Silt Removal, ~85% Success

# Silt Removal — The Reckoning I'll be honest: I thought I was almost done. A few hours of cleaning, maybe one more session, and we'd be ready to plant. Instead, the pond had other plans. While scooping silt out of the bottom, I started noticing something troubling. Rocks — real rocks, not gravel — were wedged *under* the support bricks and pads that hold the pallet platform up. When you add soil, water, and growing plants to a system like this, the weight becomes significant. A sharp rock pressing up into the liner under all that load is a puncture waiting to happen. One small hole and the whole reservoir drains. So instead of patching and moving on, I made the call to do a full rebuild. Take everything out, clean it properly, and put it back right. It felt like a setback in the moment, but the truth is it was the only choice that made sense. Better to spend two extra sessions now than discover a leaking liner in the middle of summer with plants depending on it. The rebuild plan came together quickly: remove the rocks and bricks, do a proper wash on the gravel, pump out the silt and cloudy water, then rebuild the platform with protected contact points. Four phases, a few sessions, and we'd have something built to last. Sometimes the project teaches you what it needs. This was one of those moments.