The Leather Oaks Hot Garden -- Skeletal Stream

How to take cheap plastic and hot rubber and make a sleazy stream from it!

This Page Created on February 29th, 2008

You've probably heard the story by now, maybe more than once. So, we'll skip it. Those are glove leather briefs I'm wearing, with only one JockUp on duty: It was a hot, sweaty day in August, 2003!
But now, I've got these eight plastic basins, some undeveloped though sloping land, and an urge to make water flow down hill!

Since my idea was for each pondlet to be firmly above ground, it seemed reasonable to me to only set the kidney-shaped pond into the ground to its inner shelf height. Of course, this also meant a whole lot less digging, but did that enter into the calculations? I know, I could have used water to test the level of the pond, but that stuff's awfully heavy when you need to make adjustments!

With enough water in the kidney pond to keep it in place, it was time to set the first cascade. Seems like ground level will be just about right.

In a blinding burst of unrecorded activity, all eight pondlets are temporarily positioned! It's time for a break!

Of course, there will be some adjustments required. I don't believe those little bricks and blocks will ever stay in place once there's some heavy water flowing over them.

Maybe there's an issue with Cascade Two, too! Or maybe we're approaching a late afternoon work break. Let's see, I believe the lips of some of the cascades did need to be trimmed a bit..

Yes, I believe we're approaching a stopping point. I bet I know why, too.

Yep, that Neptune wasn't about to let another day pass without his pond under construction, too! It appears that he preferred his pond set all the way into the earth. Wise man!

I call the PVC devices I fabricated to support the cascades and connecting pondlets trivets. Some of them actually had three legs. In this shot, the first connecting pondlet has been set in place on its trivets.

Those two trivets in the foreground will be supporting the cascade I'm straddling in this photo. Can I dead lift that cascade when it's full of water?
To find out what happens next, why don't you follow the photo link to the second page of the Skeletal Stream Construction Department!