This has really been the first real weekend that I've gotten to enjoy my new
waterfall....I've been fiddling with it for 2 weeks now(the rock
arrangement) and my wife told me If I didn't stop she'd find a new place for
one of those rocks We had kind of an unnerving thing happen this
weekend....the 20 gal basin that I sunk is big enough that if a small child
fell in he could turn around and then stand up, or so I thought.....my son
who is 20 months old this month was leaning over the put his hand in the
water and fell face first.....and could not right himself! I thought about
this all night and I have no problems sacrificing looks for safety, I
thought about a black BBQ grill with rocks stack around the edges or simply
filling the 20 gal 1/2 up with river rock.....anyone else have an idea that
I might try?

Thanks in advance!

~Wilson~

I would fill it up with rock for now.
That is something that can be done right away.
Then you can look into making a rebar grid if your talents run in that
direction. The bbq grid and rocks I think would prove to be a challenge for
your son to solve, especially if he is like my youngest, who managed his way
around every child proof device ever invented.

I'll post the child safety tips in another message as it is good information to
put up occasionally.

Glad his adventure has a happy ending!



k30a

After the fact I think I've figured it out, inside my basin there in an inch
wide lip all around the edge approx. 3-4 inches down inside....and I think I
won't have any problem finding a small round grill to fit over it and a
medium size rock to sit on top then fill the water over the grill so it's
basically invisible. I might however fill up the basin about 1/3 rock
inside as well....thanks for the suggestions and the child safety tips!

I'm now in the process of making a rock garden all around my pond to frame
it in....my wife is loving it and the new water sounds on our back patio.

Pics to come as soon as I'm finished with the entire project.

~Wilson~


K30a wrote in message
...
I would fill it up with rock for now.
That is something that can be done right away.
Then you can look into making a rebar grid if your talents run in that
direction. The bbq grid and rocks I think would prove to be a challenge
for
your son to solve, especially if he is like my youngest, who managed his
way
around every child proof device ever invented.

I'll post the child safety tips in another message as it is good
information to
put up occasionally.

Glad his adventure has a happy ending!



k30a

jammer wrote in message
...
On 07 Jul 2003 14:49:52 GMT, ESPMER (K30a) wrote:

I would fill it up with rock for now.
That is something that can be done right away.
Then you can look into making a rebar grid if your talents run in that
direction. The bbq grid and rocks I think would prove to be a challenge
for
your son to solve, especially if he is like my youngest, who managed his
way
around every child proof device ever invented.

I'll post the child safety tips in another message as it is good
information to
put up occasionally.

Glad his adventure has a happy ending!



k30a

Or fill it with pillows for the child's sake
I'm seeing him falling into rocks and now he has grill marks on his
face.

Hey, it's been a strange day.


Hey....it's better than the alternative.

My wife actually had the best idea of the day...since ours is basically
"just" a waterfall then why not cover the entire basin(for now) using the
grill and decorate (hide) it with really nice decorative rock and have the
falls...disappearing into the ground, then in a couple of years turn it into
a VF when I add a pond.

I think this might be the way to go until our boy get's some (sense) age on
him


~Wilson~

Wilson wrote:
jammer wrote in message
...

On 07 Jul 2003 14:49:52 GMT, ESPMER (K30a) wrote:


I would fill it up with rock for now.
That is something that can be done right away.
Then you can look into making a rebar grid if your talents run in that
direction. The bbq grid and rocks I think would prove to be a challenge

for

your son to solve, especially if he is like my youngest, who managed his

way

around every child proof device ever invented.

I'll post the child safety tips in another message as it is good

information to

put up occasionally.

Glad his adventure has a happy ending!



k30a

Or fill it with pillows for the child's sake
I'm seeing him falling into rocks and now he has grill marks on his
face.

Hey, it's been a strange day.



Hey....it's better than the alternative.

My wife actually had the best idea of the day...since ours is basically
"just" a waterfall then why not cover the entire basin(for now) using the
grill and decorate (hide) it with really nice decorative rock and have the
falls...disappearing into the ground, then in a couple of years turn it into
a VF when I add a pond.

I think this might be the way to go until our boy get's some (sense) age on
him


~Wilson~



As a mother, I can say with certainty that it took quite a
few years for my son to gain some sense! In fact I still
wonder sometimes and he's 36 :-)

--
Bonnie
NJ
http://home.earthlink.net/~maebe43/

On Mon, 7 Jul 2003 16:32:40 -0500, "Wilson"
wrote:


jammer wrote in message
.. .
On 07 Jul 2003 14:49:52 GMT, ESPMER (K30a) wrote:

I would fill it up with rock for now.
That is something that can be done right away.
Then you can look into making a rebar grid if your talents run in that
direction. The bbq grid and rocks I think would prove to be a challenge
for
your son to solve, especially if he is like my youngest, who managed his
way
around every child proof device ever invented.

I'll post the child safety tips in another message as it is good
information to
put up occasionally.

Glad his adventure has a happy ending!



k30a

Hey, that sounds cool.

Or fill it with pillows for the child's sake
I'm seeing him falling into rocks and now he has grill marks on his
face.

Hey, it's been a strange day.


Hey....it's better than the alternative.

My wife actually had the best idea of the day...since ours is basically
"just" a waterfall then why not cover the entire basin(for now) using the
grill and decorate (hide) it with really nice decorative rock and have the
falls...disappearing into the ground, then in a couple of years turn it into
a VF when I add a pond.

I think this might be the way to go until our boy get's some (sense) age on
him


~Wilson~

On Mon, 07 Jul 2003 22:07:19 GMT, Bonnie Espenshade
wrote:

As a mother, I can say with certainty that it took quite a
few years for my son to gain some sense! In fact I still
wonder sometimes and he's 36 :-)

Uh yes, my 16 yr old comes in as i set down 6 Albertson's bags and
asks me with a straight face, "Oh, did you go to Albertson's?"

ARGH!!!!

As a mother, I can say with certainty that it took quite a
few years for my son to gain some sense! In fact I still
wonder sometimes and he's 36 :-)

--
Bonnie

True....but hopefully they have enough sense to pull their head out of a
bucket of water, which is all I'm worried about. The rest they can
figure out on their own.

~Wilson~

Bonnie Espenshade wrote:
Wilson wrote:

jammer wrote in message
...

On 07 Jul 2003 14:49:52 GMT, ESPMER (K30a) wrote:


I would fill it up with rock for now.
That is something that can be done right away.
Then you can look into making a rebar grid if your talents run in that
direction. The bbq grid and rocks I think would prove to be a challenge


if you have a metal shop (welder) you might get a peice of expanded
metal cut to fit over your pond, its heavy enough to walk on and no one
under 6-7 should be able lift it then again maybe not on the lifting
part forgot about my son the 2 yo weight lifter




John Rutz
Z5 New Mexico

good judgement comes from bad experience, and that comes from bad
judgement

see my pond at:

http://www.fuerjefe.com

My vote: add some rocks until the pond depth is much shallower, you can
always remove some rock as the boy grows.

Hmm, perhaps I should take another look at my own wee little water
arden -- I'd have thought that a toddler would be okay in it, but maybe
not. (The only ones who were around it sat on the edge & splashed with
their feet.)

BTW, speaking of sons....... my little boy is 33 and possibly about to
become a ponder! (I can't quite tell from the pictures he sent of the house
he wants to buy, but there's a corner of the concrete patio that really
looks as though someone intended for a pond to be there!)

Ah, deja vu all over again (as the inimitable Yogi would say), I have the
feeling that I already posted the latter part of this.

Anne Lurie
Raleigh, NC







"Wilson" wrote in message
...
This has really been the first real weekend that I've gotten to enjoy my
new
waterfall....I've been fiddling with it for 2 weeks now(the rock
arrangement) and my wife told me If I didn't stop she'd find a new place
for
one of those rocks We had kind of an unnerving thing happen this
weekend....the 20 gal basin that I sunk is big enough that if a small
child
fell in he could turn around and then stand up, or so I thought.....my son
who is 20 months old this month was leaning over the put his hand in the
water and fell face first.....and could not right himself! I thought
about
this all night and I have no problems sacrificing looks for safety, I
thought about a black BBQ grill with rocks stack around the edges or
simply
filling the 20 gal 1/2 up with river rock.....anyone else have an idea
that
I might try?

Thanks in advance!

~Wilson~

"Wilson" wrote in message
...
snip
My wife actually had the best idea of the day...since ours is basically
"just" a waterfall then why not cover the entire basin(for now) using the
grill and decorate (hide) it with really nice decorative rock and have
the
falls...disappearing into the ground, then in a couple of years turn it
into
a VF when I add a pond.

I think this might be the way to go until our boy get's some (sense) age
on
him
snip

IMHO...there are three solutions to pond safety. I use items 2 and 3
diligently.

1) Do not have a pond if you cannot control the children that will be
exposed to it.
2) Teach the children over and over again about the dangers of the pond, and
why they should not go near the pond without an adult. Helps to allow one to
fall in while you are standing there.
3) NEVER leave children unattended around a pond.

I believe that no amount of security systems are fool proof, and in some
ways can be dangerous because they could potentially allow you to become
complacent. Our kids do not go in our yard without some attention now, and
they know not to go near the pond without my wife and I. Of course, we have
caught them venturing closer some days, now that we have frogs, so see rule
number 3.

BV.

BenignVanilla m wrote in
message ...
"Wilson" wrote in message
...
snip
My wife actually had the best idea of the day...since ours is basically
"just" a waterfall then why not cover the entire basin(for now) using
the
grill and decorate (hide) it with really nice decorative rock and have
the
falls...disappearing into the ground, then in a couple of years turn it
into
a VF when I add a pond.

I think this might be the way to go until our boy get's some (sense) age
on
him
snip

IMHO...there are three solutions to pond safety. I use items 2 and 3
diligently.

1) Do not have a pond if you cannot control the children that will be
exposed to it.

cough I "almost" spit out a mouthful of coffee when I read that....

My child that I could not control is 20 months old this month and is a very
active, curious and fast It's one thing to control and teach a 3-5 yr.
old the dangers of the pond but it's almost impossible to do the same with a
toddler....the problem is we took our eye off our son for a split second and
he was head first, it's easy to say you don't take your eye off the little
ones but we all know that we all do.

2) Teach the children over and over again about the dangers of the pond,
and
why they should not go near the pond without an adult. Helps to allow one
to
fall in while you are standing there.

IMHO it's be hard to "allow" my son to fall in to teach him a lesson that
he'll forget in 2.5 minutes anyway, my son's favorite word is water and we
just can't keep him out of our fountain, the waterfall(obviously) or away
from a spraying hose....


3) NEVER leave children unattended around a pond.

I believe that no amount of security systems are fool proof, and in some
ways can be dangerous because they could potentially allow you to become
complacent. Our kids do not go in our yard without some attention now, and
they know not to go near the pond without my wife and I. Of course, we
have
caught them venturing closer some days, now that we have frogs, so see
rule
number 3.

BV.

When my son fell in we were approx 2-3 feet away from him shrug......I'll
figure out some way to kid proof my falls, whether it's having just a small
amount of water or completely blocking the basin from him because it's
IMPOSSIBLE to watch your kids 24/7/365 (btw I hate that term and I can't
believe I just used it) no matter how good your intentions are. I also want
to make it so he can enjoy the backyard and everything in it ....in safety.

I will figure it out.


~Wilson~

"Wilson" wrote in message
...
snip
When my son fell in we were approx 2-3 feet away from him
shrug......I'll
figure out some way to kid proof my falls, whether it's having just a
small
amount of water or completely blocking the basin from him because it's
IMPOSSIBLE to watch your kids 24/7/365 (btw I hate that term and I can't
believe I just used it) no matter how good your intentions are. I also
want
to make it so he can enjoy the backyard and everything in it ....in
safety.
snip

Wilson,

I agree with everything you said. My 3-year old did the same split-second
fall with me standing a few feet away. I didn't mean to come across as
self-righteous and apologize if I did. I just wanted to make the old condom
argument for ponds. The only way to NOT get pregnant is not to have sex.
Condoms work MOST of the time. Know what I mean? Same with ponds. I just
wanted to make a very succinct point. I have the same concerns for pond
wiring by those that don't understand electricity, and a home UV for those
that don't understand UV.


BV aka the Wimp.

When my DH was about three years old he was out with his Dad. Dad was talking
to someone and holding DH's hand the entire time. Eventually he glanced down at
DH and found that DH had taken all his clothes off and was standing there naked
as a jay bird. My FIL swore he never let go of DH's hand the entire time and
could figure out how DH divested himself of his clothes...

So when youngest son managed to escape past two locks on the frontdoor and
parade naked around the neighborhood I knew who to blame.


k30a

"K30a" wrote in message
...

When my DH was about three years old he was out with his Dad. Dad was
talking
to someone and holding DH's hand the entire time. Eventually he glanced
down at
DH and found that DH had taken all his clothes off and was standing there
naked
as a jay bird. My FIL swore he never let go of DH's hand the entire time
and
could figure out how DH divested himself of his clothes...

So when youngest son managed to escape past two locks on the frontdoor and
parade naked around the neighborhood I knew who to blame.

Sounds like my 3 year old, or "Nakit Boooooyyyeeee" as he likes to call
himself as he runs around like a bare bottom superhero.

BV.