When I hear the word “irrigation” I think of the millions of gallons of water diverted from the Colorado River for agricultural purposes. Those dramatic aerial photographs showing former waterlines etched high on rocky canyon walls versus today’s receded shores which expose miles of marina docks stretching into Lake Mead but landlocked, no longer accessible by water. Or the reduced water levels of Lake Powell, visible even to our untrained eyes, as Richard and I explored the National Parks of southern Utah – Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, and Arches, as well as a favorite small gem, Goblin Valley State Park.
My definition of irrigation involved thousands of acres of farmland and, until now, was not a small sprinkler system for our 5,532 square foot lot, of which 2,484 square feet is covered with house, screened porch, and garage. But the installation of an irrigation system is our latest home improvement project, as a lawn care crew of six workers trenched our boulevard, front and two side lawns. By the end of their workday, we had three irrigation zones (green, blue and pink) with water sprouting in precise directions from 20 heads covering lawn and landscaping.
An in-ground system was not part of our original building plans as I thought that with such a small lot I could manage the watering. However, it is specifically because of the narrow strips of land, 102 feet long north to south and only 5 feet wide on each side of the house, that watering became an all-day job – set the sprinkler, adjust the spray, get wet, and repeat – time and again all day long every few days. And that was in the coolish days of autumn. I did not relish the prospect of dragging hoses through a long hot draught-like summer knowing what it might take to maintain a reasonably respectable lawn as required by Harvestview HOA guidelines.
And then, what was expected to be a simple job became more complicated. Despite the front yard boasting a riotous collection of colored flags showing gas, electrical, cable, and fiber lines, Richard and I were connected to the Internet one moment and, in a snip of the black cable with a shovel, we were no longer linked to the greater world. In the overall scheme of our lives, the loss of T-Mobile connectivity for approximately 24 hours was a minor, first-world problem. The posting of this blog post, written in real time as work progressed, was delayed as the Knit+ Librarian exists in the cloud but that access was lost yesterday afternoon. We joked that the greater challenge would be selecting our evening’s activities since our TV is ethernet based and therefore it was offline as well. Nearly like the olden days.
T-Mobile arrived when expected this morning and re-established service. Although the fiber optic cable is resting above ground and will be trenched into place next week. We can only hope that the planting of the cable for internet connectivity does not interfere with the new irrigation system. Or we could enter a Twilight Zone of never-ending interruptions in service.
Photo credit: Pexel, Jonathan Cόrdova R.
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