It's been amazingly dry lately, which has caused trouble for the lawn and gardens this early in the season. Our grass was already brown, my bushes beginning to shed leaves, and the vegetable plants struggling to grow.
I've tried to water them, but we seem to be hose-challenged. We had a green hose attached to the faucet which leaked like a sieve, but I couldn't get it OFF the faucet. We also had a black hose attached to one side of a double hose adapter. I figured that, if I could just get that green hose off, I could put the black hose ON.
While we were in West Virginia for Grandma's funeral, my father came down at my request and managed to remove the green hose. The next week, I attached the adapter, closed off the side with no hose attached, made sure the side with the black hose was open, and turned on the water. It poured out the closed side and nothing came out the hose. So, we have two hoses, neither of which work.
Last night, I decided I was going to get to the bottom of this. There were nails poking up on the deck, so I got a wrench and a hammer and headed outside. I hammered in all the nails that keep catching my bare feet when I walk across the deck. Then I took the wrench and began trying to remove the adapter.
It took a good while, and help from Dane, but I finally succeeded. The side that was empty was missing a very important part which didn't allow the valve to close off completely. Then Dane reminded me that Don had sawed it off when the faucet froze this past winter, causing the water to run. When we finally got the adapter removed from the black hose, I reattached it to the faucet and prepared to water.
Dane ran excitedly to the end of the hose (he LOVES watering the plants) and picked up the end, which had a sprayer attached.
"Mom, I forgot to tell you. The sprayer is broken and water won't come out of it!"
Good Grief!! No wonder our poor lawn is so parched.
I got the wrench back out and had Dane help again, attempting to remove the sprayer. It was no use. Then Dane remembered that Don had welded the sprayer onto the end of the hose. No HOPE of getting it off.
In frustration, I began to think. I grabbed the end of the green hose and realized that it leaked because the washer was missing. Then I looked in the end of the black hose that attached to the faucet. TA DA - washer!! I plunged my finger in the end, scooped out the washer, deposited it in the end of the green hose, reattached it to the faucet, and we finally had water coming out of a hose.
It took awhile and a good bit of work, but I finally have a working hose where I need it. I watered all the plants on the deck, my bushes across the front of the deck, my garden on the side of the deck, all the box gardens on the side of the house, my gardens and trees in the front yard, then turned the sprinkler on the backyard. When I finally came in, exhausted, it was 9:00. It took me two solid hours to do the watering necessary before turning on the sprinkler.
I had forgotten how long the watering took, not having done it since last fall. Dane asked me if I'd make the same deal with him that I made last year; if he waters all the gardens 3 times/week, I'll pay him $10/month. I jumped at the chance. It's well worth the money.
And now that we have a hose for him to use, we can get started.
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