The atrium in the dowhaus has gone through several versions. It had a tree in it at one time. Debate still rages as to whether or not it was actually necessary to remove it or even regarding who said it should be removed. In any case, after the arborcide, the atrium evolved into a nearly zen-like space, as shown above and below.
See the ball in the second image? That was a neato fountain that Leslie designed herself and implemented by exploiting one of our free labor sources (aka Thelen). It was leaking water, though, and had been turned off for some time.
I got in from Taiwan last weekend, and figured nothing’s better for jet lag than sunshine, so I set about trying to tweak Leslie’s design to make this thing work. A few weeks ago, one of the other free labor sources (Walker) and I had cleaned the leaves out of the space, and I’ve been kind of focused on getting the zen back into the space.
Leslie’s second revision of the design is where I started. This one involved an in-ground garden fountain inset with pavers stacked in it to support the ball at ground level, then screens around the rest of the pool to hold up the rocks around the base. There was some speculation that the pavers and the weight of the ball were causing the leak. There is a pump at the bottom of the pool with a piece of plastic tubing connecting it to a hole in the bottom of the ball. The pump brings water into the reservoir just fast enough for it to spill over the sides.
I pulled off the ball, screen, and covering rocks, then removed the pavers. I put two three-foot angle irons across the pool, and set the ball on top of them. The pump went back in under the ball, and I replaced the screens around the ball that hold up the rocks that cover the pool. I turned it on and so far, so good. Even if the pool liner is broken, at least it’s now a lot less labor (no pavers stacked in the pool to remove) to replace it.
Here is a movie of the fountain in action:
Groovy, eh?
