Sprinklers

This is what functional sprinklers look like:


Major tip of the hat to Tai for the weeks of work that it's taken to get to this point. Major wag of the finger to the weather for raining (or SNOWING) every third day in May.

The front yard is already mostly put back together (holes filled). The backyard should be that way soon. Maybe there is some sod and mulch in our near future? I can't think of a better way to celebrate the unofficial start of summer than by putting in a lawn. (That was not sarcastic. I really want this project to be over.)

Tai wants you all to know...

...that his biceps are getting huge doing all this sprinkler work.

Which is still not finished.

Our yard looks like a war zone right now, so I refuse to post pictures until something looks a bit more done. Incremental progress doesn't translate well to pictures. If you've driven by lately, you know what I'm talking about. On the plus side, I did pick out, set, and lay 11 large stone pavers all by myself last weekend. They are lovely and don't rock a bit when you step on them (which is my personal paver pet peeve).

And, my aspirations to be a doddering old lady with a garden are in full swing. I have already killed four strawberry seedlings and six tomato starts. Congratulate me!

It's about time

You know where to find us this weekend:

Last weekend

To thumb our noses at the rain last weekend and take advantage of some momentum in the house work, we pushed through a couple of indoor projects: sealing the stairs, finishing a scrap of baseboard, and sealing a small patch of concrete we missed the first time around.

There's nothing inherently difficult or time-consuming about these tasks. They're just a pain to do. Which is really the only reason that we hadn't done them before.

The stairs, all taped and ready for sealer:


Detail on the taping we had to do to protect the wall, facilitated by tiny gaps between the edge of the concrete treads and the wall.


The stairs now have a slight sheen on them, and we're glad to have them sealed. Now we can stop worrying about long-term dirt problems on them. But you still can't wear shoes in our house.


Our fridge saga -- our current fridge was the third one purchased -- left us with a weird patch of unsealed concrete floor right in front of the fridge, which happens to be the spot where we most often spill stuff. Dur. It is now sealed. The baseboard on the left side of the photo was also a lingering patch job from the fridge saga; it's now sanded, caulked, painted, and looking pretty again.


Tai has been working on our sprinkler system this week all by himself. Launching pipes into the street by turning on the water cut-off all by himself. Exploding muddy, capped lines onto his face all by himself. It's been an exciting week. We'll keep you posted.

Rain, rain, go away

If you're in Salt Lake this spring, you know that we've had one storm after another, including a string last week and resulted in snow on rooftops for four mornings in a row. Aside from the immediate depression of mid-spring snowfall, the wet weather has extinguished our ideas for quick and speedy landscaping.

But there was a four-hour window without rain or snow of any kind last week, so we invited a sprinkler trencher over to do a little digging in anticipation of, someday, installing an irrigation system:



We were a little puzzled at how he interpreted our sprinkler plan in some spots, but I suppose the solution for criticism in this case is a shovel.


The trenches are about 6 to 8 inches deep. Among the treasures uncovered by the trencher were numerous roots from the trash trees we removed a year ago, an electrical conduit buried too shallow (we will be paying some money to get it repaired, since the trencher tore through it), and chunks of cement ranging in size from an orange to a cantaloupe.


One rainy morning last week the sprinklers were delivered. The pipes are sitting on a patio until work begins (maybe tonight?). Also sitting on our patio? These guys:


We didn't want to risk their health and future happiness by putting them in the ground and directly in the path of the trencher. Good choice, as it turns out. And this is what happens to your shoes if you still try to get yard work done after three weeks steady of storms:


So here's hoping for a little luck with the yard work this week: