Hose Check!!!

2 March 2012

I’m calling it. Spring has sprung!! It is here, at least in south central Texas it is!!! I love this time of year. Things start blooming, birds are singing and busy getting their nests together and the weeds in my yard are already threatening a takeover of the yard. The temps have already broached the 80 degree mark and last week, we nearly hit 90!!!  But this time of the year also heralds the arrival of some annual chores. Some are a drag but there’s one in particular I LOVE!

It is time to check my hose. Yeah there’s fertilizing and pruning, those are all necessary evils that one must do, if you want a nice looking yard. But nothing makes me feel really happy than using my hose for the first time every year. Some guys get all “chest pumpy” over the quality of their yards. Me? I like to stand out from the crowd with my hose in my hand.  I like to stand out in the yard and make sure everyone sees me and sees my hose. I take pride in my hose. It’s been with me for some time now and I take good care of it, especially now that we are both older.

Everyone loves it the first time they ever use their hose. How it seems to spring forth almost as if it has a mind of its own. The firmness of its shape and how it feels to almost pulsate in your hand when you use it is quite intoxicating to say the least!!! I like how the new ones shine and glisten in the sunlight. However, I can speak from personal experience that you don’t want to let your hose stay in the sun too long.

But a good thorough hose check is great for making sure it works properly the older it gets. When I was younger, it didn’t matter too much. I would drag my hose out on the ground, bouncing off the hard ground and concrete, throw it on the ground without a care in the world!!! Not so today! I take time to slowly examine its entire length for leaks! Nothing worse than when your hose leaks on you. As the years roll by, I noticed that there were some instances of “dribbling”. So I would simply add or replace a gasket! Nothing stops a dribble better than a fresh gasket. I take care where I put my hose too. When I was young, it didn’t matter. I’d stick that thaing anywhere!!! Not so nowadays. I always keep it away from the bad things you might find in a lawn or bush. Of course, I have mowed many a lawn in my time and I prefer my bushes trimmed but you still got to get it in there. And when I am done using my hose, I take the time to clean it off and wipe all the foreign material from it. I’ll even give my hose a finishing blow to get all the fluid out. That way it doesn’t leak out slowly or draw bugs. Not to be bragging but I have a rather large hose and it takes a lot for me to blow it. After all that I roll it up and put it back in the garage. I like to keep it dry if I am not using it.

That’s just one of the things I do to get ready for and welcome spring. Nothing makes an old man happier than a good thorough check of his hose.

Have a Blessed Day and Week End Ya’ll!!!

Today’s “Did Ya Know?” Its “National Old Stuff” Day!!! It’s being billed as a time to shake up your routine, change a habit and shake things up. I love to shake stuff. I think it’s time to reflect and revere some of your old stuff that you keep around. Like a husband and his old hose. It’s also “National Banana Cream Pie Day” today! Be thankful I didn’t write an article about that!