SRING-klers! Spring 2017.

2017 was the year, the year for sprinklers. There are so many plans that we have, and automatic irrigation has been on the list for a while. Yay! We were so excited about the idea of not spending an hour or more everyday in the summer watering. Sprinklers meant freedom... we could leave for the weekend and not have to resuscitate our plants the second we pulled in the driveway. 

In February, a nice off-season month, we went to Sprinkler World and had our plans drawn up. Then we just waited for the ground to thaw....

Well, this was the wettest spring ever! Rain, rain, rain! Finally, the middle of April we had all the supplies delivered...in the pouring rain. 

You have to Blue Stake, and it only lasts a week,...so we had our yard blue staked like 4 times. We pretty much had it all memorized, but we were trying to be good, law abiding citizens.  

AND we finally got some quail this year! Yay!

 Finally the sun came out! The trencher couldn't come when the ground was wet, and you didn't want it to rain and fill in the trenches, so finally, on May 1 we were able to have Andy's Trenching come out. I must say, I was against paying someone to come trench, I mean, David can dig holes. But knowing what I know now... best money I could have ever spent! We would still be trenching a year later!

 Preston had been planning for this day for a long time. I knew that it probably was a little dangerous to be right by the trencher with all the flying rocks and all, so we set up camp right inside the door...

 ..with lawn chairs, and snacks. Preston and Brooks were mesmerized. (seriously, look at that lush lawn!)

 Watching the trencher was about the end of the fun for a while. Then it was time to break out the shovels. Thanks Grandpa and Colby, David sure appreciated all the help!

Preston especially loved to help with all the sprinklers. Hand trenching took a week or so, then putting in the back flow preventer took a while (The 3 boys now identify the back flow preventers every where we go!) and laying the pipe took about a minute. It was hard to see all my beautiful perennials getting trenched through. I wasn't prepared for where all the dirt from the trenches would go...but it ended up being okay, it's not like I had never re-located a plant before :)

Preston is such a ham,  right before this picture with David he said "I guess we know who is doing all the work here. Preston." haha

 Our sweet little almost one year old Brookser loved to be outside. He couldn't walk, so he was usually confined to the stroller (which he hated).

 Back yard.

 So much digging!

 And finally May 11 we finally fit the first sprinkler head! Yay!

 And then we started filling in the holes. That was not a quick job either.

 Just because our whole yard was dug up didn't mean that I could't get every gorgeous plant I found...so a nice collection was growing in front of our garage.

 And then it happened, May 26, after Hayden and David's last day of school, we celebrated summer with sprinklers.

A month of hard work really paid off, our yard was beautiful, and we were able to spend time not watering.
We also installed a drinking fountain, the best thing ever! (thanks, Aleese!) It was so wonderful to be able to get a quick drink all summer!

We also installed automated drip in our garden, another win! Our garden never looked so good, there were a few less weeds, and I didn't feel so bad about wasting all that water.



K Rain sprinklers are the way to go, if you are wondering, they are very LEAN.