I pride myself on my ability to jerry-rig. I am always coming up with ideas but ideas that I might not always have the budget to do correctly with the help of professionals but, that has never stopped me! I seriously think it started oh so many years ago when I just had to have a kitchen renovation! I asked my hubby what he thought of the idea and his answer was just what it always was-usually tongue in cheek a bit but a little serious as well..."you can do anything you want just as long as it doesn't cost me a fortune!". And so I did...and it turned out way better than I ever imagined...and I did a lot of jerry-rigging...and a master jerry-rigger was born.
Since that day, I have tackled many projects without benefit of professional help-way more things have gotten accomplished than ever would have if I sat back and waited until I could really afford to do one of my hair-brained ideas and that is how I have pretty much faced life ever since. I am definitely going to try anything by myself before calling in reinforcements. Now, I have learned that there are some things better left to others-especially if expensive, specialty tools might be called for but, other than that, all things are fair game. Lol
I had set aside this weekend to try to get the majority of my outside to-do things done. And boy did I ever deliver! I think except for lots more leaf raking, most of the major things are done-until they need to be done again-kind of like housework. The minute you finish and stand back to admire, it starts getting ready to be redone again!
In any case, as I was out and about in lots of areas of the yard where I might not usually be, I spied some things that just didn't look right any longer and I decided to do some swapping.
I started with the very large ceramic vessel that is supposed to be a bubbler fountain. I have two actual fountains on the pool side of the yard but at one point a number of years ago I decided that the extra patio needed a bubbler. My girls gave me the bubbler piece and large ceramic basin as a gift and I set out to put it all together. First of all, both pieces weigh a TON!! And then things had to be perfectly level and I would need to be able to get under the pieces to clean the filter, etc., etc., etc. I quickly decided that that was one upkeep that wasn't in the cards for the benefit we would have gotten so the larger piece went into the garden and became the world's most expensive plant stand and the basin has been used in various capacities-most recently in the terraced garden where it was a water feature until the crows kept biting the fountain apparatus and throwing it out of the water.
So this weekend the two pieces kind of came back together-well not the basin but the bubbler and the fountain. It seriously took everything I had to move the bubbler across the yard! It is super heavy and super awkward but, with a bit of lifting and a lot of rolling, I got it to the corner of the pool deck. My initial plan had been to just use it as a plant holder and I tried it out like this.
I was going to find a larger plant and call it a day when I remembered the fountain thingy. Right now, this is the largest bowl I have that will work unless I use one of my really nice bowls and, since I'm not sure that the crows might not still attack this thing and knock the bowl to the ground, I am starting here. I think if I decide to keep it-which might be more trouble than it is worth but, since I water everything out there at least once every other day, it shouldn't be too much extra effort-I might look for a larger, non-breakable one.
Then I moved on to my next issue. When the pool guy cut off the slide, there were the holes from where the legs went into the decking left-and, a bit of the metal sticking up. They might have been able to be ground down-but not by me-and so I came up with my next ingenious idea. I filled the holes with small stones that I had left over from a craft project and got out the "crack filler" that my brother used to seal a crack in the grout of my sunroom wall. Since the cool deck is so varied, I just slathered on some of this stuff and after it dries I will probably need to add more until I can kind of get things level and not a trip hazard and then I still have some of the concrete stain from the last time we redid the deck and my hope is that when all is said and done, no one will ever know there was ever a slide there-except of course for the water pipes that go under the deck and then to other areas of the yard so removal of that would be way out of my budget right now. I'll just set the chair over it and no one will ever know. LOL
And then there is this:
I managed to get all of the dead bougainvillea vines down from the trellis and it makes me so sad. First of all, I couldn't get the pretty color that I had had here originally and secondly, it will take a number of years before these two plants meet up on the top of the garage door again. Sigh! At least the original trellising that my brother and sister-in-law helped me do is still perfect and ready to go!
A few updates:
Before I had even finished out on the pool deck, I had to refill the bowl on the new "fountain" twice so I was just about to call it quits but then I realized that with the bowl as small as it is and the spout as high as I had it, the water was quickly leaving the bowl. Since this thing comes with many different nozzles, I tried every one of the others and, in doing so, I discovered if I didn't use any nozzle at all. I would have a bubbler. And so I went with that and haven't had to add more water in over 24 hours. It is kind of serendipity that this large vessel was meant to be a bubbler fountain and after many, many years of non-use has kind of found its way back to its purpose. Lol
I actually love the way this looks as a bubbler but I DEFINITELY need to find a larger vessel!
And, I have put all of the rest of the "crack filler" that I had down on the deck and although it is nowhere near perfect, I don't think anyone will be tripping here in the future...at least fingers crossed.
And, as I was re-reading this post before publishing, I took another look at this photo:
I realized that I actually really like the size of the planter on top of the vessel. I'm now thinking that if I can find any kind of a bowl large enough to nestle down into the planter just a bit, I may have a WINNER! Guess that will be my next treasure hunt-maybe I can even find something around here as it won't be seen so it won't really matter what it looks like-we shall see.
I'm busy today catching more of the little things that I have let slip. I have a hair appointment this week as well as two award banquets so I will be busy but hoping to get back soon to finish up our spring tour and to let you know how things end up back here. Stay safe and stay tuned.
UPDATE update!
So, me being me, I just knew that somewhere in my stash I could find something to work...and, of course, I did. I seem to be the "keeper" of all party supplies. No matter what kind of birthday party got thrown or G.S. activity or Relay For Life theme...I am the one who held on to things "just in case". Come see me if you need sombreros, hula skirts, leis, boas, etc., etc., etc.
And, of course, I found some plastic serving bowls-one that is green. It could actually be still larger-and I will probably look in party supply areas of all of the places I hit for awhile for a slightly larger one but, for now, its diameter is larger than the previous bowl and it is deeper.
I gathered up some bricks, etc. to use as risers and got it where I wanted it.
The bubbler I was using wasn't quite high enough so I am using a different nozzle and, of course, since the bowl is larger where I cut the "feelers" on the fountain is making it too short and it moves to one side instead of staying in the middle but I will remedy that as soon as I settle on a bowl and then I might be able to use another nozzle that will shoot the water even higher without going out of the bowl. We shall see...but for now I am happy with the symmetry of these pieces.
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