So Here's the Flippin' Fountain

At last!  A moment or two to show you some photos.  I don't know how life got so busy, but it did.  Probably that last burst of energy before winter settles in. 

As you will see, what we built is more of a water feature than a fountain, but it's still pretty fantastic, I reckon.

When last I wrote, we had built a circle of stones to place the actual pieces in, and Daniel had installed an electrical outlet for the pump.  Remember that?  It was a while ago.

Here's what happened next:

We lined the circle of stones with weed cloth, because...

...we decided to fill the circle with small gravel with the idea that it would make the base easier to level.  But before we got to the gravel, we (by which I mean Daniel), piled in some dirt.  It's certainly cheaper than all gravel - I just stole some from other parts of the garden. Here's an action shot of the Man himself:

Then came the gravel:

Then came the base, and the first of many excursions into the wonderful world of leveling.  Did you know that leveling comes with a swear word or three?  I do now....

We went with larger pebbles for inside the fountain base. 

And then the pump went in...

...followed by an upside down pot with some strategic holes in it to allow the vertical pipe part of the pump to be placed properly.  This involved more leveling.  And quite possibly a swear word; I really can't remember.

Then came the actual fountain part - which is really just a very large pot - followed by, surprise, surprise, a little more leveling.

Strangely enough you need water for a water feature, so out came the trusty garden hose.

And then came the moment we (and the birds and squirrels, as it turns out) had been waiting for...

Electricity!

A few minutes of holding our breath...

And the water feature arrived!

I hope you aren't too underwhelmed after waiting so long to see it.

It still needs some plants around it, and possibly a sculpture if I can come up with an idea for one.  Those two things will have to wait until spring now, because winter is getting close.

It makes a lovely sound, and we've had the chance to enjoy it in the evenings.  The squirrels and birds adore it; I saw a couple of little feathered folk bathing in the basin this morning.

We're going to have to drain it pretty soon, but I'm thrilled to know it will be there in the spring.

So Where's The Flippin' Fountain?

Weeeeelll.... the best laid plans and all that....

For those of you who don't know, I got the bits and pieces to build a fountain for my birthday this year.  Yay!  The plan was to build it over the long weekend that just happened to be after my birthday.

I had been to the store where we ended up buying the pots before my birthday so I had time to think about it all, and let my subconscious ruminate a little.  We popped down to the store and picked out all the pieces (my subconscious had apparently not been ruminating at all - it took a while), only to find out that the guy who does all the prep work for turning the pots into fountains had taken a three-day weekend, too.  The cheek!  I mean, really, didn't he KNOW what our plans were? ;)

I do believe it was Wednesday when Daniel picked everything up; the pots have the right size holes, they've been plugged where they're supposed to be plugged, and we have a fountain kit.  Daniel also got good instructions on how to assemble everything so it will work properly.

Only problem was, Daniel had a solo backpacking trip planned for the following Thursday - Sunday (yesterday).  We are talking about some rather monumental pots that there is no way I can lift by myself, so the fountain plans got put on hold again.  He actually came home on Saturday, but we didn't get anything done yesterday because...

Daniel had to go to New York this week for work.  He left way too early this morning.

Soooo... you might be wondering if we'll get to it this weekend?  Unlikely.  We have a wedding on Saturday, then Sunday we're going to Sun Valley to see Colin Hay (yes, THAT Colin Hay from Men at Work.  He's a solo artist these days, and his stuff is light years better than any of the rubbish he did with that band).  All things being equal, we'll get it done during the week next week.  I hope so, because the following weekend we're going camping. And the weekend after that we're off to Priest Lake in northern Idaho for a week's holiday (I am SO looking forward to that), then we're off to Salt Lake city for a couple of days to see The Foo Fighters, and we have to plan the hot air balloon trip we bought for 60% off the asking price (it was too good of a bargain to resist)....

I think we may have overscheduled ourselves a wee bit....

Having said all that, we have made some progress.  We went out to the desert to collect some lava rocks to make a base, and Daniel ran some wiring for a power outlet.  I had wanted a solar pump, but everything I read and everything everyone told me, led me to believe they're not much chop.  Unfortunate, but for the moment we'll be relying on mains power.  I don't plan on running it all the time, so it shouldn't be too big of a deal.  In fact, at this stage I'm thinking we'll drain it for the winter, although we can get a heater for it so it doesn't freeze.  We'll see.

So.  Here's where the fountain is going:

And here are the rocks we're making a base for it from:

In case you're wondering, we didn't ravage the desert for the rocks.  We took them from the (dirt) road verges where they'd been kicked up during the road-making process.  And we didn't touch any rocks that were near a critter hole.

I dug out most of the Lily-of-the-Valley, but I still have plenty left.  In fact, they could do with some thinning and dividing:

As I mentioned, Daniel put together a power outlet.  Apparently the crawl space is an arachnaphobe's worst nightmare.  Methinks I will have to have words with the furry folks about that:

After that, we started piling rocks.  Daniel had the bright idea to make a template of the fountain base so we could make sure it was going to be big enough (he told me he remembered me putting down templates when we re-did our kitchen in Illinois... smart me, and smart him for remembering; I was wandering around with a tape measure and getting all confused!):

I've added a few more rocks since this last photo was taken, but you'll have to wait now:

I bought some weed barrier cloth today with the plan of filling the circle with dirt this evening.  The cloth will stop dirt from leaking out and destabilising the fountain base; at least, that's the hope.  But it looks like it's going to storm, so I guess I'll be doing that another night.  Good thing I don't get too freaked out when plans don't go according to plan!