Down & Dirty In The Courtyard

The ball on top of our fountain was getting greener than the grass. Also, fairly slippery; enough so that it was hard holding it when I had to pick it up. Not only that, but the pump’s input was getting clogged with green things.

So I cleaned off the ball while I let the pump sit on the bottom of the water reservoir, sucking in one end and pushing out the other. I just wanted to run as much of it through the pump as possible and have the algae stick to the input. As to the ball, the best cleaner, I found, was a regular paper towel; the stiff brush I brought out didn’t do much of anything. After I turned four or five towels green, the ball looked good and felt good.

While I was doing this, I occasionally pulled out the pump and cleaned the gunk from its input, then tossed it back in to continue sucking the bottom water. Spent the better part of twenty minutes on this, but when I was finished, the ball had very little green on it (I’ll finish it some day) and the pump was pulling up considerably less junk.

It’s called “maintenance,” and we haven’t done it in, oh, two seasons of operation or, roughly, since we bought it. Well, mild day-to-day stuff on an occasional basis. Actually, I put it off until the ball was so disgusting it looked like seaweed-covered rocks down at the beach at low tide. For us from the water, that’s not disgusting; it’s actually downright pretty. I’m the only one here who lived near the water, so I got outvoted.

I just sort of hope the Dominant Robin appreciates what I’ve done. I also hope it continues to bring its business here, but does its business elsewhere.