Well some rain has come and the pond is beginning to fill in where we have redug it out deeper now, probably about 4" up on the level now than it was just last week. I realized my porch gutter that drains to the pond had pulled away and none of the water was going to the pond from the porch roof (about 40 gallons per storm were being lost)..so yesterday I repaired the porch gutter and the leaks are mostly all cleaned up now (the drain still needs some repair but the gutter is working beautifully). So  now everytime we have a rainstorm the biggest share of 60 to 80 gallons of water should be heading for the catchment pond with much less leakage. The new drain material is on the shopping list for next trip to the store and then 100 % of the water off that area of the roof should be heading for the pond, which should make a huge difference in the pond levels for next year. Good to see the water levels going up and the new dig taking shape. Photos soon (it's raining out).