I've had requests to show how I built the "Turtle and Tortoise Resort" and detail how such a large DIY project was actually done. I thought since it was so involved, and so many different things were done, that it would be boring. But the suggestions was that those who were interested could follow, others can certainly ignore. So here we go. It will be over several posts and a long journey.
We moved from Oakdale two years ago now. We wanted to downsize a bit, but mostly wanted to be close to Brenda’s work and most of the grandkids who lived in the Sacramento area. We live in our backyard more than in the house and I created a great place we enjoyed immensely. So I knew, with the move, I was undertaking a big project to make something we could enjoy as we were accustomed to. I had lived in Oakdale 17 years and had ½ acre so room for a nice yard, pool, pond, and large tortoise area. From the patio you could see the pond with another sunken patio there, and behind that the tortoise area.
The Tortoise area was 50’ x 120’, so I devoted 6000 sq ft to them, but it still left a great size yard. The only picture that kind of shows the whole area was several years old…
Here’s one from close to the time we moved with Brenda making it rain!
The pond was about 6,000 gallons and was the 5th pond I had built. This was the 4th time I put windows in a pond, and used the sunken patio feature. Each pond kept getting bigger, with more windows!
We loved it there. It was also just two blocks from the golf course, and I had a nice golf cart in the garage, I would hop in almost every day to drive down and play golf. I even served my term on the board of the golf course and was President in 2006-2007. Between activities at the course, then people coming up to the house to enjoy the pool and the “turtle and tortoise Disneyland” it was great, but as the grandkids kept popping out of our kids, being closer to them started to take precedent.
So… May of 2014 we moved from that to this:
But before we even closed on the house, I had already drawn up the plans for my new vision. So, Since I have had several requests to go through how I built the Turtle and Tortoise Resort, it will take some time, but I will bore those who wish with the details of how I turned the picture above into this -- doing absolutely everything myself!
Next post – how do you get ready to move 18 - 24” koi, plus 60 turtles, and the tortoises??
We moved from Oakdale two years ago now. We wanted to downsize a bit, but mostly wanted to be close to Brenda’s work and most of the grandkids who lived in the Sacramento area. We live in our backyard more than in the house and I created a great place we enjoyed immensely. So I knew, with the move, I was undertaking a big project to make something we could enjoy as we were accustomed to. I had lived in Oakdale 17 years and had ½ acre so room for a nice yard, pool, pond, and large tortoise area. From the patio you could see the pond with another sunken patio there, and behind that the tortoise area.
The Tortoise area was 50’ x 120’, so I devoted 6000 sq ft to them, but it still left a great size yard. The only picture that kind of shows the whole area was several years old…
Here’s one from close to the time we moved with Brenda making it rain!
The pond was about 6,000 gallons and was the 5th pond I had built. This was the 4th time I put windows in a pond, and used the sunken patio feature. Each pond kept getting bigger, with more windows!
We loved it there. It was also just two blocks from the golf course, and I had a nice golf cart in the garage, I would hop in almost every day to drive down and play golf. I even served my term on the board of the golf course and was President in 2006-2007. Between activities at the course, then people coming up to the house to enjoy the pool and the “turtle and tortoise Disneyland” it was great, but as the grandkids kept popping out of our kids, being closer to them started to take precedent.
So… May of 2014 we moved from that to this:
But before we even closed on the house, I had already drawn up the plans for my new vision. So, Since I have had several requests to go through how I built the Turtle and Tortoise Resort, it will take some time, but I will bore those who wish with the details of how I turned the picture above into this -- doing absolutely everything myself!
Next post – how do you get ready to move 18 - 24” koi, plus 60 turtles, and the tortoises??