Irrigation Irritation

Mindy was up first, and because I had the day off she thoughtfully worked her prep in reverse order. She did all of her downstairs tasks before getting a shower and subsequently making lots of racket. That allowed me to sleep soundly until 6:30am. I had to get up so that I could squeeze in a run before the irrigation folks showed up at 8:45am. Plus, if I were to run early, I had to do it before getting Jacob to the bus stop. 

Mindy headed off to the shower just as I started my exercise routine. I walked Ykraps afterwards. The weather wasn’t really that nice, although only a 30% chance of rain. By the time I finished my coffee and wished Mindy & Bella well, it was nearly 7:30am. And since I had to walk Jacob to the bus stop at 7:55am I chose not to run until after the bus pick-up.  I had Jacob on the bus as scheduled. Back at home by 8:06am I had to decide if I should run now or after the sprinkler guys showed up. Turns out, my mind was made up for me. They showed up early – just before 8:30am.  I figured I’d wait until they were started on their work. Besides, I still had to move the garden hose from the new grass area. 

Chris brought a crew of six. They quickly dispersed and began their work. I looked up one guy to go over the newly seeded areas to determine how they wanted to proceed. While doing so, Chris, the owner, placed flags where he wanted the sprinkler heads installed. I asked that he move the flags on the east property line further east. He commented that the property line was further west than I thought but agreed to address my concern. Lastly, I pointed out the path of all my buried electric lines that feed my uplighting. 

After they got going with the plow, I begged off for my run. I enjoyed my four mile run. I worked up quite a sweat. When I returned, Chris wanted to discuss/review my buried electric once more in the back yard. I was willing to fetch them some food and drink but they said they brought their own. I went inside and wrote in my blog for about an hour. Afterwards, I got started on putting together the new book case. I hadn’t gotten too far when Chris knocked on the door to let me know that he had cut my shed electric line. What troubled him was that he couldn’t find one end. I was surprised that it was as shallow as it appeared. After all, to install the electric line I rented a big ol’ trencher and dug it at least a foot deep. 

I took the blame after telling him he needn’t worry about hand digging around it. I asked that he leave the hole open so that I could splice it tomorrow. I returned inside to finish the bookcase. I finished around 1:30pm. Around the same time, the irrigation team was busy installing the deduct water meter in the basement and the control panel in the garage. They finished up around 2:30pm. While Chris reviewed the operation of the control panel, his team squared away all the watering heads. Understanding the control panel was a lot for me to remember. Chris also reviewed how to adjust the sprinkler head rotation pattern. Looking back, it was probably a mistake to write the check and let them leave before seeing the sprinklers in action. Yep! Issues!

 As soon as they left I headed out to check the electric damage. Sure enough, they cut the wiring in more than one place. Both of my external circuits were cut. The first cut was obvious. The second – not so much. I had to trace their plow tracks and reverse the digging. Sure enough, I found the second severed wire up close to the deck. In that hole they cut both feeds. Before I could finish exposing the cut, the irrigation system kicked on. I used that as an opportunity to check out the design and coverage of all six zones to ensure that every blade of grass would be touched. 

I had a few concerns develop but nothing too major. One sprinkler head in zone #2 kept getting stuck but eventually began moving freely after I forced its rotation a couple of times. Zone #3 is the deepest area of the back yard. One of the five sprinkler heads refused to generate much of a spray at all. Turns out, it was leaking profusely. Probably a loose connection as water filled the loose soil around the sprinkler head, eventually puddling.  The last zone – zone #6 covers the narrow side yard. I found one area out between the white pine and side walk that gets no water coverage at all. Granted, it’s a small area but quite obvious just by reviewing the design. By my estimation, they’ll need to add/install yet another sprinkler head. 

Nothing bothers me more than having to chase a vendor around to have work done right. I want to request the work, write a check, and then have it work right from the outset. Is that too much to ask? Apparently so. Geesh. Another headache!  

I walked down to get Jacob off the bus at 4pm. He got started on his homework right away. I was impressed. However, he wasn’t doing too good a job with it. I insisted that he take his time rather than rushing through it. It was a full sheet of subtraction and addition problems. His penmanship was subpar at best, and then he hurried through the problems making several mistakes. He wasn’t pleased with my insistence on perfection.

That’s when Mindy got home. Unlike my ex, she backs me up 100% when confronted with such matters and required that Jacob straighten up and do as he was being told. Mindy threatened him with severe punishment – something I rarely if ever do. I typically shy away from the heavy handedness. Perhaps I shouldn’t. 

After a few minutes Jacob decided to take my advice and was happily going about solving the problems. Not only that, he was making much prettier numbers by simply sitting up straight and holding the paper with his non-writing hand just as I had suggested. He still missed about five, but corrected them all after I pointed out the errors. He & Bella left with Jimaken a few short minutes later. Neighbor Jake went too. That should prove fun. 

Meanwhile, Mindy & I were looking forward to a Jimindy weekend.  To start, we planned an evening at CBC. We invited the Imber’s but they weren’t up for going out. We also called Katie & Julie. They had dinner plans but left their options opened for a pop-in visit. I took a very brief nap in the recliner while Mindy prettied up. I had to shower since I hadn’t yet done so. 

We arrived at CBC around 7:30pm. We sat at the same corner of the bar we did during our last visit. Kevin, of course, remembered us and served me up an IPA without any prompting. Oh, he’s good!  Mindy chose to have their 1859 Porter. We opted to hold off on a food order for a bit. Just before my second beer, Mindy ordered some calamari for us to share. Their calamari is exceptional – some of the best ever in our book. 

Somewhere near 8:30pm Katie & Julie showed up. That was a pleasant surprise. We had a nice time interacting with them both. The topics ranged from the Palin/Biden debate to financial crisis and its impact on our votes. We even talked of family stuff. Most of the conversation, however, was light hearted, of course. We didn’t stay out too late. We left just before 10pm. I bought a growler of IPA for the road. – my first CBC growler.

 Mindy drove home. We arrived somewhere just after 10pm. I insisted that we visit Kenny & Crissy. Mindy agreed but only after changing into her PJs. I poured a pint of CBC IPA just before walking over. Kenny & Crissy weren’t home, but we heard noise coming from Mike & Teri’s and assumed them over there. Sure enough, they were. We walked over there. This was my first visit to Mike and Teri’s house. Their neighbor Cindy was there too. First time that I’ve met her. She’s a hoot. I introduced myself as Frank Zappa. 

We hooted it up with the neighbors for about an hour before Mindy begged off for home & bed. I followed, remembering our agreement to stay for just a while. It was 11pm.