This scenario has actually been more interesting than the full length movies that I've seen lately. First of all (put into movie context) this was a film that by all accounts, including that of its star, "Would Never Ever in 500 million years" get made. It all started with a leaky valve, and the fact that the sprinkers just weren't working. Then and there, our hero declares that there is no way on earth that he is going to mess around with the sprinklers - it's just way beyond his ability. I play a very supportive role to his "no way no how I'm gonna do that." After all, this man is great with computers, can make his way around the lawn with a mower, cooks fantastically when he feels like it, does his own laundry and can fix small childrens' bikes in a single bound but, I had to agree that this was nowhere near the land of his expertise.
There was not an in-ground sprinkler system at the last house. It is all completely new to us. Still, there's the internet and being the succor for a challenge that he is, he starts looking for information on our particular valves. He finds a store in town that carries the broken part, buys the broken part and installs it. Right here, I'm thinking, "Okay, he's already gone much much farther than I imagined he would. Very impressive. Make a big fuss." He finds another valve which is leaking slightly, and a sprinkler head in need of repair. Fixes them. All of the in between time, he's testing the system and continuting to grumble about how someone else is going to have to come and figure it out, because he's just not getting it. I am dumbfounded. He has worked out all of the kinks with the valves, AND started digging in the yard? MY MAN? When I pointed out to him that he had declared yet again, only 5 minutes prior, that someone else was going to have to come and do this. . .he smiles. Obviously taking a little pride in the fact that he WAS able to figure it out, he heads outside with a shovel and digs up a head which he believes to be non-functioning. After finding no leakage, he packs the dirt back down and instructs me to stand by the sprinkler while he turns it on. I have to admit that I do, in truth, trust him a little more than I ought to. Thankfully, it works fine, and I do not become a dripping mess. Must have been wrong about that one, glad to wrong. Moving on to the final frontier. There is low pressure to half the line in the parkstrip, and a gooey spot. When the water is turned on, the gooey spot become a mound. D, who is standing on top of it looks like someone bouncing on a water bed. "A broken pipe!" He actually seems excited. He turns off the water and starts to dig. He finds two areas of leakage. Interestingly enough, this time he does NOT say, "someone else is going to have to come and fix this." This time, he starts planning what He will do next, the way he will repair the other heads along that line which are not seated correctly and. . .that is how my computer whiz became my "yard guy," right under my nose and in plain sight.
I should have known when he headed to "Sprinkler World" (and I am not exaggerating) 20 minutes before Q's fourth birthday party was set to begin, that he had crossed a line. The sprinklers had officially become an obsession. I admit that I wasn't pleased at the timing but I am very happy with the result. From a big mess to functioning sprinkler system long before anyone would've been able to come and check the thing out. D is a very intelligent man, he is tenacious and hard working. He drives me crazy sometimes, like the three times this week that his dinner got cold on the table while he was doing valve repairs, after work. But how could I complain? He was doing valve repairs. HE was doing valve repairs. All things considered, and I do mean all things, I'm really glad that he's my leading man. I'm excited to learn about all of the other facets of D that neither of us has even contemplated yet.
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