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The first of the photos shows the dam. the dam was put in over another shallow dam that was not toed into the ground below, only built on the surface. It was also put in with a gravity slope, not the 3-1 slope that is recomended as a min. The photo shows Cole with an 8 foot long grounding rod stuck 4 feet into one of the cracks. The second shows his foot in one of them on the water side. You can see another one a couple of feet on the other side, and if you look close, you can also see the begining of one right down the middle.

Next is the way the dam looks now, with the pond. Because we needed so much fill for the dam, the pond is larger by 45%, and deeper as well. And of course if it ever rains, it will hold water after tuesday. The bentonite clay will be delivered sometime either sunday or monday.

THe real trick in building any pond is to build it right the first time. And key to a mud pond is the vibrating roller. We poured a bottle of water at the bottom of the pond, where there was a lot of dust. After 5 minutes in 89F weather with full sun, there was still a puddle at the bottom. And that is without the sodium bentonite clay. The photo was stitched, so pardon the size.

As a bonus, we found this little thing running around next to the pond. The poor thing could not see, as the eyes were tightly shut with mucus, could only see shadows. Called him Lucky, as it was a true miracle that the dozer did not hit him as he was in the weeds. The shot was taken a half hour after we started to clean out his eyes with a wet rag.

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