Lost Creek Ranch Pond

The new pond at the ranch has begun to form. We are draining the old pond and building a bigger pond in it's place. Same location but the new pond will be about 2.5 acres when it is completely full. We are building a new dam further down the hill from the existing one and it will be 28 feet tall when all is said and done. The dozers are moving a lot of dirt and the hole just keeps on getting bigger and bigger every time we're down there. It was with great expectations that we waited for the breaking of the old dam and draining of the existing pond so we could see just what was in the current pond. It was quite disappointing when all we saw after the water cleared was an old tire, an old wheelbarrow and a piece of an old metal culvert. Several little(and I do mean little) fish were left for the birds to feed on, but we didn't see any big fish. Oh well, we'll just wait for our new fish to grow when we get them put in the pond.
Here's the view from the existing pond looking back up the hill at the house. It will be nice to have the pond close to the house, but we won't be able to fish from the back porch!This is the existing pond in all it's glory. It's not very big and I'm so glad we didn't spend a lot of time fishing in it trying to catch the "big one" since there wasn't one!This is Bentley, one of Brad and Remy's dogs. He enjoys the water, but is careful not to get too far from shore.The dozer(or pusher as I like to call it) is working on the beginnings of the new dam and making a path for the water to drain from the old pond. I feel like this is just grown men playing in the dirt!This is the excavator(or digger as I like to call it)breaking the old dam so that the water can drain out. There is a really skinny, deep trench that was dug prior for the draining and all he had to do was dig the last little bit to open the flood gate.The water was so fast rushing out of the old pond and down the trench. If there were any big fish they had to have gone out in this initial rush and we didn't see anything big flopping around down stream. The digger just kept digging the hole backwards to continue to let the water drain. It just kept getting more and more muddy and gross looking as the water drained. Yuck!

Then came Nala, Brad and Remy's other dog. Unlike Bentley, who has some sense and is a bit more careful, she just had to get right down in the muck and mud to check things out. I was so afraid that she was going to get washed away down the trench and end up miles away, but she managed to stay safe. Of course, she hadn't thought about how to get back out once she got down there. She was stuck for a second or two but then managed to get herself turned around and start back out of the hole. Obviously, she and Bentley had to go to the barn for a good scrubbing before they could come back to the house! Funny, Funny dogs!

This was the small creek that developed as a result of the pond draining. It flowed for an hour and there was quite the water on the lower part of our acreage. All in all, it was fun to watch and it's good to experience new things.

It will take a month to complete the project, depending on the weather. We hope we will have the chance to get into the new pond before it begins to fill and put some cool things in the bottom(an aquarium of sorts)for the fish to swim around, feed on and have some protection from the other things that lurk in ponds.

The landscape is 95% complete and the fence is being installed. They still have to paint the fence and finish the entrance gate and then we will consider the first phase complete. The pond is phase two and then we have many, many small projects that we will have to work on throughout the years to continue to improve the ranch and make it our own.