One of life's mysteries

I realize there are many mysteries in life, but one that continues to boggle my mind is this - why can men admit that women are often smarter?? I'm not saying all the time, maybe only 80-90%.

Case in point. We appear to have a leak in our watering system in the backyard. How do we know this? Well, when we turn on the sprinklers, a little zen-like fountain comes up through the crack in the cement and forms a lake. It's lovely, mind you. But a leak none-the-less. So Ed had to find it and fix it. I asked why we couldn't just put more cement in the crack so it wouldn't come up but apparently that isn't a good solution. Whatever.

So he starts digging to find the culprit pipe. And digging. Over by the astromeria alstromaria flowers. I said in a sweet voice, "I think the last time you found the pipe it was over there between that small bush and the light." No, he insisted. I already tried there.


And he dug. All along the little cement mow strip, dug up all his cyclamens, had a huge mound of dirt on the grass. Now he's sweating (today is our first really warm day this year) so he changes from jeans to shorts. And digs more. I went outside to soothe his frustration. Although when I said, "Man, I was sure it was between that bush and the light" it didn't have quite the soothing effect I had hoped.

Finally he comes in the house and says, "I finally found it." So I meandered outside again and there, between the bush and the light were the pipes he was looking for. I looked at him, he looked at me and said, "Shut up." Okay, I'll shut up. But I'm also going for the camera.

Will they never learn.......