Irrigation days can be so invigorating for the yards - and they (too) often pump up my heart rate!

At 3:40 I went across the street to switch the gates and get the water flowing in Ben & Estera's front yard.  The rods stuck a bit, but I was able to open the westbound one and close the southbound.  Since all seemed well - the water was flowing into the front yard - I went back inside.  (No, I did not want to babysit in the 110-plus heat.)  Half an hour later, as instructed, I went back over to switch gates to run the water into their backyard.  And guess what?  The water was running down the street, having breached a hole in the berm.  (And if anyone from the Irrigation Board saw it, B&E will get a 'wasting water' bill in the mail.)  

If you've ever tried to repair a hole in a berm while the water is gushing, you'll know that for every clump of dirt you throw into the fray, very little sticks! 

 But I did eventually get the water to (more or less) stop escaping.  Back to the house for an hour to cool off until it was time to let the water go on to the next lucky recipient on the irrigation line.  But when I went back out and tried to open their main gate to let the water go, the pressure against it was so hard that all my pulling and tugging would not budge the rod.  (Of course it worked quite easily when Ben showed me the set up - but of course there was no water pushing against it then!)  After struggling for a while, I was just about to go get Tom for some 'technical' (i.e muscle) assistance when Dick and Joy showed up.  He offered to help - and I did feel better when he had the same considerable difficulty.  Finally he got it done, and I could retreat back to the cool house.

I got tired around 9:30, and was about to stumble off to bed when I remembered that I still had to feed Lemma. However, remember the old adage "you can offer crickets to a gecko but you can't make him eat"?  No biggie - except that we're not allowed to leave any crickets in there for more than an hour since they'll chew on him.  Suffice to say that by the time I actually made it to bed I was pretty much awake, and last time I checked it was about 11:30.

We still had our own irrigation left to do.  Tom did the 35th Ave. gates at midnight, and my alarm went off at 2:15 to do the backyard gates.  (I had asked Alex what he was going to be doing at 2:15, and he expected to be asleep.)  When I got outside to do it, the drive-through gate was wide open, the shop door to the street open, lights blazing, stereo going - and no one in sight.  After I let the water go I turned off the lights, closed the door, and pulled the gate closed behind me.  But just as I was walking back in the front door, I saw mfAlex's car pull up to the gate, and Alex got out.  Seems they had just gotten his car running, and had cruised over the local convenience store for a snack.

I WOULD NOT HAVE HAD TO GET UP !

This morning I fed/watered the chickens and dog.  On the plus side, the front yard water (much of which ran down the street) had not gotten into the side yard as expected, so it was not under water and was easy.
On the other hand, that huge fig tree that gives marvelous shade didn't get any water, so I've got the hose set to dribble for the day to give it a drink.

We are getting ready to head over to Murphy Park in Glendale for the Watermelon Festival.  That should be fun, and I'm pretty sure the park has a fair amount of shade.  Still, I don't expect we'll stay too long... it's already getting close to 100, and it's not yet 9:00.

And no, I will NOT need socks today!