I've always thought it was senseless to allow water sprinklers to spray quaint little city gardens willy-nilly throughout the mid-day.
In the words of Dr. Spock?
It's logical.
The colorless liquid humans often take for granted simply evaporates in seconds under the scorching afternoon sun.
A waste of precious resource?
You betcha.
Ah, and you thought you were actually quenching the thirst of mother nature's bounty all around with those automated sprinklers, while you were toiling away at a desk job downtown.
Don't say I told you so, but I told you so.
Now, the Los Angeles water-works department has been forced to turn to city ordinances to ration the water supply to head-off a shortage crisis - and ultimately - prevent a dry brown season ripe for forest fires from running rampant later down the road.
But, the scenario is of little consequence to society matrons in Bel Air, I expect.
Their exquisite manicured gardens will continue to be hand-spritzed with painstaking care (and without restriction) courtesy of Evian or some other high-falutin' bottled designer water.
In contrast, the humbled masses will have to simply abide by the restrictions, in effect now.
If you're still in the dark about the rules & regulations about plant nurturing and splurging - for goodness sake - take heed.
For starters, each neighborhood has been assigned a specific day or two in which to exercise a privilege to pamper - and ultimately - perk up their lawns, shrinking violets, whatever.
More importantly, residents have been issued a strict directive not to water outside city-designated "hours to sprinkle".
A failure to comply with the good-faith effort to conserve water may be hazardous to the pocketbook, too.
For example, offending parties face stiff penalties from the powers-that-be (a fine and severe tongue lashing).
If a nature-lover is inclined to sneak out in the middle of the night to coddle one or two of their best buds with a life-saving jolt of invigorating fresh water during a particularly dry spell, no foul.
Night-time watering is okie-dokie provided it's on a day the aqua Gods have given a ceremonious nod to from on high.
The last hurrah, before Arnold turns off the rusty faucets altogether.
In that event, residents may have turn to novel garden adventures.
Cactus flower, anyone?
Meanwhile, there is a silver lining - for the likes of moi - at least.
Now, when I zip into an open parking space at curbside on a sun-drenched side street on a lazy afternoon, I won't have to worry that my freshly-detailed roadster (@ a whopping cost of $45 a pop) will be rudely spat upon by a host of obnoxious sprinklers out of whack.
Now, if only we can get the city fathers to take a gander at those useless "blowers".
Scattering a batch of crusty old brown leaves from one end of a sidewalk to another - and back again - is pretty much a useless proposition (unless a gardener gets paid by the hour, of course).
Maybe I'll start a petition to ban 'em - or at a minimum - force owners to install a muffler to reduce the noise pollution.
One small step forward for mankind!
Nasty work, but someone has got to do it.
Life marches on in tony Bel Air
http://www.julianayrs.com
