I was just out doing some work on my sprinkler system. As I walked across the grass, the water droplets that remained glistening on the blades gave me pause.
I live in a very hot, dry climate. Water must be sitting on the blades of grass and evaporating instead of falling the rest of the way to the shaded ground where it can soak in and water the roots.
Being [half], I reasoned that this water could be conserved by shaking it off of the grass. Being also lazy, I reasoned that I would not do this job. A relatively cheap robotic gizmo could zip around the yard dragging a vibrating plate of some sort, or using a light, vibrating mesh roller to shake the water off the leaves.
It may be false economy, but someone would probably even buy it if it were declared to be "green".-- half, Jun 19 2004 Water Conservation http://www.google.c...ter+conservation%22Better ways [half, Oct 05 2004] Surplus pile driver in the side yard to smack the ground. Have the neighbors all water at the same time and offer to shake the neighborhood for them.-- bristolz, Jun 19 2004 A blade runner to jog them loose?-- FarmerJohn, Jun 19 2004 Build your yard on one or more elevated plates. After watering, shake the plates.-- phoenix, Jun 20 2004 Ask some kids from the neighborhood to drive by in their pickups or Thunderbirds, with sub woofers on full volume.-- kbecker, Jun 20 2004 [kbecker] I like the idea of shaking the grass with sound - ideally your sprinkler system would have subwoofers built into it.[Admin: Imaginative choice of category...]-- hippo, Jun 20 2004 Letsbuildavibratingplatetoshake. Good one, [phoenix].-- Letsbuildafort, Jun 20 2004 Though I do squirrel away superflous crap in my side yard (how did you know that?), I may be fresh out of pile drivers. I like the visuals though.
Ah, of course, focused infrasonic waves. That's the ticket. Not only overkill, but more difficult to implement.
[hippo]: with ideas as dull as mine, ya gotta do something to get the reader's attention ;-)-- half, Jun 20 2004 random, halfbakery