Installing a Sprinkler System
In the beginning, there was dirt. A lot of dirt. In fact, it wasn’t really dirt because let’s be real, that would be too easy. No, in our backyard God created clay. So instead of seven days, it took Colleen and I ten. On the 11th day we passed out.
It all started with silly me wanting to put in a sprinkler system so that when we finish our backyard we wouldn’t have to water by hand. Sounds good right? Riiiiiiiiight….
Colleen and I drew out many maps of the backyard so that we were on the exact same page BEFORE we started. But of course my drawings are as much to scale as an old Godzilla movie. So we went to Home Depot last weekend to get some string and some spray paint to mark out the backyard. After getting ID’d for the spray paint, we came back home and began work on the backyard.
Digging in clay is a losing battle. It’s heavy, it can be hard as a rock and well, we didn’t have the right shovel. Another trip to Home Depot (this time Colleen’s sister went so I wouldn’t buy too many things) and 3 shovels and a rake later, we had the right tools. 
Every night after work for an entire week my job was to dig dig dig. And dig I did. By the time Memorial Day Weekend started on Friday I was almost completely done digging.
Here are some pictures: (click on each one for a bigger size)
Sooner likes to help as well, and Colleen got Sooner a pool to play in as you can see below…
The first thing I had to do on Friday was cut the irrigation box to the correct size and figure out how I was going to connect the second sprinkler manifold to the first one that John Laing (our builder) installed. It took a lot of digging out and thinking, but eventually I came up with the idea in this picture (and yes I had to add the rocks because they DID have it all in mud which was the land of the mucky-muck as far as I was concerned).
After an entire day of being out in the hot sun with Colleen and Jennifer, and a lot of gluing later, we eventually got to the point to where everything was basically laid out in the ground.
After we finished all of the gluing and setting of pipe, it was time to let it dry and seal while I drank Coronas! (The victory drink of all landscapers…well, ok, the ones that can afford it!) 
Thankfully the sprinkler system worked out fine when turned on, it was just a matter of adjusting the height of some of the heads, finding more parts at Home Depot, hooking up the electrical lines to the timer and shoveling the dirt back in the hole. Oh yes…the dirt.
Another couple days of shoveling and adjusting and finally, the yard is back to being at the correct grade (So we don’t get a letter from the HOA) and the sprinklers are successfully installed below ground.
All in all, it was worth it. We made 7 trips to Home Depot, 1 to Lowes and did the whole project (including shovels and the rake) for $400. I’ll take it.
Now I just want my weekend back!
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Well that makes me tired reading about all that digging. Glad we stayed in the a/c all weekend. Did have an indoor picnic at Grandma L’s last night though.
Cute doggy! I love corgies! How’s it goin? House looks good! Hope you’re doing well. I’m in San Diego now. Can’t remember the last time we chatted. Tell Colleen I said hello!
Hey Elise! Things are going well. What are you doing in San Diego? I’ll tell Sooner she has another fan!
Toid good job on all the hard work you have been doing. I hope all is going well with you, and I miss talking to youuuuuuuuuuuuuu.
p.s. This fourth of July..try not letting fireworks get into ur pants.