the rule of holes, and a hole in it

[sergebroom]

"When you're in a hole, stop digging."

So used to say the late Molly Ivins, wise woman of Texas.
There are times though when there's a hole in its logic.

We recently noticed that, when we turn on our backyard sprinkler, the tubes at the bottom of which are the control valves would fill up with water. So, on Saturday, I dug down, and it took time because I had to make sure the chisel bar and the small pickax wouldn't punch a hole thru the horizontal pipes close to the wall, or thru pipes the location of which was buried in the abovementionned dirt. We spotted water leaking off one of valves. I then made an appointment with sprinkler specialists for Monday. On Sunday though, when Sue turned on the sprinkler's leftmost valve, she saw water oozing off the right side of the hole. Perplexed, I dugdugdug some more, all the way to the edge of the lawn and indeed found a leak in the leftmost pipe.



Yesterday, the specialist came and fixed everything. I still have to put the dirt back in the hole and, looking at the heap, I find myself thinking its volume is bigger than the hole's.

Comments

no, your dirt pile

[dragonet2.livejournal.com]

is fluffier than when it was in the hole. When they dug up our driveway to replace the house-to-main sewer line, i swore they overfilled it. Driveway use has made it just the right level, did that within a month of the fill.

Re: no, your dirt pile

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

I was going to suggest that a natural version of TARDIS space was the logical explanation, but fluffed-up dirt is more likely, and more down-to-earth.

Re: no, your dirt pile

[voidampersand.livejournal.com]

The secret of the tardis is digging a hole in space while keeping the space in the hole. Wash, rinse, repeat. It gets fluffier and fluffier. Simple, eh?

Re: no, your dirt pile

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Indeed. To reverse the process, does it go thru the hunman equivalent, where one puts some dirt back in, pounds it down with a heavy object such as a sledgehammer, then pours some more dirt then pounds, repeat until the dirt is level with its surroundings?

Re: no, your dirt pile

[miltonthales.livejournal.com]

You may have a slight mound there. Leave it for the forensics team. ;)

Re: no, your dirt pile

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

I may have to if they don't fix things? What do I mean? There is still a leak - in the same spot. Good thing my wife noticed it. It'd have greatly annoyed me to have to dig this out again.