Things I Have Learned This Spring

1. The Australians have the lockup on water storage and pumping. They're also doing lots of cool stuff with greywater and other alternative water management technologies.

2. Why are so many garden tool companies in Canada?

3. You can draw out as many detailed diagrams as you like for your plumbing system, but you will still be making seventeen trips to the hardware store because you forgot two or three things last time.

4. It's totally trivial to use 1,000 gallons of water a day on the garden. Like, can be done without blinking an eye or even overwatering. I'm sure I would be doing less of it if I were carrying those 1,000 gallons in one-gallon bottles from a hand pump or well, but I'm thinking about the vast lawns of the midwest, much larger than our urban lot, and how much water gets sprayed onto them. Wow.

5. People will sent you hate mail for ANYTHING.

6. Climbing down a ladder into the basement gets old really fast.

7. Walking around looking at things we have done on the house and in the garden doesn't ever get old. It still makes me feel good to lie on the couch after a hard day of work and look up at the ceiling in the library, admire the nice new cracks running though my once-perfect plastering job, and think about how much better it is than the sagging plaster that was there four years ago.

8. We have a lot of weird people in our neighborhood, and they all like my roses. Thanks, weird people! And thanks, random unemployed guys who want to give me their "business card" so I'll hire them to work on my house! You make weeding in the front yard so much more exciting.

9. Nobody sells wellies in California in June. It almost makes sense, because it's not going to rain here for nearly six months. But then again, when do you do all your gardening work with hoses and irrigation? Right.

10. There is nothing like having a party a week away to get your butt in gear on finishing a project.

posted by ayse on 06/23/06