Austin Pond Society

When I moved here 18 years ago, the house came with a cement pond. Of course, I fell in love with it. As you see, it had a stone waterfall and an island. We put in gold fish. Between the waterfall and watching the goldfish grow, I had several hours of entertainment. 

Eventually, as soil does in Texas, the ground receded and broke up the pond. Last year, I was finally able to replace the old pond in preparation for my gentle years of retirement. The replacement project fell into the hands of Eric and Ana, of Stonebridge Pond & Waterfall Co. It was a joy working with them. Ana runs the office and takes care of people like me. Eric is the idea man and handles the installation. I often wonder whose job is harder. Eric hand the challenge to meet the concerns and request Frank and I wanted for our new pond. I had to have a waterfall and island. Frank wanted space around the pond and under the waterfall for a G scale model train track. Eric did a beautiful job of tearing out the old pond and making our dreams come true. 

This first year was not at all easy working through the challenges of the pond water settling in and developing a natural cycle. We brought in koi and goldfish and was fought with many days of cleaning out algae. But suddenly, everything appears to have balanced and it’s a pleasure again to feed the fish, watch them grow, and listen to the waterfall. We are still in the process of building the train setting. The pond, including the border for the train, is approximately 32’ x 37’ and that equals a lot of tracks to put in. Plus, we’re putting in siding so that we can run the train behind the waterfall and park it in an enclosure that we’ll eventually build. Currently, I'm building the model houses for the town that will be situated along the tracks. 

When we are finally finished, Frank and I will have our own little world out there. We have already found that we can sit on our patio looking at it all and be perfectly happy.