Ambiance

That lovely piece of ambiance that is the fountain in the lake has a couple of small stories attached to it. First of all, they are a nuisance to fix if they are broken. However, as I am a lowly gardener this is not my problem and I get great enjoyment watching the retic boys sail out there in the little boat to fish it up and check it. Oh the amusement. So far I havent seen one fall in, so the boys definitely have their sea legs. The second little tale involves the wild life. Now fountains need a break too, its pointless to run them when there is almost nobody in the park. So the fountain is run on a timer that switches it off for the night time and turns it back on around 7-8am. On the lake there is one very determined little bird, a Coot. Coots build nests preferably on the water, so usually on a large branch or something poking out of the surface and they add to it with reeds and sticks til it reaches a suitable height. This particular coot has been working tirelessly all season (and last season) to build a nest on the fountain platform. So it keeps building ups sticks while the fountain is turned off and gets a rough nest shape, then the fountain turns on and blows half of it sky high (the other half seems to sit nicely on the corner of the platform). The amusing part is the bird continues to add sticks and such while the fountain is spraying water skyward and knocking the nest out of place. It usually gives up around 9-10am, then tries again the next morning. 10 points for determination little coot, -1 for common sense though.