Three Coins in a Fountain

Another day of nice weather. A little warmer than yesterday (high 86 degrees F.) but with enough of a breeze it wasn't uncomfortable.

Tonight's project is to start the fountain/birdbath set up. If you recall, Jake had one at his house he did not want and gave it to me. The original was in a pool of water, created by rock, cement blocks and a 40 mil rubber or plastic shower pan liner (hey, the guy was a contractor. I understand where he was coming from!)

So, I stopped at Home Depot on the way home. I couldn't find round stepping stones (I couldn't find them at Lowe's, either) so I bought three 12-inch square stepping stones. Cost me less than $5.00 US.

Got home, did the usual rituals, yadi, yadi, ya, and started the Wednesday night laundry load. Then I went outside.

I had previously bought a round 7-inch deep, black plastic tub (one of those you use when making a series of pools in your yard). I laid out the liner (figuring the plastic tub would last longer if it wasn't rubbing on the concrete patio) in the corner of my patio where I want it. Then I laid two of the retaining stones (dug out from the old mailbox); one on the house side and one on the garden side. Then I put down the tub against them and, with a razor knife, I cut the liner in a semi-circle.

I cut a piece of the liner to put under the stepping stones, and put it, then the three stepping stones, in the middle of the tub. Then I added the base and top of the bird bath. I inserted the pump and filled the tub almost 3/4 of the way up with river rocks. I filled it with the hose and turned it on (after getting an extension cord. If I decide to go ahead with this project, I need to get another pump that has at least a four foot longer cord).

Three things became apparent. One, the river rocks had not been washed, so the water is now dirty. And, two, the patio itself is angled and so the tub itself needs to be leveled (I can buy some leveling sand for that). And, three, some of the outlets for water are still beyond the tub's radius, so I will need to get some caulk to shut those down. But, all of these will have to wait for another trip to Lowe's or Home Depot.

I sat there for a while, enjoying the sound of falling water and then went inside, tuning off the outdoor plug at the switch. It was 7:30 PM. Also, I still need to calculate how many of the retaining wall stones I will need to encase it and buy some filler rock (I am thinking red lava) for the corners and edges.

Now for dinner! I have had the ingredients for tonight's dinner (or a snack) for some time, but never got around to using them. But, tonight, I took three Thomas' English muffins and split them, then squeezed on some pizza sauce (from a catsup-like bottle) added three pieces of pepperoni to each slice, topped it with a handful of mozzarella cheese and put them in the toaster oven on some tinfoil at 400 degrees F. As soon as the cheese got nice and gooey, I had 6 individual pizza slices!

Now, some of you might remember I did a similar pizza thing with flour tortillas a while back. Obviously, they would taste just about the same. The only difference would be if you like pizza with a thin crust or a thick one. Since I prefer thin crust, these were good, but not that great. I loaded them up on a paper plate (for easy cleanup) and went in to watch TV.

After the end of the season finale of Top Chef, I went to sleep.