I have a maintenance spreadsheet to help me keep track of things we need to do each month. I try to complete the monthly maintenance on the first day of the month. I've found that without a checklist, I can drift for a year or more without checking air pressure or AC filters. Now, I stay on top of things. It makes things like bike riding so much easier because the tires are always firm and ready to go. Before, we'd notice halfway on the ride that the tires were low. No fun.
Today, I wanted to get the maintenance done. But John noticed a blown out sprinkler head on our morning walk. I try not to look at them, lest I see something that needs repair.
I dug it up and found the problem. The big mower on Thursday ran over the head and broke where the head joins the line. I tried to salvage the sprinkler head, but it broke where the threads were, making the head unusable as well as the connector.
At first, I thought I'd dig up the flexible black hose all the way to the plastic PVC line and replace the entire line and add a new head, but after two feet of digging, I changed my mind. Instead, I decided to cut the broken connector from the black hose. It would mean the new head would be a couple of inches away from the curb, but that's probably a good idea anyway.
I attached the new elbow to the existing line and then attached the new head. I propped it up and checked for leaks.
No leaks. I set the right, left, and distance on the new head. That's never easy. The directions are somewhat helpful, but I always end up improvising with some brute force to get it to work like I want.
3 hours later and one trip to Ace Hardware, we were back in business.
Since I was already wet and dirty, I decided to wash our car. It hasn't been washed since Jeff did it back in February. Perhaps I should add that task to my maintenance spreadsheet?
We're still are under 50,000 miles after 8 years. We prefer taking the bikes or golf cart whenever possible.
After lunch, I washed the golf cart.
Very needed. We spend a good deal of time on the gravel path through the ball fields where it's shaded.
I busted open some of our leftover sandbags from the last hurricane and used the sand to build up the ground for the sprinkler donuts. This is a preventative move to keep the mowers from breaking the sprinklers or the pipes underneath.
Our stag horn fern loves it on the ground. Hydrangeas are blooming.
Frangi pani in bloom.
The frangi pani creates great shade for the west facing window.
The grass has made a good comeback from our early spring mole cricket invasion.
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