A Very Sod Story

That's no typo. This story is about sod...grass...lawn. This summer, I finally got around to replacing the forest of weeds that had taken up residence in my backyard. I spent many hours weeding, leveling, and generally prepping the backyard for sod to be laid down. On Friday, June 24 I had the sod delivered and spent roughly 11 hours single-handedly laying the entire backyard. The following Sunday, I was working in the front yard when the sprinklers turned on. I lept up, shut the sprinklers off, and continued my task. Monday night Rory went into the ER, and subsequently the NICU. That first week in the NICU, our friends reported the newly laid sod was turning brown in patches and not doing too good, despite hand watering of the affected areas.

By Thursday, it was realized that the sprinklers were not on. I'd never turned them back on the previous Sunday, and none of us were around to notice that they weren't coming on at the appropriate times. Given my personal investment of time, energy and money into that backyard, I wasn't about to let that lawn die on my watch. Next time I was home, I cranked the sprinkler times WAY up, then didn't return home for another two or three weeks. I just got my $350 water bill in the mail.