Geek Habitat

Bexar Met, our water district, banned all landscape watering last Thursday — one day before our scheduled “watering day” during water restrictions.  No more hand watering, buckets or soaker hoses, sprinklers, etc.  If they could find a way to account for the moisture content, they’d probably ban spitting on one’s lawn, too!

Now, I’m a green gal and I do find the irony in all of us trying to coax along water-hogging St. Augustine grass through a fairly typical (read: DRY, HOT, SUNNY) Texas summer. And I do get perturbed when I see someone so callous with their water that they’re gleefully letting their sprinkler water the sidewalk gutters more than their lawn.  But I’ve had it. I watered the lawn, with a sprinkler, on Friday (in direct violation of the watering ban — and during a time when a couple of my other neighbors had the same idea.)  It was a question not of environmentalism but of fairness — everyone else got to water their lawn on their scheduled watering day last week, except for those of us who have to wait ’til Fridays.  So I drowned the lawn, and I’m glad I did because by the time they lift this “temporary” ban (which will probably be resurrected because our area is over-populated for the paltry pipes and water towers/tanks Bexar Met maintains), all of my potted plants and my small garden beds would be D.E.A.D.  I know this because 2.5 days’ time, my lawn is starting to wither and die and my garden bed may already have had a couple casualities, including some drought-hardy salvia bushes!

If I knew a rain dance, I would be doing one naked in the backyard right now (naked only to prove the urgency of my request!)

So, the grass and landscaping is dying.  I’m dying anytime I spend more than 3 minutes outside after, oh, 8 AM. Our garage is easily 98 degrees even if neither vehicle’s been driven all day.  The bird bath water is evaporating daily now, and I swear I can watch as its water level decreases with each passing hour. The sun beaming into our main room is such that I am finally thinking it’s time to invest in some curtains, as much as I love the view out our four towering windows overlooking the greenbelt (floodplain).

Dog days of summer… hate ‘em!