sprinklers and hot tub

With water cuts, our water district is going to basically charge customers if they go over about 50% of whatever they are currently using. This is the stupidest idea by far b/c it hurts those of us who actually try to conserve water!! I have decided to start watering our yard again since it will be getting warmer and fill up our hot tub. This way our water usage will go up a bit and maybe we won't be highly penalized this coming year.

Yesterday, we fixed a few sprinkler heads that had broken and worked on fixing the back ones b/c they haven't worked since we moved in. Garrett figured out that the reason the back ones didn't work is b/c the water flow valve had been turned off. Yeah! We had figured it out. Of course we then discovered that we in fact had more than one sprinkler head, but it had been covered by a mini mud slide since 1/3 of our yard is on a hillside.

So you are probably wondering why this of any use to report, but here is the exciting part. Whoever was the stupid idiot who put the sprinkler system in (which by the way, most sprinkler heads were buried too low and are going to be replaced w/ 4" popups in stead of 3") somehow linked the backyard water line w/ the washer. I am NOT KIDDING!! We discovered this after having "fixed" the backyard ones. I started doing some laundry and realized that whenever the water kicked on for the washer, the sprinkler that shares a wall w/ it starts squirting out water. It isn't a ton of water, but it is still not only a waste of water, but the stupidest thing I have heard of in awhile. I have no idea how it is even POSSIBLE for this to occur.

We figure that may be the reason why the water valve was shut off in the backyard, but haven't decided if we should manually turn it off every time the washer is going, or just leave it. I am thinking we should shut it off b/c I HATE wasting water.

As for the hot tub, we have decided we are going to use it as a mini pool and definitely make it VERY childproof. It has a cover, but no snaps to keep it on (which is why it is empty), but once we fill it up, we are going to cover it w/ a 4x8 and then put bricks on top. I know, real classy, but at least it will give us peace of mind. Now I just have to figure out the chemical thing and we will be set.