Fast Cars and Bubbler Caps

Ever since my last speeding ticket (which, by the way, was thrown out for lack of cause, thank you very much. Oh yes, thank you David Sprecher, Esq, as well) I have been driving like an adult. Which is a good thing (as this is, indeed, my Year of Turning Fifty).

Even when I got my new car, a BMW 550i (with the Cold Weather package – oh the irony! But it has been nice this winter; the Sports Package; Comfort Access; Navigation; Satellite Radio; and the Logic 7 Sound System) I have been driving it with a certain calm that comes from knowing that with a mere twitch of my right foot I would be able to blow by almost any car that comes up on my right, my left, behind me, or who might be slowing down in the fast lane. I was content.

And I have been content all the way through the break-in period. I changed speed frequently, I never exceeded 100 mph (heaven forbid!) I never slammed the brakes.

But today, this afternoon, was the first time I came close – close, mind you, to really slamming the thing down and flying.

Here’s the story. It has been raining and raining here in Houston. I think that we have only had about 4 days without rain in the month of January. Why is that important to the story? Well, that meant that I did not have the sprinkler system turned on all month. This past Sunday was the first day I had the thing turned on since Christmas.

So this morning when I was looking out the back door, I noticed that one of our drip stakes was not dripping, but spurting water like a fountain. (it was spurting like a bubbler, for my WI family. The unit is called a bubbler, oddly enough) I went out o examine it, and the little cap that regulated water flow was gone. I looked and looked, but it was nowhere to be found.

So that say I had to find one of these little caps. You know how hard it is to find something like that? I Googled left and right, and finally discovered what the thing was called (the bubbler cap. You can look it up!) but where it could be found was another story.

I found a place on e-bay (in Ontario!) that sold ten-packs. You can buy the cap from Rainbird themselves, but for a $0.98 part it was $5.95 shipping. I can’t say I liked that ratio.

I found out that both Home Depot and Lowe’s carry Rainbird parts, so I figured I should call and see if they had these little caps.

(As an aside, I know, I know. This feels as if the whole damned story is an aside. Anyway. My sweet ever-loving (2001 330i – that is E46 to my BMW friends) drove out of her way on a wild Goof chase looking for the same part at a nursery I sent her to. I am sorry about that)

So I called. Do you know how hard it is to ask for the cap to a bubbler stake for a Rainbird drip irrigation system? Well, it is hard. But I finally determined that Home Depot probably didn’t have what I wanted, but Lowe’s probably did. So I headed out of the office to see.

Our office is on the corner of Commerce Green and Sugar Creek Center Boulevard in Sugar Land, TX. Very close to the freeway, very close to the Lowe’s. I drove out of the parking lot and headed down Commerce Green to the feeder road.

As I was getting close to the feeder, a new Cadillac CTS (or one of those angular new caddies) was pulling out of a parking lot. He made me slow (so I would make sure I wouldn’t hit him) and then he rode my bumper to the stop sign.

Oh-Kay. I turned right and hit the accelerator. He dropped behind me and a lane over, and tried to pass. He tried to pass! Ha. So now I hit it a little harder, and simply walked up onto the freeway. He dropped in behind me, but was doing nothing but getting father behind. The best thing was he hit his windshield wipers by mistake! (I am not familiar with the CTS cockpit. Does the blinker control the wipers as well?) He pulled over and slunk off in disgrace.

I drove to the Lowe’s and found the bubbler cap.

It was a nice drive. And I don’t think I even broke the speed limit.