My sprinkler system had a leak Friday. It was spewing all over the house. I walked through 15 inches of snow — almost up to my waist — to the leak.
Walked back to the garage, got a hammer (to pry open the lid to the water box) and a wrench, to turn off the water to the sprinklers. Walked through snow up the driveway and down the street to the water connection. Only I couldn’t see it.
I walked back through the snow to the garage and got a shovel, and walked back through the snow to where I thought the water box was.
I started shoveling. I cleared about a six-by-four path. Nothing.
I looked over and six feet away was the lid to the water supply. It had a little snow on it. I shoveled it off, raised the lid and discovered the water company had put new, taller, tops on the gauges and I couldn’t get any leverage with the wrench.
I was laying prone in the snow, hammering the wrench and praying it would move when my wife, who was standing by the leak 20 feet away said: “I turned this valve and the water stopped. Do we need to call someone?’
I walked through the on the street, down the driveway and to the garage, dropped the shovel and tools and walked into the house without saying a word. I hate winter.