad remembered a friend telling him that they carried at lot of pond equipment. So we decided to stop there. And I'm glad we did.

They have a large pond set up that's worth the trip. They also had an ample supply of pond plants and equipment. They used to have lots of fish too, but fish-buying season is dwindling and so is their supply. If you're in the area, stop by and check it out!

We got our piping (cheaper than Lowe's by the way) and we were off, fooling ourselves by thinking that dismantling the old waterfall would be the "hardest part" of the job.

While dad read the instructions on the new waterfall, I dismantled the old one ... in about 10 minutes. I couldn't wait to get rid of it and the Bioforce filter that was causing me so much trouble (by trouble I mean having to clean it every other day).

After a little digging, we were ready for the new falls. Leveling a project like this is always fun. Lots of yelling, good thing my neighbors on both sides were throwing parties to drown out the sound, and misunderstood signals from both of us kept the tension mounting. To fully understand this, you have to picture me balancing on a small hillside, facing downward with the waterfalls between my legs, and my father leaning over the retaining wall of the patio trying to guide me into the right spot -- without damaging any of the established plants! I can only imagine what the fish were thinking ...

Next, my sister arrived for some help. "We need sand to level this thing right," my father bellowed. So Kathy was off to Ace to get a bag of sand. "That's it, I need a break!" I screamed and stormed off into the house (air-conditioned, thank God).

Kathy returned (too soon) with the sand, and we were back in business. We got the thing leveled and plugged in the pump to see our beautiful "wall of water." Only we got a trickling back-flow that started pumping all the water out of the pond. @#!!%&* that's not supposed to happen!!!!

So we tried tilting the falls forward -- same result. Great! I waited this long and now it didn't work. Let me back this up 2 months ...

When I bought the waterfall kit at a local pond shop, I specifically asked the pond expert if I needed a stronger pump. Mine's 550 gph (gallons per hour) and I wasn't sure if it had enough power for the waterfall. And let me just tell you, at this particular store, getting advice from the pond expert is not easy. He's only there at specific times and whenever I'm there, he's already got people waiting in line to talk to him. It would be easier getting an audience with the Pope!

Anyway, the pond expert assured me that it would be fine. In fact, the store had a 900 gph pump on sale for $76 (about half price) and I could've purchased it that day ... but the pond expert said, "no, that pump's too big for your pond." (True story)

Well, after many more attempts (including lots of yelling) to get the waterfall to work properly, the only thing I could think of was that we needed more pump power. So off to Lowe's we went ... armed with my $10 coupon for purchases over $50 ... and when we got to the pond area, we found another couple who were having similar problems. We talked it out together and both decided to get the max-flow 1000 gph Tetra waterfall pump. And it was only $74.95 regular price -- way to go Lowe's.

By the time we got home we had already decided that if this didn't work, we'd be taking the whole waterfall kit back to the pond store and telling them where they could put it.

We hooked up the pump, that was half the size of the Titan 550 we had (and supposed to be almost twice as powerful), plugged it in and .... the clouds parted, the sun came out, there was a slight rainbow and ... IT WORKED!!

The wall of water poured out into the pond and it was like heaven. We were all smiles, hugging and congratulating each other, and saying our "thank yous" and "we couldn't have done it without yous" and all the yelling was forgiven. We were a family again and sat sipping iced tea and eating Doritos, toasting our new waterfall!

Oh, and the fish seem to like it too. They swim at the waterfall, like its some kind of jet-propelled exerciser.

We spent the sunset and part of the evening marvelling at our achievement. I added some landscaping and finished planting (I mean it) the few things I had saved for when the waterfall was finished and I think it turned out great. This morning I awoke at 5:30 am and came downstairs and looked outside, hoping everything was all right and the waterfall didn't accidentally pump the pond dry -- it didn't. It was bliss.

And did I mention that per the instructions, the waterfall filter should only need cleaning twice a month ... we'll see.

At least now I can go on vacation this week without saddling my dad with cleaning the old filter daily. Catch you later ...