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Time to Move the Sprinklers

Last week I shared my quandary about my lawn (“The Pursuit of the Perfect Lawn”).

Although my goal is to find a balance between my lawn’s appearance and the corresponding work required, I yet discover precisely how to achieve that. Part of the issue is watering.

The “use” of water is not a concern. Irrigating a lawn does not actually consume water (see “Save Water”).

It merely takes water from the earth and redistributes it—mostly back to the ground, with a bit evaporating to join rain-producing clouds.

There is some electricity required to extricate the water from the earth, but that’s not a huge concern either.

My disquiet is the act of watering itself. For most people this is not an issue. Just program the irrigation system and forget it.

Not so with me. I rely on the old-fashion method of dragging hoses around and carefully pointing sprinklers in order that my lawn may receive its requisite hydration.

Sometimes this is a major hassle and I wonder why I do it. However, by hand moving sprinklers I can direct water to where it is most needed: extra attention to the dry spots and a quicker pass on the shaded areas.

You can’t do that with an in-ground system. Part of the lawn will always be over watered, while a few areas will inevitably be stressed.

However, I generally enjoy this task of watering. It gives me a short break from work, allows me to go outside, and provides satisfaction. 

I often find that when I am in “watering mode” I work more effectively because work occurs with greater intentionally between trips to the yard.

The process is quite simple. I program a reminder using the calendar function in Outlook. When it alerts, I tell it to “snooze” for an hour and head outside to reposition the sprinklers.

Well, it just chimed, telling me it’s “time to move the sprinklers.” 

Gotta go, bye!

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

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