Calibrating the Sweep

I dropped from the hose apex into the grass, navigating the thick clover stalks toward an oscillating sprinkler anchored in the turf. Its curved aluminum spray wand spanned twelve inches, studded with sixteen miniature brass nozzles. At the pivot joint, a grooved plastic selector dial controlled the swing limiter. I braced my boots against the damp earth, locked both C-shaped hands into the ribbed edge of the dial, and torqued it clockwise. The internal ratchet yielded with three sharp, tactile clicks, re-indexing the sweep stop from wide oscillation to a tight forty-five-degree arc. Mechanized perimeter arc locked.