What does a fountain say about a yard? A fancy, sophisticated fountain. A big one, bubbling and gurgling with delight. There are few sounds better than that soft, flowing collision of water. It doesn\u2019t take much \u2014\u00a0just a splatter or two \u2014\u00a0and it will transform a mood. Calm the senses. Make you say things like, \u201cNirvana!\u201d (And I don\u2019t even know what that means.) <\/p>\n
That\u2019s what we just installed in our backyard \u2014\u00a0a fountain. Amidst some fresh pine needles. Where I tore up all the roots and vines. Where I just landscaped. <\/p>\n
The child\u2019s fort and swings are down. The chicken \u2014 there\u2019s only one now \u2014\u00a0is no longer allowed to dig her bomb craters and root around in the pine needles. The dog is banned from cutting ruts like tank tracks. <\/p>\n
Now the fountain is the coup de grace. (And I don\u2019t know what that means, either.)
\n<\/p>\n
So I looked it up. Merriam-Webster calls it: \u201ca decisive finishing blow, act, or event \u2026 a deathblow or death shot administered to end the suffering of one mortally wounded.\u201d <\/p>\n
That\u2019s it! That\u2019s what I hope it is. A declaration on victory. A war won. Like raising a flag after a hard-fought battle. I have won!<\/p>\n
But does a fountain really signal anything? At least what I want it to signal? Or am I just fooling myself? Too over confident? <\/p>\n
Is my battle with the backyard over? It has fought me for years as I tried to tame it \u2014\u00a0failed to control it. I would gain, then it would. I would pull weeds and trim vines. They would show up later under my pillow. <\/p>\n
When we bought the house back in the late 1990s, there was a scientific expedition in my backyard because they thought it was the last of the uncharted jungles this far north in the Americas. I\u2019ve waged war ever since. Called in napalm strikes. Earth movers. I once considered covering it all in concrete. <\/p>\n
With the fountain, I feel like I\u2019ve finally won. <\/p>\n
But \u2026 have I?<\/p>\n
I think the weeds and the vines are watching me, from just over the fence. Plotting their return. \u201cWait until he lets his guard down. Drifts off to sleep in the hammock. THEN WE STRIKE!\u201d <\/p>\n
I picture myself waking up in a cocoon of cat\u2019s claw and potato vines. \u201cSteal his credit cards,\u201d I imagine them screaming in delight. \u201cTip over his fountain!\u201d <\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know. The sound of the trickling is so wonderful. The landscaping. The absence of the jungle. All of it. But do I let down my guard and enjoy it? Indulge in the sweet sounds of water dripping? You know, maybe I\u2019ll just take the clippers into the hammock with me. Just in case. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What does a fountain say about a yard? A fancy, sophisticated fountain. A big one, bubbling and gurgling with delight. There are few sounds better than that soft, flowing collision of water. It doesn\u2019t take much \u2014\u00a0just a splatter or two \u2014\u00a0and it will transform a mood. Calm the senses. Make you say things like, \u201cNirvana!\u201d (And I don\u2019t even know what that means.) That\u2019s what we just installed in our backyard \u2014\u00a0a fountain. Amidst some fresh pine needles. Where I tore up all the roots and vines. Where I just landscaped. The child\u2019s fort and swings are down. The chicken \u2014 there\u2019s only one now \u2014\u00a0is no longer allowed to dig her bomb craters and root around in the pine needles. The dog is banned from cutting ruts like tank tracks. Now the fountain is the coup de grace. (And I don\u2019t know what that means, either.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[554,563],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2016-nutshells","category-houses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1458"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1459,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1458\/revisions\/1459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}