Autumn Blaze

I’m home again. Anne is being consumed by first graders. Life is good. Pictured is our newish Red Maple, which is living up to its name. When I first got home, I noticed that our front lawn had been tagged. Dig Right had been here. Anne pointed out that all our neighbors had also been tagged. Vaguely I remembered a text from the water company, saying that they would soon be doing something. I guess these paint sprays are part of this something. Later, I met the tagger. He told me that next year, the water company plans on replacing the water mains. They will also be checking the laterals and if you have lead piping, they will offer to replace it. I’m pretty sure that we don’t have lead, but rather galvanized, but it will be good to check it anyway. The hits just keep on coming.

It seems like only yesterday that our street was torn up for a new sewer line. That process lasted for almost a year. In the interim, sewer work has spread out throughout the area, making most of the roads around here feel like an off-road experience. Now that that phase of this process is reaching its conclusion, I say why not. Let’s do it all over again. I mean my lawn is looking nice again, except for the white paint that’s all over it now. The pavement on our street and in our neighborhood is again as smooth as butter. Bring on the backhoes! I’m not saying that the water pipes don’t need to be replaced. Broken water mains are a routine event. It’s just that like everything else in life, timing is everything. The only silver lining in this whole Déjà vu all over again, is that this time it will be our across the street neighbors who will be bearing the brunt of this operation. That is because unlike the sewer line, which is located on our side of the street, the water main is on their side. Which lucky neighbor will get the porta-potty? I wonder if I’ll ever get caught in the shower, when the water is shut off?