Wednesday

I called Bob this morning to find out the status of our cabinet door that was picked up four weeks ago by Todd. We were told at that time that they would try to straighten the door, but if that did not work, they would return the door until another was fabricated. Two weeks went by without word. When I called Bob two weeks ago he assured me that we would have our new door before our guests arrive on March 11. Today, Bob remembered making that promise, which was encouraging since he has a history of forgetting promises. He said the new door was fabricated, but it was warped as well. A third door is being fabricated. Bob said the original door really never needed to be taken away (the claim by Todd that they might be able to straighten it was false). That really did not make me feel much better. Bob said that they would either bring out the new door or the old door at 2 pm tomorrow. The post-sale performance of this company has not been very good BEEN BAD.

The level in the pond is about 1" lower than after filling it yesterday. We did not get the heavy rain predicted today. I am reserving judgement due to the high winds we had yesterday. I marked the level this morning and will check it tomorrow morning.

Trees and Pond

Monday, the lumber company finally showed up to pick up the excess Tiger wood decking and railing. This essentially closes the door on Mike's commitment to the project.

John's crew showed up today and replaced three of the five Junipers on the east side of the chess board. These showed significant dead branches. I also showed John one of the Boxwood along the west fence line that looks dead.

The pond seems to have lost only a fraction of an inch over the past two days. Kevin showed up today and put the pond perimeter back together. Before starting to refill the pond (so that we test the upper pond and stream for leakage), we installed the LED fountain light that Wally had brought a couple of weeks ago. Last week, T suggested we put a simple globe lamp shade over the fountain light to disperse the light and the color of the light. The muddy pond water was pumped out by John's crew before we refilled it. However, it is still pretty muddy and will take awhile to clear up. We filled the pond up to the overflow port.

As of this evening, the level was about 1/2" below the overflow port. I am going to reserve judgement however since there was a vigorous wind today which I observed blowing spray off the falls. The forecast is for substantial rain (several inches) over the next few days. We may have to wait until next week to determine whether we still have a leak.

Still no word from Bob about our bar cabinet door. Bob assured me two week ago that they would have the replacement door finished before our guests arrived this weekend. I guess I will call Bob tomorrow to find out if he has any intention to honor his commitment.

A Step Back

As promised, John showed up today with another water feature designer. Like Todd, Kevin is the co-owner of a local company who has been doing water features for 20+ years. Unlike Todd's company, Kevin's company is BBB accredited with an A+ rating and glowing references.

John had explained the situation to Kevin and he immediately got into troubleshooting. He dug around the north and east perimeters and found the liner to be far too low (and poorly installed) to support the desired water level. He and John worked to get the liner on these two sides pulled up as best they could. When they got over to the liner around the skimmer, they found there was no way, without a major redo, to get the liner up to the level where we would like it. As Kevin so adroitly stated, "the train has already left the station". The best we can hope for is to get the level to stabilize at a point roughly at the level of the overflow port. Kevin agreed that it was important for any excess water to channel off through the overflow port to avoid long-term damage to the soil surrounding the pond.

We cut off the PVC elbow that Todd had put on the overflow port since there is no way we were going to be able to use it to adjust the level (the inadequacies of the liner made that impossible). When Kevin had finished, we filled the pond up to the point of overflow port and will monitor the level. We are expecting rain (a lot of rain) in the coming week. However, if the level holds for the next 24-48 hours, it will be a major accomplishment. We told Kevin that we want to get the pump reinstalled and running sometime this coming week. John said he was going to cut Todd loose and work with Kevin from here out. Kevin said he would be back probably on Tuesday.

Once we verify the pond level is stable, we will finish the landscaping around the perimeter.