Handy (wo)man

In the interest of providing a post for all you blog-deprived readers, I submit this trivial episode from today.

This morning, at about 10:30, when I went to the curb to bring in our green waste can, I noticed that quite a bit of water was running along the gutter and into the storm drain by our house. Being a bit of a don't-waste-water stickler, I looked up and down the street to see what was going on. Several houses up the street the sprinklers were running.

Later (at noon), that neighbor happened to come by my house and commented that her sprinklers had been running since six in the morning and she couldn't get them to shut off. She had phoned her husband, who told her to "push the red button twice," but that hadn't solved the problem. I suggested she push the red button and wait several seconds before pushing it again. When she got back to my house, the sprinklers were still running.

After we finished what we were doing (nearly 2:00 p.m.), I went over to her house with her and looked at her timer/controller. The display said "OFF." And, amazingly, I knew what was wrong! Most of you would know what was wrong, too, but I usually depend on my own personal sprinkler man to solve any technical problems with our irrigation. Somehow, I must have overheard enough manly sprinkler talk to deduce that if the controller was off but some sprinklers were running, there must be a valve stuck open. Mumbling random phrases about solenoids, grit, cracks and debris, we went in search of the valve box.

After searching the entire yard without finding the valve box, we gave up and called for help- "Honey, where is the valve box?" And then my little Scottish friend and I, with some dashing through the sprinklers and climbing behind bushes, uncovered a valve box (buried under a layer of mulch), pried it open with an assortment of screwdrivers (it didn't want to open because chunks of mulch were jammed around the lid), found the right valve submerged in several inches of murky water (yuck! I told myself that all the spiders that were in there had probably drowned) and turned it off.

Of course, I have no idea whether I broke the valve, or made things worse, or what. But at least my neighbor's soggy, boggy lawn is drying out.

The valve will have to be a job for her own personal sprinkler man.