Take a pebble

No, not the Emerson Lake & Palmer song.

My friend Dave, wrote a post a while back about caring for his lawn... I was in the same position yesterday. Due to our heat, lack of rain (to be expected in a semi-arid climate) and poor coverage of our sprinklers in a couple of spots it was time for yard work.

Marj and I went out and tuned several of the sprinkler heads. Our main concern, however, was a sprinkler head that did not pop up at all.

This was never a problem where I grew up. We normally didn't have to worry about keeping the lawn green through irrigation but, this is Colorado so... I started digging and following the line. After digging through 2 feet of clay, we found the coupler between the 1" and 1/2" line... No leaks, cuts of evidence of problems until.....

I blew back through the line and felt something break free. Marj flipped on the water with promise and... nothing. Try it again and.... nothing. We disassemble the line and... a pebble.

This small pebble had been blocking the line inside the coupler. One trip to get parts (usually it takes me three and, had it not been for the creativity of the sales assistant on the floor, it would have been at least two) and I have a working sprinkler head... Now if the grass comes back. I'll replace it it we see nothing by next weekend.

We also have mulched rings around the trees now. We felt that this looks better, makes mowing easier and prevented damage from the weed wackers so.... pull up more sod. A tiring day....