The Law of Unintended Consequences

I think I've mentioned that we had a drought in North Florida recently.  Many of you will have read about the wildfires in Florida and Georgia.

The upshot of all that and my neglect of my lawn is that it wound up resembling a giant, sandy anthill.  Giant ants, red ants, black ants.  Very little grass, lots of sand, lots of weeds.  Not so pretty.

A friend had just gotten his yard landscaped, and was singing the praises of his new, improved property.  In a moment of profound weakness, I told him he could give my name to his landscaper, who came by the next day to give me an estimate.

He painted quite the vision, a yard of lush grass, punctuated by hardy but beautiful flowerbeds.  In other words, low maintenance and beautiful.  It would, of course, involve a sprinkler system.

So we agreed, and the work began.  He's had some other jobs, but I told him I wasn't in a hurry. 

He installed an extra pump so the system would not affect my water pressure.  Installing the system has been hard even to watch.  My yard is full of roots, and they've been digging trenches all over the yard, like giant demented moles, piling roots by the side of the drive.

But it's been progressing.

Anyway, Friday, my family came into town.  We had dinner at my folks', and when I got home, I did what I usually do---went straight to the computer to check the blog, read my email, and do all the stuff that people who live alone and have a computer tend to do.

  Couldn't get on the internet.  Couldn't get my email.  The little "ready" light on the modem kept blinking.  I rebooted the computer several times, as well as unplugging the router and DSL modem for ten or fifteen minutes at a time, to no avail.  I wound up unplugging everything, to give the equipment plenty of time to contemplate the error of its ways, and retired.

Saturday morning, I started getting ready for Mom's birthday party that afternoon.  Fortunately, I had pre-blogged for Saturday.  But first thing, over coffee, I replugged my computer, the router and the modem and confidently clicked on the internet icon.  Nothing.  The "ready" light calmly blinked at me.  At that point, I had a revelation and tried to phone my cell phone from the land line.  No dial tone.  No ringing.  The phone was out to lunch.

I then navigated the complex calling system for the new AT&T, and finally got a live representative on the phone.  He had me remove the filters, unplug everything, replug everything.  No luck.  He scheduled me for a service call between 8 AM and noon the following day (Sunday).

OK, said I.  I figured I have my cell phone if I need a phone, and I had preblogged for Saturday, so if he fixed it the next morning, I could do a quick post and return to my houseguests.  Meanwhile, I concentrated on the party, and had everything finished (with the invaluable help of my brother and sister-in-law) just as Mom arrived  with more family. 

The next day, everyone went to breakfast, but I stayed home to read the Sunday paper and wait for the repair man. 8 AM, 9 AM, 10 AM, 11 AM, noon.  No doorbell rang.  My cell phone remained quiet.

After about 1230, I went back through the daunting phone drill to AT&T, using my cell again, and finally got a representative who said "Oh, no, that was cancelled.  The note said everything had resolved and we cancelled the service call."  I had a stroke, of course, but what I heard over and over was "Sorry, there's nothing we can do, we'll send somebody out tomorrow."

Not good.  I told them I have to work, that no one will be here, but got the same refrain over and over.

One thing we did to was find the telephone box on the side of the house and plug in a corded phone.  No dial tone.  That means the problem is not inside the house, in spite of the fact that the representatives kept telling me there was no interruption up to the house.  No matter.  I have no phone and no DSL line.  I still need to have something repaired.  I wondered, fleetingly, if the visit had been "cancelled" because I have repair insurance, and there was no money to be made.  Cynical, I know.

Meanwhile, one zone of the sprinkler system kept coming on, instead of the sequential watering that was supposed to take place, and when it was on, I had almost no water pressure in the house.  This morning, I showered with a dribble coming out of the shower head. 

So I have no phone, no computer, and precious little water pressure, and an uncharacteristically defeatist attitude about the chances of getting all this repaired any time soon.

And I fear that the root cause of all this was my desire to have a green(er) lawn and something pretty to look at when I open the window.

Be careful what you wish for.

[Image via All Posters]

Comments

[juliane]

this too shall pass!

[keewee]

first thing which went through my mind is " did the landscaping folk inadvertently cut through underground wiring to your house, or have incorectly wired the electrical part of the irrigation system, thus screwing everything else up"
Just a thought.

[LC]

Do let us know the answer to the mystery when it arrives (costing several $$, no doubt)!