E U R E K A !

We found the leak today! We started at noon. Drained the pond to just a couple of inches in the deep end. There was something slivering around in the muck and we found out it was a bullfrog who has made himself at home over the winter. We had decided that since the waterfalls were turned off and the pond was holding water that the leak had to be in the waterfalls themselves or the hoses running to it. So that was our first point of attack.

I found the beginning of the hose where it comes out of the pond and started digging it out of the berm we had buried it under. Hubby decided that using a hand trowel was too time consuming and got a shovel out. We came to find out that the small pine tree growing next to (and hanging over - it looks like a huge Bonsai tree!) the pond had grown so much that the trunk was pinching off the hose (which ran underneath the trunk) and caused a crack! WHOO HOO! We found it!

Now we had to dig the rest of it out so we could get the waterfall box out and replace the hose. What a chore. I forgot how heavy some of the rocks and slate pieces were - my back is really talking to me right now! We got the waterfall box out, cleaned all of the frog eggs from the sidewalls, cleaned the leaves and pine needles out the bottom, I ran to Animal Jungle and got new hose, we reconnected the waterfall box, rebuilt the waterfall (with the help of a neighbor who has a real knack for that kind of thing), refilled the pond, found the frog in the flower bed and put him back in the pond, turned the pump on, and WOW - everything worked. We just had no idea when we started at noon that it would take until 7pm to get it all done! Hot showers and pain medicine were definitely next on our list. Oh, and maybe some food!

We'll know more in the morning if we were successful - if so, I'll take some new pics and put upload them. It will be a couple of weeks (or longer) before I even attempt to put fish back in there. The whole ecological system has to rebuild itself. But my neighbor is willing to help by letting me have some of his pond water which is already steady. I'll keep you posted on our progress and when new fishes arrive.

Whew...what a Saturday. I'm ready to call it a day. I hope everyone has a wonderful, happy, safe Easter. I hear a pillow and a pain pill calling me.....Ciao!