It gets hot and dry in the summers here in San Antonio. In the summer of 2009, we broke the record of number of days where the temperatures went above 100° – and I loved every single one of them. Unfortunately, this kind of heat and severe lack of rain also drastically depletes our water supply. If the Aquifer Levels get to certain lows, certain stages of water restrictions are put into effect.

Last year, we made it to Stage 2 Water Restrictions – and actually, for a very long time, we were just inches away from Stage 3. So responsible resident alien that I am, I looked up the rules for Stage 2, and found the one day per week that we were allowed to run the sprinklers.

Unfortunately, I must have had some kind of a brain fart going at that moment, because the number I was seeing with my mental eye was my zip code (78253) and not my house number (11385). Number 3 waters Tuesdays, number 5 Wednesdays. So I instructed the person in charge of lawn care in my house to set the sprinklers for Tuesday, as that is our watering day — so I thought. And he did.

At some point in September, we weren’t even watering any more by then, I received a letter in the mail telling me I’d been observed watering on August 18th. So of course I looked that up, and found it was a Tuesday. And I thought to myself: "Those Idiots – that IS my watering day!!!"

But then I looked into it more, and realized that the idiot was really somebody other than them. Damn!!

Not much to be done at that point. As I said, watering season was over, most the grass was dead by then, not a thing I could do. I waited for the official notice they were threatening me with, but it never came.

One evening early March, I said to Eric, that I didn’t think anything else would come out of the watering issue, it had been too long, and he agreed. And the VERY next day, I pulled the summons out of the mail box. I wanted to scan it in, too – but they kept it. It said:

My big day was today, and so I went.

Not only is alone the fact that I have to drive downtown by myself extremely stressful. I grew up in a town that had approximately 20,000 citizens, and San Antonio has about 1.4 million. The roads and traffic are a bit different, too -and I hardly know my way around here, still. Having my GPS helps, and I made it to the parking lot ($3 for the ENTIRE day, but no in and out) with half an hour to spare before my scheduled appearance.

Inside the building, first the metal detector. My bra beeped, but that didn’t bother the guards. Then I had to get in line to show my summon to some woman who told me to go to Court #5, which I already know, because THE SUMMON SAID SO. I found that court room; the doors were closed, but through the windows in the doors, I could see people inside. I had no idea if I was supposed to march in or would get called, so I stood there for a moment. Some guy asked if I needed help – I guess I looked as if I did, and I told him I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to just go on in or not. He said to go in, so I did.

And once in, I again had no idea what to do. Should I sit down on the benches with the rest of those people, or go through those swing doors and get in line with those people that were lining up in front of 3 people behind counters? There were no signs, NOTHING to give any kind of direction, not counting the two that said to a) remove your head; and b), turn off your cell phone. Well — DUHHHH!!! So I asked a woman sitting on the bench, and she said to go through the flip door and get in line. There I got in front of a woman behind a counter whom I showed my ‘invitation’. She explained I could either plead ‘no contest’ and pay the fine, or go to court. She said something about the fine normally being around $150, but they had a sale or something, and it was less (ok – she didn’t say ‘sale’, but she gave some reason for it being lower at that moment, and I have no recollection of the detail). Anyway, not knowing what the exact meaning of ‘going to court’ is, I took the ‘no contest’ thing. Had to sit down again and wait to be called.

That only took a bit, I had to get back through the swing doors, and received my Terms of Probation. Now could somebody please explain how a watering incident would reflect on my DRIVING RECORD??? I mean, I had been riding a lawn mower, maybe, but sprinklering?????. Anyway, then I found the cashier, paid my $100, and now I better fly straight or else…..

Over all, I’m just glad it’s over. It was no big deal, but since I had no idea what to expect, I was very nervous. But I think now, that I’m a hardened criminal with a record, the next one will be a piece of cake.

HOWEVER — First, I’d like to know who it is that observed and reported my ‘illegal activity’. I don’t have an issue with the watering restrictions – it makes sense. I rather conserve now than run out later. And even so my offense wasn’t intentional, bottom line, I still broke the rules. Whether my stupidity is punishable or not, I’ll never know, since I decided not to risk a hearing. But the whole event is ridiculous. Why couldn’t they just mail me the ticket and give me the option to pay the ticket or request a hearing? There was no need/reason for me and all the other people in the same or similar situation to physically appear and waste their and the courthouse people’s time and manpower, and increase traffic.

I would expect a relative high degree of professionalism from a court, even a municipal one, but this entire outfit, beginning with their mailed correspondence to their website, and this whole process, is neither professional nor logical or efficient. I would really love to hear an explanation as to why and how my ‘offense would be placed on my state driving record’. According to the clerk, whom I specifically asked, a traffic event has NOTHING to do with this issue – but that’s not what my probation paper says, which of course I did not get to read until after.

Oh well, it’s over, good riddance, and BULLSHIT!!