It leaked a little last time we irrigated and I called the pump man to come fix it. There was plenty of time before the next irrigation. But he had problems and it didn’t happen. To get the picture, the pump was putting out 350 gallons of water a minute. That’s a lot of pressure on the pipe. The fix is a major job: to replace the short piece of cracked PVC will require dismantling several connected pieces and taking it all into the shop to duplicate it. This can’t happen on irrigation day. And the dilemma this time is that I irrigate today or a month from today (because I’m exhibiting the prints and maps at a book fair this weekend and then take off to Europe for three weeks). The trees can’t wait. I had to continue the irrigation.

I called the pump man who was working at the other end of the county and couldn’t help. Then Rudy, the waterman who works for Farmers Irrigation, stopped by to take a look. I assured him we had it under control. Then Nick, my neighbor, called to ask what was going on. I reassured him we had it under control.