Solar Fountain Up and Running!

Hola!  One of the projects I was determined to tackle this spring was finally assembling the solar powered bird bath/water fountain I purchased from Wayfair online last summer.  At least, I think it was last summer.  Geez - my memory.  Now that I'm retired, I don't even remember what day of the week it is!  What I do remember is that I searched around quite a bit for a good quality product at a modest price.  I found it in this Kenroy Home piece.  I do not remember exactly how much I paid, but I remember it was under $200.

So, a few weeks back one one of the "warm" sunny days we had (alternating with 40 degree gloomy days filled with rain) I pulled the box out of the garage and set to work reviewing the instructions for assembly once again - all five pages of them!  As per usual, it did not take me the suggested 15 minutes to assemble the fountain - more like an hour and 15 minutes.  But in the end my tenacity triumphed over my lack of any skills in doing this sort of thing!  Hooray Jan!  Here are a couple pics:

How I love this fountain!  The sound it makes is amazing.  Trying to get it level - that's another story (a horror story), but I sort of semi-triumphed at that by sliding thin stones under parts of the base.  In the top pic you can actually see one of the stones I used for leveling that popped out from where it is supposed to be and it's laying on the grass, LOL!  But the other one stuck where it was supposed to.  I will work on it some more.  Level is important in order to get the water to flow evenly out of the seven "lips" on the first tier - you can see four in the close up picture where the water is trickling down to the largest lower basin.

Trimming the grass around the fountain, that's a pain in the neck.  The thin line from the solar panel lies on the ground and runs to the base and then up the base to the connection in the pump mechanism. I have been very careful to cut around it and try lifting the cord out of the way and moving the solar array around - that's a major pain in the neck!   I'm going to stew on this problem for awhile and see if I can come up with a solution that is fairly easy for me to do and won't cost much, and the number one thing is to look good in the yard, not like I plopped it on top of some patio blocks (which would be the easiest way to do it I think).  We'll see.

I don't have a monetized blog and I don't have any affiliate agreements or anything like that.  But if you are interested, here is a link to an identical fountain at Wayfair for under $200:

https://www.wayfair.com/decor-pillows/pdp/sol-72-outdoor-malpelo-resin-solar-2-tier-on-demand-outdoor-water-fountain-w000060110.html?piid=914287967 $185.39 with free 2-day shipping

There are other fountains at Wayfair that look just like or very similar to this one for less money - but be aware that every one I looked at are plug-in fountains, so you'd have to run a power cord or have an outdoor outlet nearby to power the water pump.  My solar powered fountain gives me the ability to move this fountain just about everywhere on my property except along the north side of the house, which receives very little sunshine even in high summer. 

Hands down, for the soothing sounds of tinkling, trickling water and the way the light dances off of the water as it streams down the tiers, it adds to my sense of being in my own small slice of Paradise.  As I'm sitting reading or streaming shows on my computer under the shelter of my screened Shezebo, it was a great bit of a splurge I'm so glad I made!

The fountain is not winter hardy in my climate in southeast Wisconsin (Zone 5).  So when the first threat of a freeze appears, usually in November, it will be drained and stashed back in the garage, and the pump mechanism and tubing will come inside the house for storage.  Now that I know how to do it, it won't take an hour and 15 minutes to disassemble it :)