Steve....Do you have any pictures? Having trouble here with the visual...I'm actually seeing two urns now LOL..maybe its time to switch to ice tea LOL...anyhow..I have two lotus near my waterfall and they seem to do ok with the moving water..I have them planted in 16" or so of water...I'll drop them in the deep part once winter sets in..deep part is 32" @ max depth....thanks for the kind forum comments...we have fun here.....Dave :-)

The stakes that toxcrusadr describes are a good way to make installation quick, easy, and uniform... especially with walled-raised beds, as you can leave the stakes in place all year and just slip the pvc right over top. However, I don't use walls around my raised beds, so until I can start no-till (I still have a few years of working this clay into something resembling garden soil,) I stick the ends of the pipes straight into the ground. When I can stop digging the clay, then I'll use permanent rebar stakes, and not sticking the pvc into the ground will give me a few inches of extra height. The other reason I haven't used the stakes is just practicality... I kept the costs down by not buying them lol. If you can afford them, or can find a construction site where short pieces are just cut off and discarded, then by all means use them! You might even find something else that works just as well. As for your scrap pvc... check the flexibility. Of course, free is free. So if what you find isn't perfect, who cares... re-purposed is a good thing. Just be careful of the sizes over 1/2", as they can be tough to bend without kinking; and the sizes under 1/2" can be too 'wobbly'. I forget if these are 1/2 id or od, and although I really liked the solidity of the hot water grade, they were more expensive and not necessary. Oh, and accessibility is easy. The edges are held down with bricks. You can use a number of things, but right now, the bricks are the best I have. I need to lift the fabric every morning to hand-pollinate the squash, so the bricks are easy enough to move. I think sand bags are a good choice because they don't have sharp corners, but alas... And make sure whatever you use as cover material is wide enough. I'm pretty sure what I have is 118" wide, and any less would be a problem.

Thank you everyone for weighing in. We decided to put in a small sink. More useful, less complicated and I think we'll still have room for everything else that goes on that counter. I agree that a third sink seems excessive, IS excessive, but it's a big kitchen in a big beach house so why not?! Dmpsd, my brood isn't going to be happy with losing water and ice on the door either! They use it all of the time! But I didn't want a 48" fridge so they'll have to adjust. First world problems, I know! :) Eam44, I'll take a look at that book. Thanks. It seems odd to me that I should have arthritis is almost every joint. Seeing a rheumatologist next month to investigate non rheumatoid spondyloarthropathies. Hopefully we'll get to the bottom of this.

My suburb purchases its water from Chicago. The water is not considered hard and homes on Chicago water typically do not have a water softener. Over the years, the smell and taste of chlorine has gotten much stronger - either I'm getting more sensitive to it or more is being added to the water. I was using an under-the-sink filter with 2 cartridges and the single cartridge units that are placed ahead of the shower head. When I touched up my main bathroom 3 years ago, I decided to scrap all the separate filters and install a whole house filter. I purchased this one from Discount Filter Store: http://www.discountfilterstore.com/two-housing-filter-system-pentek-bbfs-22.html and two cartridges - one for sediment and one a carbon filter. So far, I've been totally happy with it. I did not notice any pressure drop and no more chlorine taste or smell when taking a shower. The cartridges are cylinders, 20" long and 4.5" in diameter. Together, I paid around $90 for the pair, last time I replaced them. When replacing them, you have to wash out the housing with a chlorine bleach solution and then install the new filters. Because of the size of the housing, that's something best done in a basement laundry tub. Then there's new o-rings and food grade silicone lubricant for the o-rings. Definitely not as easy as replacing the under-the-sink versions, but once installed, every faucet, shower and tub are covered. Unfortunately, also every toilet and sill cock (I didn't have the house re-plumbed). However, since my water usage is low, I only change the filters every 2 years - have only done so once; time to do so again is coming up. Since I have a meter, it's easy to know how much water is used vs. the rating of the filter. I had a plumber install the system for me. He put in a full complement of ball valves such that I can bypass the filters and still have water in the house. I also purchased the special wrench that fits into the grooves of the housing making it easier to remove.