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Plenty of water, and plenty of mud, too

3 min read

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I mentioned a few weeks ago how our spring had stopped flowing, how I was required to utilize the facilities of our local laundry establishment and how we had taken water conservation to a whole new level.

I shut off spigots while my children were brushing their teeth. I stopped running water when dishes were being washed. I timed showers and threatened to shut off the pump in mid-lather. They gave me attitude, eye rolls and heavy sighs in return.

I didn’t care, because every extra drop that went down the drain was a drop that didn’t get to be used for cooking, making coffee or wiping counters off. (It was an interesting thing to discover about myself that I’d choose to give up nearly anything before I’d live without access to clean, running water.)

While the reason for our loss of water is still up for debate, we decided not to wait for the disagreement to be settled before we took matters into our own hands and developed another spring and set another tank to hold its flow.

After two weeks of conservation and setbacks, our water system is new and improved and operating smoothly. However, we got a big rain the day after the tank was set, and it has been too muddy to finish backfilling the hole and re-establishing my yard. I currently have a mountain of rocky soil in between my house and garage.

I have never been one to be particular about the type of grass growing in my yard. I’ve always kept the mindset that, if it’s green, it stays. Clover? It can stay. Crabgrass? It can stay. Front yard is all fescue, and the backyard is all rye? I don’t care, as long as it grows every year and it is able to be mowed.

This is because, between digging French drains around the garage, establishing drains from the concrete troughs in the pastures, and having to drive tractors around the yard, there is more often mud and not grass to be found.

I reminded my husband that we have been married for almost 14 years, been together for 17, and I have had grass in my yard for about two weeks. (Perhaps a slight exaggeration, but not by much!)

He reminded me that the mud is a direct result of the water problem and repair, and that I was “challenging to live with” and “pretty demanding” about the lack of supply. Also, he said he was “just following orders” and has “no control over the weather.”

Whatever you say, honey.

So, it seems that for the indeterminate future, I have no grass again. All the kids and pets are tracking mud into the house, and I’ve had to mop more often than usual to keep up with it.

But, on the plus side, I’ve got the water to handle it.

Laura Zoeller can be reached at zoeller5@verizon.net.

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