With the forecast calling for showers last Sunday afternoon we opted to lay down our pruning shears and pick up sharpshooters and shovels instead. Our goal: to install an additional 200 feet of irrigation pipe to water young vines that are mixed into the more mature vines in the block.
Let’s follow a rabbit trail briefly: I have no idea why but David has always used the term ‘sharpshooter’ to refer to the long narrow implement that he uses for digging trenches. Retailers tend to call them trenching spades or drain spades. Here’s a detail many of you hope to never learn first hand – according to industry experts, a spade is for digging and a shovel is for scooping.
Another handy tip you may never wish to use: pvc primer/glue stains can be kept off your hands if you wear cheap cotton gloves over disposable nitrile gloves.
While the overcast skies and cooler temperatures nixed our pruning, they made the day more bearable for gluing pipe joints and digging. With this part of the job completed we are ready for a return to sunny skies and hours spent pruning.
