I didn’t think I was going to keep the waterfall behind the house, but I clipped the evergreen branches back and pulled up the weeds around it. Once it was exposed, I cleaned out the four top pools. John made it for me when we moved to this house, a gift of love because he knew how much I enjoyed the one at the last house. It leaked about three years ago, and he never found the source of the leak.
Brother Bob and Beth looked at it with me. Bob cut an old milk bottle into a scoop, and before long he was down to the muck. I could not have reached to the bottom of the pool as he did. Beth and I took turns encouraging him and taking photos.
We made sure the electric outlet was working and held our breath when I plugged it in. The pump did not work at all. Beth checked on line to see if we could get one like it. We all went to Lowe’s, picked out a new pump, and bought stones for a different project. Bob hooked up the new pump which promptly showed a leak in the old pipe. It spewed seven inches into the air. Taking a break from that, Bob spread stones in the pathway near it. I had begun avoiding that walkway because I found it hard to balance, going from one large stone to another. The little stones filled in the area, and my feet were happy with it.
We returned two bags of excess stones to the store and bought new tubing. Before they left the next day, Bob took off the old tubing and attached the new one. We stood in awe and listened to the water splash down the course. We did it! When I get up the courage, I’ll dig up the old tube and see if I can use the “y” connection to make the water go to a second pool, currently by-passed.
Neighbor Dawn saw and heard the waterfall the next day. She was enthusiastic and offered to help with replacing the surrounding slate. She likes working with slate and stones! Isn’t that marvelous? I’m so glad I didn’t take out the pools and return the area to more growing space.
Here are two photos from 2016 when John watched Nathaniel dig and after John added surrounding slate.
Mehrling Muse 