Lessons in DIY....

One of the things I love about this house is the irrigation system…no more dragging hoses and sprinklers around the yard all summer.

In theory.

The system has been severely neglect for years so it has been a total rework. We finally got the two zones (there are four) working for the bulk of the front and back yard.

As usual, I did what I always do when I want to learn something new. I hover. Followed the irrigation guy around watching every move he made (for a $100 an hour I figure I should get a lesson).

I googled how irrigation systems work and how to repair and replace malfunctioning and broken heads.

I installed the Zone 3 drip system for the flower beds. Yay me!

Now I think I am an expert and thought I could tackle Zone 2 which wasn’t working at all.

Zone 2, the zone on the north side of the yard, has been a total bust. I knew there HAD to be a break in the main water line some where, I just couldn’t find it.

I am tenacious…the darn thing was broken and come hell or high water I was going to fix it.

After WEEKS of digging around and tracing lines, I found not ONE, not TWO, but THREE breaks in the water lines…..curses!

Needless to say my newly sodded yard looks like it has been hit with mortar shells.

The first two breaks were relatively easy fixes….the third has been a total booger. It took three full days and at least 6 or 7 trips to Lowe’s…I repaired the same spot SIX times before I finally got it right…I think…I hope…unless one of the connections broke loose again when I covered it with dirt.

Today’s lesson on DIY. As I have said before, my daddy didn’t have time to teach me EVERYTHING I need to know about DIY. But what he did teach me was a valuable lesson. If you want something fixed, repaired, built, or changed, be willing to do the research and put in the time and muscle to do what needs to be done.

I didn’t have a clue about irrigation systems. Zip, zero, zilch. But I am not about to pay someone $100 an hour to do something as simple as change out busted heads. So I learned…and am still learning

The water line repairs….that’s another story. This was one of those times when after 3 days of crawling around in the mud and AT LEAST six trips to Lowe’s, I began to wonder if it was time to call in a professional.

I suspect it would take them all of about an hour to do what took me three days!

DIY lesson number two….know your limitations.

That’s a tough one for me.

I do get to share one little project I managed to complete while I was waiting on water line repairs to dry.

Years ago I bought these old metal wheels at an auction. Thought I might sell them but never have so they just sat in the yard with no real purpose.

This is the picture I took to post on Facebook Marketplace eons ago….

I’m not really a “yard ornament” kinda person so the fact that I had these big ole metal wheels just sitting in my yard was, well, just not my jamb.

I moved them to the new house and set them in the back corner of the yard and thought MAYBE I could find something to do with them…..eventually.

Now I do like “sitting” areas….and the more I looked at these wheels, the more I thought, “Hum, just MAYBE I can figure out a way to turn this into some kind of bench or something.”

So last week Brian and I went out to this ratty little old “hobby mill” and picked up a live edge board, brought it home, power washed it and made a bench…I really like how it looks tucked away in the back corner of the flower garden.

(The concrete “bench” in the forefront of the photo was there when we bought the house…we were told it was part of the old farmhouse that sat here originally…that sucker isn’t going anywhere! Makes a great place for squirrel food in the winter!)

Presto, bingo! Now instead of having some big ole’ honkin’ metal wheels in my yard that cause me confusion and grief, I have this nifty one of a kind bench in my back flower garden.

I haven’t decided whether to seal it or leave it natural.

LOVE!

We picked up another piece of milled wood just in case we needed another piece…I decided to use it to make a another bench. The concrete bases were from a bench in my Mother’s yard. It use to have a concrete top but someone (who I shall not name since it might embarrass my oldest daughter) sat on it and busted it. So these bases have just been sitting around waiting for inspiration.

I think I will seal these boards. I love how you can see the mill marks and a sealant will really make those “pop” like it did on this old wood I used to make a table.

Irrigation system is (fingers crossed) fixed and I managed to get a few little projects complete.

Makes for a good week!