Irrigation

Started: 2007-05-13 21:39:49

Submitted: 2007-05-13 22:16:03

Visibility: World-readable

Any irrigation problem that can be solved without digging is a good irrigation problem to solve.

Two weeks ago I turned on the sprinklers at my parents' rental property in Longmont. Last night the occupant called and said water was pooling in the middle of the lawn in the back yard. This didn't seem like a good thing, so I headed over this evening to investigate. I was prepared to dig up any broken sprinkler heads or broken pipes, but the problem turned out to be somewhat easier to solve: I didn't manage to close the solenoid valve that controlled the drip system (which is entirely under the mulch, so I couldn't get a good look at it two weeks ago), so the drip zone had been running continuously for the past two weeks. Tightening the valve took more than I expected, but I managed to beat it into shape, so it seems like there will be one less lake in Longmont.

In other weekend-irrigation-warrior news, I spent much of the past two days digging a trench along the east side of my house and installing forty feet of 3/4" PVC pipe. I brought the pipe above ground level and hooked it into a new 1/2" drip line running along my back porch. Now we can place potted plants along the edge of the porch and get drip irrigation.

After finishing my irrigation project for the weekend, I decided to take advantage of my last day off at home until June (next weekend I'll be in Cambridge (Mass); the following weekend I'll be in Lincoln) and do some hiking at elevation. It wasn't at all apparent how much snow would be on the ground around ten thousand feet (and I wanted to escape the high-eighties forecast for the flat lands), so I drove to Coney Flats (between Peaceful Valley and Brainard Lake) and found the unimproved four-wheel-drive road closed. On the north-facing slopes, there was snow in patches. I parked and hiked down the hill to Camp Dick (also still closed for the season), which wasn't quite the sort of energetic hike I normally engage in, but it'll have to do until June. (The other advantage of waiting until June is there's a somewhat greater chance more snow will melt, more roads will be open, and more trails will be passable.)

On Thursday, I left work early (after driving to Golden on Wednesday, I had some extra time) and climbed Green Mountain from Gregory Canyon; at five miles, this hike is longer than what I usually attempt on a Thursday afternoon. I made the round-trip in two hours and fifteen minutes, leaving me with little time to grab supper and make it to BLUG. After a brief crisis of leadership, it looks like there's enough interest to make sure things that need to happen actually happen. That's good, because I do enjoy learning new and interesting things at BLUG.