They call the wind "Mariah", I could think of a different name...

Remember that last post, where I talked about the wind? Yeah, well, it blew. And because of the rain we experienced this winter we have a wonderful crop of foxtails this year. Lucky for us they all blew right onto the porch. INCHES THICK! I tell ya, it was like a scary fifties sci-fi movie. Black and white, a tad grainy and with that creepy rancher off in the distance.

foxtail nightmare
Originally uploaded by S'mee.

The foxtails are literally shoved up against the walls of the porch and all in the seams, around the posts and under the windows. ICK! So it's time to pull them all out. There is a bonus to it all: the fox tails all stick together. Once you get a handful and begin to pull them off the cement, you get a huge pile. But they are sticking in the seams of the porch and sidewalk and they do not want to come out. UGH! So S'mee thinks I'll just power wash them off the cement. (yeah, I know it wastes water, but I am disparate.)

I go and get the hose. The nossle thing-y (don't you just love the sound of the word "nossle"?), anywho, I turn the water on full blast and squeeze the trigger hoping for a very powerful stream to blast out the foxtails.... the danged trigger doohickey snapped like a twig.

Hello almost finished remodeled department store! I saunter into the garden department. (You know it is spring when they bring out the colourful flowers and tropical plants that will never last two weeks here in the desert. Ahhh...) I carefully ponder which of the assorted hand held trigger power sprayers will do the deed and head up to the counter. Hmmm. Lookie there, one of those new fangled "fireman" hoses they sell on t.v. And, it's in a reel! You got me with the reel. I detest the fact that the only faucet is about two feet from our front door and the hose is ALWAYS unrolled and waiting to trip up any visitors. (Thor says it is a trap for wayward salesmen and the home teachers.) Every time I have bought a reel for the hose there has been a problem. But I see that this one is MADE for the hose and actually comes with it! How can I go wrong?

$20 later and I am on the porch again. I am a reader and follower of instructions. (geek alert) So I carefully open the packaging and find the info. "Attach the nossle (!) to the end of the hose. It is very important that the hose is completely off of the reel BEFORE attaching to the faucet and filling with water. " I can visualize the why for this -so I begin to unreel the hose. I get to the very end, the 'faucet end' of the hose and it is literally locked inside the reel and as far as I can figure CANNOT be removed without breaking the reel. I search the information again hoping to find the secret 'obvious' button that magically releases the hose. Nope. Not there. O.K. I will figure it out later it's getting too hot to be outside. I need to rid the porch of the foxtails!

I grab the other power nossle (thinking to self, "at least you decided to still get that! smart cookie!) and attach it to the old hose. Full force water here we come! I feel the pressure rising in the hose. I see the hose dance in anticipation of expelling H2O in a force yet unexperienced. I pull the trigger and WHOooooooooooosh dribble dribble .

Man! That was totally disappointing. I turn to the faucet, sure that I didn't give it enough of a turn. Nope, wide open. The stinky trigger nossle thing-y is just weak! WEAK! grrr. So now the foxtails are clean, wet, and stuck into the seams of my porch.

Well, tomorrow is a new day. I love returning stuff. oh well; could be worse. Could be stickers from the tumble weeds.