Monday, September 24, 2007

We just broke the law

There is a bad drought going on throughout the Southeast. When we were staying with friends who had cable we heard about it on the news a few times and learned that it was illegal to water your lawn more than every other day. Before we moved into our house we did hear that Raleigh was enforcing drastic water restrictions but we still thought it was legal to water every other day in Durham.

We forgot to water all weekend - or maybe we didn't really forget - we just neglected to because it's a muddy inconvenience to water an oddly shaped back yard and "2" front yards with nothing but a hose. (Californians with sprinkler systems have no idea.....)

So when we got home from work tonight Sameer immediately started watering the lawn. I opened the mail and got an advertisement from a lawn care company and called them about aeration of our yard. The salesman asked if we had been watering our yard and I proudly said, "Oh yes, we're watering right now." Pause...Awkward silence.... "Well, I certainly don't want to encourage you to break the law. You really shouldn't be watering today," he said.

We looked it up and sure enough, Durham is on strict water restrictions. We may only water on Wednesdays and Saturdays between 5 and 9. Oops. We also read that all citizens are to report neighbors who are breaking the law by watering. So now we're in trouble. And so is our grass. But at least we don't have to feel guilty when our grass dies. We didn't like watering every other day anyway.

How is one to find out about these new laws when one does not have television? Is it a crime to not waste time in front of the tv?

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