u/robin-coleslaw

I saw a orange tabby this morning on Washington Street between 13th and 14th at the house with the giant skeleton in the front yard. It was very skinny and very frail but friendly. I am not sure if it’s a stray or just someone’s old cat. I was on my way to work and didn’t have any way or time to help it. So I am hoping someone here can say that it’s just an old neighborhood cat. If not, hopefully it’s still around when I’m on my way home this afternoon.

I’m looking for opinions on whose responsibility, tenant or landlord, to set up the watering system each spring.

There are two automatic watering devices on the property that were set up by the landlord when I moved in. I’ve lived here for several years and to maintain the devices and the spigots, I bring them in each winter.

The past couple years I have been setting them back up in the spring because per the lease the “tenant agreed to water as appropriate”. However, I usually have to spend money on new batteries for the devices each year and spend and hour or two installing them. They are finicky so it takes a while to set them up in a way where they don’t leak. It’s in my best interest for them not to leak because I pay for the water at the house.

It feels like it should not be my responsibility to set the auto sprinkler system up each year, nor should I be paying for new batteries. However, it feels petty to ask my landlord to do it (it is not a management company and just an individual who owns the house). But on the other hand, it feels strange to spend my own time and money on something that doesn’t really matter to me (I could care less about the plants around the house).

Also, the dynamic in the past has been that when I do ask the landlord to take care of something, she seems to try to find a way to make it my problem/responsibility and pass the labor on to me. So I usually just try to handle it on my own.

Who’s responsible for setting up the auto devices each year?