Spinkler Fall

Monday, 17 September 2012

So, the household leadership committee is in preliminary talks to euthanize our spinkler system.

When we first checked out the property with our realtor last summer, we really didn’t care about the sprinklers. It actually made me like the property less, because it introduced an unnecessary variable that I knew nothing about. Hooking up a hose, screwing on a spinkler, and letting it spin for a while: that I do know. But a built-in system? Just sounded like headaches and lost money.

Last year, I used it once. I couldn’t even use it for the first few weeks after we moved in, because there were two busted valves. Replacing those cost $50. Then I used it once. Then it was getting cold outside, so I had to pay another $50 to have someone come over and blow-out the system.

One of the sprinkler heads was busted, meaning that if I turn on that section of my lawn, then all the water just gushes out of that spot. This summer, I ran over another spinkler head with my lawnmower and broke that one.

I guess you can pay lots of money to have someone remove it, but I looked up online, and it appears pretty easy to do it myself especially since:

1) I don’t care if it’s usable after I remove it

2) My lawn, and thus the system, isn’t that expansive

3) I’m only going to remove the stuff near the surface. The pipes a foot underground can stay there.

“But wait!” you say, “If you leave those tubes in the ground, they will get in your way when you landscape in that area.”

Um, maybe. In fact, that already happened in one portion of our lawn. So I just ripped it out. And I’ll do the same when, five years from now, I decided to install a fallout shelter and come across the renegade tube.

And here’s an interesting article I read today: Three Republican Presidential Electors Might Not Vote for Romney.

Tuesday, 18 September 2012

Once again today, I left work and drove straight to class.

I’ve tried classes in the morning, before I go to work, and classes in the evening, at 6:30, but this is my first time with a middle-of-the-day class.

Pros:

-Easy to get in all my hours at work. When I have a morning class, it custs into three or fours good hours at work. But this 2:30 class only eats up about one or two hours, so that’s good.

-Not out late at night. Yeah, in the evening, I just want to do my own thing.

Cons:

-Busy campus. People everywhere. Yuck. And no parking.

-Have to hope to science my car starts. See, if class is in the morning or the evening, when I leave for home, if my car won’t start, then I can just hop in the other one. Or get Jennifer to drive me. But when I leave work, there’s no back-up plan. Just relying on sheer luck. I don’t like that.

So the bottom line is: There’s never a good time to go to class. 

Wednesday, 19 September 2012

I am really loving the sudden onset of fall. I wasn’t expecting it to come this early or this fast, but I don’t bemoan its appearance.

Things that are great about fall:

-Get to use blankets again

-Fresh air

-Less bugs

-Can be outside without sweaty profusely

-Less-instense sunlight

Even though it was windy this evening, I took Isla for a walk to the park. Well, she rode in the stroller, but you get the idea. We wore our jackets, and I wheeled the stroller through small piles of leaves. At the park, Isla picked up a cluster of yellow leaves, which she identified as beautiful. In the wind, two of the the three leaves tore free and flew away. Isla was upset and wanted me to go get them, but I told her they were gone. She recovered pretty quickly and spent the rest of the journey home holding her stick with one beautiful, yellow leaf on it.