Slice of Life: Caractacus Potts Strikes Again!

It was 1968. I was five. And, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was THE movie to see! If you are of a younger sect and never seen this movie, a musical, I would highly recommend it. The incomparable Dick Van Dyke stars at the nutty, inventor-single father of two young children growing up in a Windmill that has been gerry-rigged with many of the invented improvements their father has come up with. It is a funny, touching, whimsical, and sometimes magical movie that will allow you inner child to soar as things take flight! (no spoilers, here!)

But, I have to digress. As much as I like this childhood favorite, the reason for my post today is that I’ve started calling my husband Caractacus Potts! A very able, self-taught, fix it man, my husband is apt to rig things up to fix problems we might have around the house. It was his most recent “invention” that spurred me to use the iconic character name that Dick Van Dyke once played.

Amidst the hot July mid-west summer, we went to our cabin for a week of relaxing on the shores of a small lake. But, that meant leaving my flowering pots and vegetable gardens unattended and most probably unwatered for the week.

So, in true Caractacus form, my husband gathered all my potted plants, put them on our sidewalk and rigged up a sprinkler system, set to a timer to go off once a week. Now, you are thinking – what?! Why bother? Why didn’t he just buy a sprinkler?

The reason is that in the post-pandemic world, supplies are still lagging demands. Around us, sprinklers cannot be found! And, we do not have good luck with keeping sprinklers year to year. In absence of a true sprinkler, one was invented!

A hose, a 5-gallon bucket filled with a rocks for weight, and a sprayer tip was rigged up to do the job, attached to a timer to water my flowers once a day for thirty minutes. This was done for my vegetable garden as well!

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And, upon arrival home last night, I declared that Caractacus Potts had struck again!

My flowers survived and look more gorgeous than ever!

Today is Slice of Life: Tuesday. Thank you to TwoWritingTeachers.org for creating and organizing such a supportive forum for authors, teachers, and interested writers on which to post each week.