Buildings and Grounds (and bears, oh my)

Part of my job description is to be the pastor attached to the Property and Finance Committee. I'm okay with the finance part. Over the years I've come to have an appreciation for the subtleties of church finance. It's still not my favorite, but I can roll up my sleeves and get to work on the thing. Financial reports don't make my eyes roll back in their sockets like they used to when I was a newly minted pastor, so to speak.

But buildings and grounds? Just. Shoot. Me. Now. Last night we had a half hour discussion about plantings. My feeling on gardening is that if you can't eat it, what's the freaking point. But I sat still in my chair for thirty minutes while we discussed:

What shall we plant in place of the azaleas which aren't doing well and look awful. Native species that don't need as much water. Good idea. Nothing works here that needs water. Why? Because the sprinklers don't work properly. Why don't they work? Because the Jr. High group tramples on them in their games. Should we ask them to stay away from that area? No. It has nothing to do with the Jr. Highs. The new custodian doesn't have the timers set properly. No, he has them set properly. The timers don't work right. No. The timers work fine. The sprinklers are rusted shut. No. The sprinklers aren't rusted, but they are the wrong type of sprinklers. They are too difuse. They spray over the azaelas. Can we adjust them? We won't have to if we plant stuff that doesn't need so much water. How about yarrow? Or Manzanita? Are those toxic? We have little kids running around . . .

Well, you get the picture. At one point I thought about poking my eye out with my pencil to provide an amusing diversion. I guess we all have one area of complete disconnect and disinterest when it comes to the daily stuff that keeps the church going. This is definetly mine. What's yours??