She is rapidly becoming the priciest floozie in history.

But its not the cost of sampling this beautys ample charms but of keeping her in tip-top condition.

The Floozie in the Jacuzzi in Birmingham city centre has already run up a big tab.

She has cost more than the mountaintop statue of Christ The Redeemer of The Andes, which overlooks Rio De Janeiro, and is considered one of the worlds greatest landmarks.

Birminghams naked temptress cost an eye-watering 3.5million when she was unveiled and has been dogged by breakdowns and leaks, running up a huge repair bill.

Currently switched off yet again, some 410,000 has already had to be spent on repairs, bringing the total to 3.9m, excluding routine maintenance and cleaning work.

That compares to the cost of the famous Rio mountain-top statue, which weighed in in todays inflation-adjusted terms at a mere 2.3m to build back in the 1920s.

Christ the Redeemer in Brazil

With renovation and maintenance, the Brazilian wonder of the world is reckoned to have cost around 3.3m so far, less than the Second City floozie in her faulty Jacuzzi.

And now, the naked temptress with the voluptuous figure is demanding even MORE.

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Floozie in the Jacuzzi runs up eye-watering £3.9m bill

Most of the big news stories of 2013 are still getting ink and pixels: The F-35 fight aint over yet or so say opponents. Victims of serial killer Israel Keyes continue to turn up. Officials are working on the multi-million-dollar details of Vermont Yankees shutdown. And the business manager of Seven Days is still waiting for a call back about medical insurance from the IT department at Vermont Health Connect.

Youve read all about it.

But in the spirit of alternative journalism, our reporters are always on the lookout for stories that no other media outlet is reporting. Why are some Asian massage places open at all hours of the night even in far-flung corners of Vermont? Ken Picard conducted a simple investigation and turned up glaring evidence of human trafficking and uncaring cops in our own backyard.

Also from the police blotter: Officers in Winooski and Burlington opened fire on suspects, with results that ranged from alarming to tragic; and a pissed-off artist succeeded in shaming the Shelburne 5-0.

Some Seven Days stories played out in the political realm, as lawmakers gave terminal patients the right to seek a doctors help to die; officials kicked hate groups out of the state employee charitable pool; and Champlain Valley superintendents heard loud and clear that parents want school out for summer.

Other stories sprang up from the grass roots, as volunteers launched a farm to make goat meat available to the newest group of Americans; entrepreneurs built a wind-powered barge to bring Vermont farm products to the Big Apple; and residents of Jericho and Underhill tried to resolve their feud over what to do with a sweet gift of land.

None of these dramas ended the day you read about them. To that point, Seven Days reporters followed up with their sources to get the latest on everything from state daycare regulations and Burlingtons bike lock registry to leaderless Goddard College. What they found is nothing short of well, read on.

Illustration by David Junkin

Jan 30: In June 2012, a 3-year-old boy attending the Ed-U-Care Childrens Center in Essex Junction walked off the premises and into heavy traffic on Susie Wilson Road. Luckily, a passing motorist pulled him out of harms way. A subsequent investigation by Vermonts Child Development Division found that daycare staffers never alerted authorities that the boy had gone missing, as required by law. The state cited the center, but allowed it to remain open and licensed.

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Updating Some of Vermont's Top News Stories of 2013

An outdoor water fountain can add a lot of interest to a lake or pond on your property. It can add value but the real pleasure is aesthetic. Its not difficult to add an outdoor water fountain. It only requires a few materials and you dont need any special skills.

The first thing to do is measure how deep your lake is in the area youll be putting your outdoor water fountain. To do this youre going to have to wade into the lake, but youll be spending time there anyway when you install the outdoor water fountain.

To create the pipe for the fountain, youll need to measure the height of the pump for your outdoor water fountain. Attach rigid tube to it. Cut the tube to a height you desire thats above the level of the water in your lake. You can find these tubes at hardware stores or nurseries.

Its best not to put the pump for the outdoor water fountain directly on the ground, as this means it can fill with debris and clog more easily. You need a good flat rock for it to rest on, one thats big enough to easily accommodate it.

The pump should come with a filter to cover the water intake. This will keep out dirt and debris. If your pump doesnt have this, try attaching a hose to the intake and positioning it so the end of the hose is off the floor of the lake.

At this point youre ready to place your outdoor water fountain in the lake. Put the pump on the rock, with the rigid tube pointing up so it projects out of the water. You have a choice between simply letting water come out of the tube or buying fountain attachments for the tube end. The different designs of fountain attachments are easy to put on the pipe, and will create different effects in the way the water sprays.

You need to be able to secure the fountain in place so it wont tip over if disturbed. One way to do this is to use rigid netting. Cut a hole in the center thats large enough to accommodate the tube. Use stakes that are the depth of the water. Attach one end to the netting and push the other into the ground under the water of the lake. This will keep the outdoor water fountain in one place.

The pump for the outdoor water fountain wont run without power, and thats provided by electricity. The cord for the pump is submersible and waterproof, but the plug will need to connect o an outlet where its dry and sheltered. When plugged in the outdoor water fountain will start automatically. Youll need to adjust the flow from the pump up or down until youre happy with the way it emerges.

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How to Install an Outdoor Water Fountain in a Lake ...

Traditionally, indoor water fountains have been used to add prestige and luxury to a hotel, lobby, or high end spa. But within the last few years, it has become possible and affordable to bring this sign of luxury into your home.

Interior fountains can add a sense of professionalism to almost any living space, creating an air of sophistication to your home.

Because it engages the viewer through several of their five physical senses, an indoor water fountain can be an ideal accessory to add a special touch of class or distinction to your home.

In addition to the obvious visual appeal these units have, there are other benefits that appeal to our senses of hearing and even smell.

An indoor fountain can really fit within any style or dcor and, as with any other consideration for your home dcor, care must be taken in choosing the right match.

Indoor fountains really come in 3 basic models with hundreds of different designs to fit personal preferences and the existing dcor within the home.

Despite the different styles available, the basics of an indoor fountain stay constant. They will all consist of a reservoir which contains the water at the base of the fountain, a fountain head (the point where the water starts its decent within the feature) and the pump which moves the water from the reservoir to the fountain head.

There are essentially three main options for a person to consider when they are thinking about adding a water feature to their home. Each model option is virtually self-explanatory, but each model does come with some different factors to consider.

Table top fountains are the most diverse of all indoor fountains since they can incorporate a combination of textures and features, including candles, mist (from an artificial mister), slate, granite, glass, bamboo, aquatic plants, river stone, sea shells, or an artificial resin surface.

Because table top fountains are rather small, they are typically not used as a feature in a large room. They can be easily displayed on an end table. Despite their small size, table top fountains bring the unique and classy sights and sounds of moving water to a small room.

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Indoor Water Fountains for Home Owners - Interior Decorating 101

By Rob Robillard

Statues, vases, disappearing fountains and rock fountains are becoming popular backyard focal points. Just go to any garden shop and youll see dozens of options for Koi ponds, waterfalls and basin fountains.

Installing a disappearing or hidden-basin water fountain doesnt take up as much space as a waterfall or Koi pond but still gives you the sound of bubbling water and a great looking focal point for your landscape.

With a disappearing fountain, water is pumped through and out a fountain standpipe from a hidden reservoir buried in the ground. The water then overflows the basin rim and seems to disappear into the ground.

Installing a hidden or disappearing water fountain is a great DIY project and a way to add the soothing sound of moving water to a patio, pool or flower garden area

An anniversary gift of a large glazed pot served as the inspiration for the water fountain. I chose my location based on the fountains best setting in the pool area and its access to power.

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Install a “Disappearing” Water Fountain - Extreme How To

home section Interior Design Housekeeping Entertaining Home Improvement Gardening & Plants Landscaping eHow Home & Garden Landscaping & Outdoor Building Special Outdoor Projects How to Install Pond Fountains

Melanie L. Marten

Melanie L. Marten has been self-employed for more than seven years. She taught herself website design and development, as well as freelance writing techniques. Her concentration on articles about making and saving money reflect her interest in helping others improve their quality of life.

Fountains add interest to ponds and water gardens and help with the exchange of gases at the water's surface. Pond fountains come in a variety of styles that will suit any landscaping theme. Anyone can install a pond fountain with the correct materials and a few free hours.

Choose a space without anchored plants for your fountain. If you want an umbrella or spray-type fountain, be sure the section of the pond is wide enough and long enough to catch all of the water falling back down. The location should also be convenient to an electrical outlet.

Attach either a rigid tube or a flexible hose to the water outlet on a pond fountain pump. If the pump is a submersible, it can be positioned so a rigid tube points straight up and supports the fountain head.

Attach a filter to the water intake of the pump to prevent it from sucking in debris. Alternatively, you can attach a hose that will suck water from the upper levels of the pond. Tying a piece of screen or mesh over the end with a clamp or zip strip can help. The pump can also be housed in a plastic bucket that is covered with mesh.

Position the fountain pump under the water in the appropriate position. Be sure the electrical cord reaches to the outlet, but do not plug in the pump yet.

Attach the fountain head to the top of the tube or hose and make sure it sits at the surface of the water.

Plug in the pump, then adjust the direction of the fountain so that all of the water falls back into the pond.

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How to Install Pond Fountains | eHow

Read these 14 Installing a Fountain Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Fountains tips and hundreds of other topics.

Avid garden enthusiasts dig into installing complicated in ground garden pond fountains and intricate landscaping schemes. For those who prefer a more simplistic approach for a beautiful backyard setting, free-standing fountains, statuary fountains, bamboo fountains and patio tabletop or wall mounted fountains offer almost instant sensory appeal to an outdoor setting with minimal installation time and labor.

Picture sipping a glass of wine or cup of coffee or tea in a tranquil Zen-like garden with a bamboo fountain. Water creates a soothing background, flowing trough the bamboo chutes and into a bowl of natural river stones. Installation involves minimal assembly, filling the basin with water and plugging it into a GFI electrical outlet. Add elegance to any garden setting with a statuary fountain. Introduce the rich patina of a three to nine leaf sculpted copper fountain to a sunroom or covered patio. Fill, plug in and enjoy. Or, install a custom water fountain and treat patients or customers in a waiting area to a soothing respite from the clamor of the outside world.

If you're purchasing a tabletop fountain, it should come with its own pump. However, if you're planning to make your own fountain, you'll have to find your own pump. So what things do you have to consider when you get a pump for a homemade tabletop fountain?

Because of the size and composition of an outdoor fountain, you want to make sure that you position it in a sturdy location. You don't want to face the problem of a fountain that could suffer damage or injure someone around it. That's why we've put together a few things for you to consider to get your outdoor fountain on steady footing.

When you install an outdoor fountain -- unless you have a solar version -- you'll need to supply power to the pump. We've got a few guidelines to help make sure your task of running electricity to your outdoor fountain goes smoothly.

When building a round fountain, you'll want to locate placement of the fountain's central feature. If you're wondering what the best way to do this is, we have one idea that'll ease your dilemma.

Once you've dug your pit and laid out the pond liner, tie string to stakes at the perimeter of your pit. You should have two strings running perpendicular to each other. The result would be that your pit would be divided into four equal pies. The intersection in the middle would be the center point of your fountain.

You can mark the center without damaging your pond lines. Simply attach a PVC pipe to a small piece of wood and you have your center point at the base of the pit.

Installation may be as simple as unpacking, adding water and plugging the water fountain to a power supply or letting Mother Nature provide solar power. Other water fountains, require wall support, landscape expertise, plumbing or electrical service. Shop with an online water fountain retailer that specializes in all types of water fountains, custom fountains and water fountain accessories and parts. Contact customer service. Ask lots of questions and rely on their recommendations to help choose the best fountain for your needs and preferences.

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Installing a Fountain - Fountains Tips

Digging a hole is the first step in installing a backyard fountain.

Garden pots and preformed flexible pond liners make it easy to add a water fountain to any patio or garden area. Fountains can either spray water in patterns through a nozzle or bubble and cascade the water, dropping it into the reservoir below. Regardless of the type of fountain you choose, you will need a submersible pump and a nearby source of electricity with a ground-fault interrupt (GFI) outlet.

Locate the fountain within safe reach of a GFI electrical outlet. Using a shovel, dig a trench between the outlet and the fountain, deep enough to accommodate PVC pipe to hold the electrical cord.

Dig a hole to fit a 5-gallon bucket snugly inside the hole with the bucket lip rising one inch above ground level. Cut a one-half-inch-wide slit in the lip of the bucket with a knife or hand saw, allowing enough room for the pump cord to pass through. Place the clean bucket in the hole.

Place a mark in the center of a 12- to 14-inch saucer. Drill a hole at the mark, using a three-quarter-inch drill bit, for flexible water tubing. Drill six holes in the bottom of the saucer to allow the water to escape back into the bucket. Drill six holes in the bottom of a 12- to 14-inch pot.

Rinse out the pot and the saucer to remove any dust and debris. Rinse river rock to remove dust that might clog the submersible pump. Place the pump on a clean brick inside the bucket. Pull the pump cord through the slit in the bucket.

Attach the flexible tubing to the pump. Thread the tubing from the pump through the center hole in the bottom of the saucer. Fill the bucket with water and place the saucer on top of it.

Thread the tubing through the center hole of the pot. Set the pot on the saucer and fill it with river rock to hold the tubing upright. Cut the tubing so that the fountain spout is even with the rim of the pot. Attach the fountain nozzle to the end of the tubing.

Based in Atlanta, Valerie Liles has been writing about landscape and garden design since 1980. As a registered respiratory therapist, she also has experience in family health, nutrition and pediatric and adult asthma managment. Liles holds a Bachelor of Arts in journalism from Colorado State University and a Master of Science in technical communication from the University of Colorado.

Thank you for providing feedback to our Editorial staff on this article. Please fill in the following information so we can alert the Home Guides editorial team about a factual or typographical error in this story. All Fields are required.

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How to Install a Water Fountain | Home Guides | SF Gate

A fountain adds grace, beauty and serenity to almost any setting. It can also be a surprisingly low-cost home improvement. iStockphoto.com/Bruce Shippee

Is there anything more relaxing than the quiet, steady burble of flowing water? Large or small, indoors or out, a fountain adds grace, beauty and serenity to almost any setting. It can also be a surprisingly low-cost home improvement.

Installing a fountain can involve as much or as little work as you want. You can work from a kit that assembles all the components for you (although you'll lose some flexibility in terms of design). Or, once you understand how the different components fit together, you can construct your own fountain from available materials -- including the earth in your backyard.

But first things first: you should know what you're getting into. Different fountains work best in different places -- tables, walls, floors, patios, gardens. No amount of tinkering will make your table strong enough to support a floor fountain, or keep the end result from looking awkward as well as unstable. And no table fountain will look anything but diminutive if you install it on a floor. Look around to find a fountain in the appropriate scale for your setting. Think about materials -- stone, slate, bamboo, granite -- that will coordinate with the rest of your decor.

As you choose the location for your fountain, keep in mind that a fountain needs a power source. Some outdoor fountains have solar panels, but the rest will need to be within reach of electricity. Outdoor fountains also need seasonal maintenance, so make sure you choose a relatively accessible spot.

This article explores the different types of fountains in more detail. We'll also look at the plans and tools you should have on hand before you delve into the installation process.

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TLC "How to Install a Fountain" - HowStuffWorks "Learn How ...

Installing an outdoor water fountain is much more difficult than installing a small interior fountain, right? Yes, but it may not be as difficult as you anticipate. It will take a weekends amount of time and you may need some help from friends and family. Nevertheless, it is doable. Here are a few steps involved in the process.

Outdoor fountains that are built directly into the ground have a natural appearance and, by nature, an unstructured feel to them. One of the most challenging aspects of this assignment will be in gathering up materials. You will need a main stone feature to create the waterfall element, as well as a re-circulating pump, which moves the water and keeps it fresh. Ordinary land areas cannot hold water so you will need plastic tubing and pond liner to create the pond. Other items may include river rocks, a metal grate and a container. Some stores will sell all material together as a kit, though you can also buy your own materials and get your choice of products. There are fountain reservoirs that can be buried in the ground instead of using pond liner and wooden kits. Some of these reservoir kits include a top screen which can hold rocks or river stones to decorate the fountain. These units allow the option of using above or below ground for a unique installation.

Before installing anything you will have to dig a hole inside the ground. The hole must be large enough for the pond liner and the wooden frame. When you are finished digging and measuring put the frame and liner inside the hole. The next step in building an outdoor fountain is to connect the pump to the water feature. This is where the tubing comes in. The pump goes inside the hole. The feature must go on the concrete pedestal and then topped with a galvanized grate. Now you can fill the hole with water. The grate sticks out so cover it over with some rocks.

When building your own outdoor fountain remember that the fountain must be level in order to work correctly. What you do want to avoid is putting the fountain anywhere near a wood or carpet surface (such as you might find indoors or in a patio area) You will need an outdoor power socket along with a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter for protection. You should have a hole sticking out in the bottom pond area, close by the tube. Push the cord through until it exits on the backside. You want to make sure and plug the pump into the outlet only after you add the water and it is completely submerged.

When building outdoor water fountains, be careful to not overflow the pond area. You will occasionally need to refill the pond because of evaporation. Always keep the pump under the water. Outdoor water fountains are a great deal of fun, especially when you start experimenting with LED lights and foggers!

Tags: Garden Fountains, Installation, Outdoor Fountains

Category: Fountain Installation Tips

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How to Install an Outdoor Fountain - Kinetic Fountains