So, there's just so much to be said about the past and I'm beginning to realize just how difficult it is to write from your own perspective even two years ago, not to mention nine.
Nine years ago I had exactly zero children (which is one of the few things I'm absolutely sure about) and 500 different plants in my garden. Today ithovers right around two children and 250 plants. Luckily for my wife (and children) I'm a considerably better father than I am gardener.
So, going forward, suffice it to say that when we moved into this house, I had a learning curve equivalent to Ben Franklin's when he popped into the Stevens household on Bewitched.
It's 2005 everybody, get on your party hats.
Gardening with children has its own difficulties. They always want to help, for instance. Yesterday I snuck out to the storage room to get my tools so I could fix a sprinkler in peace. Maybe if I cursed more like my friend Jerry, they'd leave me alone.
It does make me sad, though. My dad wasn't around as much when we were kids and by the time he took me out to show me how to change the oil in the car, I really wanted to just go back inside and listen to the Talking Heads or watch Gilligan's Island.
Yesterday's sprinkler repair wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, merely swapping out heads. It unfortunately does involve digging a lot of dirt and grass out from around the sprinkler head, something I fail at repeatedly, as I always end up with a great deal of dirt falling back into the pipe where the new head goes. (I always shortcut around this problem by turning the system on and blasting the dirt out via the created geyser shooting up through the pipe.)
I even got a "Man, that job is the worst" from a passing dad, who added, "I've got two at home I've been putting off". Which is much better than what I expected to hear: "I've got two at home you can do when you're done". Though I don't think anyone messes with a guy covered in dirt and laying prostrate on the ground with a screwdriver in his hand.
These sprinkler heads that I'm always fixing, by the way, are located on the area at home we used call "The Dead Zone". It's the area no one wants to mow or water. Located between the street and the sidewalk, the homeowner does not own this land, but is responsible for its upkeep. A fact we learned about when we needed to have our sidewalk repaired due to cottonwood tree roots ripping the living heck out of it.
Everything happens to these sprinkler heads. I see bikes riding over them, strollers, skateboards... I once saw a 16-wheel truck drive over some when making a three-point turn on my corner. I end up replacing one of these every other month. I do have Javier, the gardener, do a few as well (which sucks for him, I let him do all the ones where the line breaks and involves a lot of digging, replacing, and gluing).
I daydream each time I'm on my belly ripping one of these things out that I cover this area in bark and native plants and can forget about doing anything but weeding and summer watering.
But then again, I don't know if I'm up for adding another 15 plants to my care.
