Troubles, we got troubles, yes sir, we got troubles!
She who commands “requested” that I who obey should dig out the three Meyers Ferns in the front driveway flower bed and move them to the west side of the pergola. Grabbing my shovel I soon had the first one dug out and transplanted in the spot she designated.
The trouble was, in my hast to make her happy, I managed to slice open the irrigation tubing in the front driveway flower bed with the shovel. Understand that I was cursed at birth to have the “always cut the water line when digging” gene. My initials should be RRR instead of RR. The middle R standing for repair. The type of pipe doesn’t matter. PVC or polyethylene it doesn’t matter. To show how cursed I am, I once put a hole through the galvanized iron pipe from the water meter to house we were living in at the time. The red you see on the water line is “rescue tape” a fusible tape I have used in the past to repair my errant digging. This time it didn’t work, mainly because this wasn’t he only place I had damaged the tubing.
Hours later the job was finished when it was strongly suggested by you can guess who that I come up with a better way to irrigate the bed. I installed soaker hose in an oval intertwining it through the plants. It looked great and should have worked great except for the one little but very, very major problem.
Back at the pedestal where the Orbit irrigation controller is mounted (the red arrow) I set the no. 1 irrigation line to manual operation and nothing happened. No water any where it was supposed to be. I wasn’t born yesterday and when things like this happen, yes they have happened before and more than once (remember my irrigation curse) I knew what to do. The blue arrow shows the cover the irrigation box with cover removed. A twist of the manual valve and and water was flowing as should have when I turned the automatic controller on using the manual setting. A life of living in California where an irrigation system is a necessity has left me well trained in such things. As far as the problem with the controller box. It turned out to be a faulty GFCI electric outlet that supplied power to the controller. It was the second GFCI to go bad over the years, and this was after having installed a WR version for outdoor use the last time I replaced it. As before, I once again replaced the GFCI and now all is well. Like I said in the beginning,” Even If It Doesn’t Rain, It Can Pour.”
