PHASE THREE WATER CURTAILMENT, HOW ARE Y'ALL HANDLING IT??

SO CONWAY CORP IS IN PHASE THREE NOW. ALL OUTDOOR IRRIGATION IS SUSPENDED, HAND WATERING PLANTS, FLOWERS AND SHRUBS IS STILL ALLOWED. THEY HAVE THE DETAILS HERE: Conway Corp water curtailment notice

I'M IN CENTENNIAL VALLEY AND MY YARD IS LOOKING PRETTY ROUGH, ALL BROWN AND CRUNCHY. I'M TRYING NOT TO TAKE IT PERSONALLY. WHAT BUGS ME IS A SPRINKLER ON A TIMER THAT CAME ON AGAIN THIS MORNING ON MY STREET, I WAS UP EARLY AND HEARD IT. MAYBE THEY DON'T KNOW?? MAYBE THEY JUST DON'T CARE. NOT SURE WHICH IS WORSE

A NEIGHBOR PUT IN NEW SHRUBS AND A LITTLE SOD PATCH A FEW WEEKS BEFORE ALL THIS STARTED AND I FEEL BAD FOR THEM. HAND WATERING WITH A CAN IS A WORKOUT... IF YOU'VE GOT NEW LANDSCAPING, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO KEEP IT ALIVE?

TWO OTHER QUESTIONS. ARE YOU WASHING YOUR CAR AT HOME OR HAVE YOU SWITCHED TO A CAR WASH? AND HAS ANYONE'S WATER BILL ACTUALLY GONE DOWN SINCE THE RULES CHANGED? MINE LOOKS ABOUT THE SAME AND I'M CURIOUS IF THAT'S JUST ME

ALSO A COUPLE OF PLACES DOWNTOWN NOW ONLY BRING WATER IF YOU ASK AND I HONESTLY LOVE THAT. TIP WELL PEOPLE, THEY'RE HAVING A WEIRD ENOUGH YEAR AS IT IS

Prince Street here, mine's basically the same too. I figure the base charge and sewer part don't move much even if you use less, so you don't really see it unless you were irrigating a lot before. If your bill looks off, check for a running toilet. A bad flapper can waste a ridiculous amount and you'd never hear it. Ten dollar fix.

On the sprinkler, I'd bet it's a timer someone set a year ago and forgot about, those controllers get ignored. Might be worth a friendly note on the door before anyone calls it in. Some people honestly don't know.

Car wash for me, been going to the one on Dave Ward. Not worth the bucket and hose argument.

THE FLAPPER TIP IS GOOD, THANK YOU. I'M GOING TO DO THE FOOD COLORING TEST IN THE TANK TONIGHT, THAT'S THE ONLY WAY I'D EVER CATCH A SILENT LEAK. AND THE BASE CHARGE THING MAKES SENSE, I NEVER WATERED THAT MUCH ANYWAY SO MAYBE THERE'S JUST NOTHING TO CUT

YOU'RE PROBABLY RIGHT ABOUT THE TIMER TOO. A NOTE ON THE DOOR IS A LOT NICER THAN CALLING IT IN, I'LL TRY THAT FIRST. I'LL KEEP IT FRIENDLY, NO PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE SMILEY FACES

DAVE WARD CAR WASH, NOTED. MY CAR IS A DISASTER SO I'LL PROBABLY GO THIS WEEKEND

Lauren the food coloring test is the way to go 👏👏 just don't flush for like 15-20 min after you drop it in, and if any color shows up in the bowl you've got a leak. Found a sneaky one at a rental I manage that way and it was a 6 dollar part 😅

Friendly note on the door is def the right move!! Most people honestly have no idea their timer is still running, I see it all the time when I'm walking houses in Centennial Valley and around town. No smiley faces needed 😂

For the neighbor's new shrubs, a good thick layer of mulch (2-3 inches, not piled up on the trunk) helps sooooo much with keeping moisture in, and water slow at the base early in the day rather than splashing the whole bed. Way less water wasted and the can workout is shorter 💪🌱

Also dont stress too much about the brown yard right now, most Bermuda and zoysia around here goes dormant this time of year anyway and comes back in the spring. Its the new sod I'd worry about 🙏

And yes to tipping well downtown!! Love those spots ❤️☕

Derek's right about the dormant grass. Mine's been tan since Thanksgiving and it does that every year, so I'm not losing sleep over it.

For the new shrubs, I save kitchen water in a gallon jug: veggie rinse water, the pot water from boiling eggs once it cools, whatever's left in the dog's bowl. Then I carry it out to the beds. Beats dragging a can back and forth from the spigot. Rake your oak leaves into the beds too instead of bagging them, free mulch. My husband thinks I'm nuts hauling them around the yard but it works.

If we get a hard freeze, old bed sheets make decent frost covers. Those new plants don't need cold on top of dry.

We've had to cut back before out here, the lake's been low plenty of summers, but I don't remember it being this late in the year. Feels strange for December.

Barb the jug idea is genius 🙌🙌 I'm totally stealing it!! One little add, skip any pasta water or anything salty or oily, salt builds up in the soil around young plants and they hate it 😬 but plain veggie rinse and egg pot water (cooled like you said) is perfect

The oak leaf thing is smart too. If you've got a mower, run over the pile once before you rake them into the beds. Whole leaves tend to mat down and shed water instead of soaking it in, but shredded they break down nice and hold moisture 🍂 Tell your husband its called free mulch and the stores charge like $5 a bag for the same stuff 😂

Sheets for frost is def a good call. Just pull them off in the morning once it warms up so they dont trap moisture on the leaves.

And same on December feeling weird!! Had a seller ask me yesterday if the tan yards were gonna hurt their listing photos lol. I told em nobody expects a green lawn in December, just keep the beds mulched and tidy and the front walk swept 🏡 Honestly a tidy mulched bed looks better in photos than a patchy green lawn anyway

Hang in there everybody, spring is gonna be gorgeous after all this 🌱❤️

Bill's the same here too, Lauren. Barely moved. Like Allena said, I think it's mostly the base and sewer charges, and I wasn't running sprinklers in December anyway.

The one place I've actually noticed a difference is the smoker. I do a brisket or a couple of pork butts most weekends once it cools off, and I realized how much water goes into the whole routine. The water pan is the obvious part, but then there's hosing out the drip pan, rinsing the grates, cleaning the cooler I rest the meat in. I've switched to scraping the grates while they're still hot, wiping everything down with paper towels and a spray bottle, and lining the drip pan with foil so I'm not scrubbing grease. Probably saves a few gallons a cook, nothing crazy, but it adds up.

One heads up on the water pan, since Barb and Derek were talking about reusing water for the shrubs. Don't use smoker pan water on plants. It's full of rendered fat and smoke gunk, so it'll just coat the soil. Down the drain with it, or toss it where nothing's growing.

Also, with every yard in town tan and crunchy, be careful with ash. Let it sit in a metal bucket a couple days before you dump it, don't just tip the firebox out by the fence. Dormant grass burns fast, and I'd rather not find out the hard way.

Car wash on Dave Ward for me too, honestly, the line moves fast on weekday mornings.

Allena you're dead on about the base and sewer charge 👏 that's the part of the bill that barely moves no matter what you do, so unless you were running sprinklers all summer you're not gonna see much of a drop. I try to tell folks that before they start worrying their bill is "wrong" 😅

One more leak trick to go with the flapper thing. Shut off everything in the house (dishwasher, washer, ice maker if you can) then go look at your water meter out by the street. Most of them have a little dial or triangle that spins when anything is flowing. If its moving with everything off, you've got a leak somewhere 🔍 Sprinkler lines and outside spigots are the sneaky ones, especially with the irrigation shut off and nobody checking on them. Caught one at a house I was showing last month, the owners had no clue 😬

Also +1 on the Dave Ward car wash!! Keeping that money local instead of the hose and bucket is a win in my book 🚗✨ and Justin great heads up on the ash, that dry grass is no joke 🔥🙏