You're going to hit pipe. You will. Accept it, make peace with it, learn how to repair it, and move forward. A lot of people are terrified of their irrigation systems because they don't understand one simple fact: water is not moving through those pipes until the controller opens the valve for that zone. Worst case scenario, you shut that zone off until you fix the leak (or have a pro fix it). If you get super unlucky and hit the main line from the house to the valve boxes (this is the only line that is always charged) your system should have a main shutoff valve right at the house (may be on the backflow preventer). Since you have nothing going on besides lawn and a couple trees, you will need to move heads as you put in beds. The lawn heads will need to be moved to the edge, and you may decide to add irrigation zones for the beds as well. So no matter what, you're going to want to either develop a relationship with an irrigation contractor or start learning about irrigation. If you do any of it yourself, just remember the irrigator's prayer. "Lord, I know you wanted water to flow downhill. Please look the other way before I flip this switch. Amen."

buyorsell888 It is hard to say if the hardware will work for sure with vista. One way to check would be to go to the manufacturer's site for each piece that you have and see if they have drivers for vista. Most things like the hub and speakers work with everything. I do have an option that may work out even better. Have you ever heard of Ubuntu? It is a flavor of Linux that is very powerful and easy to use. It is free and will run rather nice on that hardware that you mentioned. I have set up a dozen people on it and all but one stayed on it. She only left it because her motherboard went bad and bought a new computer. A mac. I included a link to either download and burn a copy or to ask them to send you a free cd. If it is your original hard drive, you may want to go buy another one because that might be at the root of your problem, or it could just be spyware or virus problems. I tried Ubuntu after beta testing vista and have to say that I am happy that I decided not to switch to vista. My camera that wouldn't work with windows unless I downloaded the garbage software works with Linux flawlessly. It is also a good bit faster as well. It comes with a fully compatible word office suite as well. Let me know if you have any more questions. What is there to lose except a little time? If you don't like it, then you can spend the money and buy a new machine. I have to admit that it isn't for everyone. Some people have a need to spend money on things to think that it is a worthy solution. Either way, you have an option if you choose to take a look at it. Good luck with your choice Here is a link that might be useful: alternative solution

The depth of burial must consider such factors as frost depth and prevailing geological conditions. In my region the frost depth is 30" and all lines must be a minimum of 6" below frost depth therefore our minimum depth is 36" and maximum is 48". In regards to pumping, i fail to see why so many people insist on annually pumping a septic tank. If the tank and leachfield are properly installed and functioning correctly the only time it should require pumping is when there is a buildup of non-digestible waste such as plastics which effects flow. In my region the need to pump septic tanks is so seldom that there is only one pumping truck in the county and it is currently for sale because of a lack of work. The septic tank at my mothers house was installed in 1965 and it has never been pumped.

Thanks for that, Digit! I will now be posting pics again—even if they only look like ugly links! I have SO many things blooming in my yard already I’ve been WANTING to post some pics! But have more I need to download/upload (never have figured out which is which!) into the computer first—that I hadn’t bothered since I “couldn’t” post them anyway! Will do it in the next couple days! I don’t have a google+ page! And I don’t intend to ever have one! If I sign up for google+ my WebAlbums will be TOTALLY messed up—as I discovered when I tried to help somebody, last fall, try to figure out how to use Picasa and WebAlbums! It’s a total mess in WebAlbums in “+”, and as near as I can tell, once you sign up for it it’s TOO LATE, and the “new and improved” version (NOT!) is all you have access to anymore. As a matter of fact, if some of your pics really did “disappear,” I wonder if that had something to do with it! I haven’t “updated” Picasa for a couple years either (I just keep telling it NO when it pleads with me to update it!) ‘cause I’m afraid that’ll somehow get me into the google+ version—and I won’t be able to opt out of it again! I REALLY don’t understand why these companies keep trying to “improve” something that’s already working really, really well! (google maps REALLY screwed up their “maps” too, IMO! But I still have a link to Olde Google Maps—that still works! If they ever discontinue the olde maps, I don’t have a CLUE what I’ll use for maps! Bing, IMO, is at least as bad as the “new” google maps! HELLO out there! STOP “fixing” things that don’t need fixing!!!) (And my avatar on FB, which I haven’t signed into for a year!, is an airplane! And that’s the only place I have an avatar at all!!!) I don’t know why you didn’t “need to” change your setting to “enable” PMing, but maybe that’s something else they’ve changed recently—like putting in the ability to enter your zone (tho I’m gonna leave mine in as my “last name!”) When I went to that page I had to change the settings to get them right to enable PMing. Maybe now it’s the default when GW folks get into the houzz site. But there is SOMETHING that needs to be “fixed” for David, because there’s no “message box” visible on His Page, and until that’s there, nobody can PM him. I’m sure it’ll all get straightened out! We are, gradually, getting back to “our old GW!” Never would have believed that when I showed up here the first day and went—SAY WHAT????? I’m really impressed with the admins and all they’ve done! As for me! Maybe I’ll take some more pics tomorrow! Skybird