Friday, August 15, 2008

ECO WATERING

Here, in the land of the evergreens, water is in short supply, and a green lawn means you have plenty of money to throw at your lawn. Beyond that, I'm aware that it's a waste of the earth's resources to pour water on dry ground, just to have green grass at unnatural times of the year.

And yet, I do love a nice, green, lush lawn. A green lawn cools the yard, and the feet, and soothes the soul. My own, as I type, is the color of bleached hay, with edges that still harbor life.

A couple of weeks ago, I began to wash whatever I could outside, mostly the glassware I use for the China and Mega Blossoms. I used the hose, and let the water run toward the tables I use, and later would stand, barefoot, in the shallow puddles to work. Keeping my feet cool will go a long way toward cooling all of me, and temperatures are hovering between 90 and 107(!) degrees right now. (That's between 32.2 and 41.6 Celsius.) In that range, I'm just practically useless if I can't cool off.

Then yesterday I got another idea for helping my lawn survive. I'd cooked up a pot of macaroni for salad, and rinsed it, pouring the pasta into a colander and standing the colander in the pot I'd used for cooking, now full of cold water. I lifted the colander out of the pot, poured the macaroni into the salad bowl, turned back to the pot of water, and started to tip the water out, then thought, Why am I pouring that water down the drain, when it could do some good to the yard? No second thoughts necessary. I picked the pot up, carried it outside, and poured the contents on the parched grass near the deck.

That was a good start to something permanent, I think. The pot stands in the sink under the faucet, and when I rinse my hands or a dish collects the water I use. When it fills, which is surprisingly often, outside it goes. I don't know how much good it will do, but it can't hurt, and it doesn't use any water that hasn't already come out of the tap.

You know what? I'm going to run outside and take a picture of my poor grass, the way it is now. In a week, I'll take another, and see if there's a change for the better.

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