todance- Those black thingys are called "Shutter Dogs". I wanted them for years but they are a fortune to purchase at Restoration Hardware. Even ebay was pricey. I was considering cutting some out of wood and 'goin faux' with it. God Himself!!!!!!!, must have smiled at me one day and I found the 'real deal' at a resale shop. The shutters were also a resale find. kelly oh- That swing is called a Swing Bed. It holds a twin sized mattress ($10.00 yard sale and I made the cover and pillows out of scrap exterior fabric). Yes girl, if you drive by at the right time I will be laying there. Sometimes with coffee, sometimes with the mail, sometimes with a garden shovel and dirty gloves in my lap. Sometimes we hang a mosquitoe net above it for evenings. Hubs put a sterio speaker and vollume control out there. We never vacation- NEVER. So I found out that Bed & Breakfast places in the Carribean (and I'm sure some in the U.S.) have those swing beds. I found a Swing Company in Virginia who ships from FL. (Porch Swings Plus) The freight weight was 250 lbs. nb- I'll trade you my porch for your greenhouse! I cant wait to see your water feature!!!!!

Thank you for this VERY useful idea!!!I have been using lava rocks in a bucket with the pump and have to clean it out every two months or so.I have NO water problems ie.cloudy,muddy or green,but I love your idea and think I will use it.I will still put the lava rocks in but the netting looks like I will have less cleaning !!Thanks again, Lori

I did pipe boot connections on my retrodrain through the wall of the pond. Didn't make my hole as large as what Horton suggested--only 1/2 the diameter of whatever size pipe. Most recent was 3" and made a 1 1/2" hole in the centre of where I wanted the pipe. The liner stretches but it takes strong fingers. Easy to do and as far as I know no leaks. Curious why aren't you looking at external pumps for your pond? They are more energy efficient, easy to winterize. I have a priming pot on both of mine even though they are below ground but had a problem with quilt batting getting wrapped around the impeller of the older pump before using a priming pot. I have a Sequel 4350GPH pump that is very quiet uses 175W. This year I plumbed this pump to my sc and the old pump (Sequence 750 4200GPH but only pumping about 1/2 of that due to bent shaft) to my skimmer. I probably don't need both pumps as also changed my waterfall out this year so is smaller. The Sequence is noisy and leaks a little on start up around the shaft. Long story short I love the external pumps. Aquaart carries good external pumps and also the bottom drain that is mentioned either here or other forums. I also like the skimmer--it collects alot of surface stuff like dust! In the fall I run my pond on the skimmer only so that I can remove my drains (have a midwater drain now which is also awesome) before the water gets too cold. Like Horton my pumps/sc are hidden under a deck. Two pummps might be an idea for your pond as you need less flow through your biofilter and more flow through your waterfall. One idea I saw here if you only use one pump and need the circulation (in your case at least 5000GPH) was to pump part of the water back into the main pond and the rest through the biofilter/stream. Aquaart has a diagram of how to do this. As for valves depends on if you have a drain on you skippy filter etc. I have a knife valve between pond and sc on the bd but on the midwater drain which also goes into sc I don''t--I use a standpipe. After skimmer and sc 2" ball valves--I know could have used knife valves there but ball valves are more reliable. My check valves are after the pump but before the ball valves to the waterfall filters. This is to keep the water from the waterfall filters coming back down through the pump and into the pond if power goes off which it does here frequently. Because I have priming pots, sc and skimmer I don't need check valve before the pump. Can't remember when you need check valve before the pump--sorry. Ball valves after the check valves to control flow to filters. I know that I could get away with running one pump now due to the changes I made in adding a midwater drain to my sc (had alot of draw down!) and waterfall changes as the valve on my Sequel pump to higher waterfall is turned down more than 1/3rd. It's just time consuming and more pipe to change it out again. I don't know if you are allowed to use ABS in the US. I use it here as fittings are available and it stands up to my climate. Also because it's black any pipework in the pond lie retro bd don't show as much. You have a fun project on your hands! It can get rather overwhelming but there are many knowledgable people on this forum who can help you. Good luck. Patti

Hi Mike, OK, Im glad I understood its the red one. Something right! Whoo To Mike, buyorsell888, and calamity_j, The kitties are totally stressed out right now, but I think they'll be OK. The one black cat seen in the pix above, had some teeth pulled, but he seemed almost fine the next day. His brother on the other hand - totally freaked out. The anesthesia didn't wear off, he was scared, and probably in pain all night, so I stayed up with him. Ever since, he's been sleeping in kitchen nightly, which is unusual for him. (The outside boys aren't allowed in any further than the kitchen - long story). The girls indoors - well the one with recurring cancer is acting very needy and wanted to be close *all the time* *every minute of the day*. I cant blame her, shes stressed. Shes had a several surgeries and doesnt like the vet much at all As you can imagine. The other girl had to have some tests, but after a few days, we found they all turned out all right. Shes still feeling a bit crabby with us about having been taken to, The Awful Place. (She holds a grudge, as many of you with kitties will probably know what I mean!) Thanks for asking and well wishing. :) Even though the girls are in their senior years now, theyre like my babies and I stop everything when they are ill. Its so hard that they are getting old! As to the pond, our plan is like something out of a slapstick movie, though we are hoping it might work anyway. Were going to hook up the hose, as Mike suggests, and weve got a tarp weve put a slit in and will place the fountain through, then duct tape, so that any runoff from inside the pipes and fountain gets funneled over the tarp and out to the trees not into the somewhat clean pond water. Its about 105-110 degrees out there today and neither of us are looking forward to working on it!