As difficult as this may be to believe, not everything we do here is a world-resounding success. In fact, our recent duck pond project has been one smelly, filthy, disgusting, dangerous failure.
Dangerous, yes. Read on.
The problem with the pond is that I left it too long before installing some kind of filtration system to clean the water. One day it was like this:
Then, overnight, it turned into Shrek’s swamp:
Belatedly, in my usual reactive way, I whipped together a water filtration system the same as we use successfully in our aquaponics system. But it was far too late. The low power filtration system just couldn’t make an impact on the foul water.
The only solution was to empty the pond and refill it with clean water. Sounds simple enough, but the trash pump we used couldn’t empty the last 10cm of sludge-water on the bottom of the pond. Which meant bucketing it out by hand. Yummy. 10 or so buckets of almost-pure poo.
The ordeal was not over. We needed to make 5 trips down to our creek to collect enough water to refill the pond. It was a horribly windy day, and we were driving up to the pond with the last lot of water on the trailer. And that’s when it happened. The wind actually lifted the trailer, complete with FULL 1000litre water tank, and flipped it 180 degrees. One minute Peter was driving merrily along, and the next, the car wouldn’t move.
Lucky we now have the backhoe for JUST THESE occasions. Especially since we have not actually used the backhoe successfully AS A BACKHOE yet. As a massive wheelbarrow, yes, and as a hoist, and now as an emergency crane, but still no actual successful backhoeing…
Anyway, the already-drawn-out job was drawn out heaps longer while Peter tried to figure out how to detach the trailer from the 4WD without losing a hand in the process. Once this was done (both hands intact), he used the backhoe to right the trailer, and then the water tank.
Pete relied on my wonderful instruction for the final part of the operation since he was operating blind. We were fortunate to have a snippet of video with no yelling or swearing.
Unbelievably, the water tank remained intact, though a bit worse for wear. The trailer was not so fortunate and requires welding repairs to its cracked axle.
I couldn’t bear to lose the water in the tank, so we pumped it into the pond from where it landed.
This was not a fun experience. It was dirty, time-consuming, our trailer needs repairing, and now we are worried about pulling a trailer in heavy winds.
But the next morning, we received a little surprise for our efforts…
I find it interesting reading about your exploits. I’m a townie, born and bred, and much as I like the countryside, living miles from the nearest facilities such as Health Centre (important now I’m a pensioner), Shops, Pubs, Restaurants, Library, etc., would be very inconvenient for me. I bought my house in 1978 with a view to never needing to move again. It’s 2 minutes walk from open countryside, the Health Centre, the shops and pubs, 5 minutes walk from the bus amd even the train (main line between London and Birmingham) is only 40 minutes walk away – I have walked it on several occasions. I do have a car but it’s good to know that it’s not essential for my life here so if the cost of motoring gets too high or my health prevents me from driving, I won’t have to move. I have some very nice neighbours, all the facilities I could want in a delightful little town that dates back to Roman times – it’s situated on the Watling Street, the Roman road from London to Holyhead in North Wales. It’s been resurfaced a few times since then! But it would be great spending a holiday somewhere like your house!
Hi, John!
Thanks again for commenting!
Thanks for your wonderful comment! Your situation actually sounds ideal: a lovely town with some history, countryside nearby, conveniences and amenities…we have definitely discussed the issues that come with living in the country. Proximity (or lack thereof) to schools and hospitals is one of the disadvantages of living where we do. Our closest hospital is 45 minutes away, maybe too far for emergencies. We talk about our plans for when we get older, too, and we know that many people move closer to town as the use of health facilities becomes more frequent. But one of our closest neighbours is in his eighties, and he is still managing, so who knows? Anyhow, the advantages still outweigh the disadvantages for us at the moment.