I mentioned in January that I thought this was going to be a really tough year, and so far it is rather nasty.
We are in the middle of spring run off here, and all the problems with drainage on this place that we have moved to are rearing their ugly heads. There is a little creek across the road from us that comes down a very steep embankment. It is a roaring little creek now and comes through the culvert under the road and out onto the flat property between us and the neighbours.
View from the road.
It's flowing into our woodshed, where we keep the deep freeze- good thing it's on a pallet.
My attempt to divert the water from the woodshed and our septic tank area, using the materials at hand: cement blocks, sand and gravel scooped from the driveway; even a couple of blocks of firewood. It ain't pretty but it worked!
Remember I was whining about maybe having to wear hip waders to get to the barn? Well, not that deep, but I do have to wear good gumboots! It's so flat that it's only about 4 inches deep.
Ideally, the water is supposed to flow into the ditch to the left of the trees, but it is flowing on either side of it before trickling down into the ditch. That is Ted's shop on the right
and this is the other side of the ditch- the water is backing up into the other neighbours yard. That ditch is where it's supposed to be, it flows through a channel in the farmer next door's field
I foresee some drainage landscaping this summer, because I can't see putting up with this every year when it is a simple fix with an excavator to build a channel for the water to flow- the only problem is that all this flows over 3 septic fields, so digging may not be an option for certain areas.
Meanwhile, it's still raining and not much we can do outside so the dogs are getting really bored.
Pathetic things!
As for the horses, they are hanging out under their shelter; Coulee has her own pen and tarp shelter for now, so I can feed the mares under the shelter to encourage them to stay out of the rain as much as possible ( it only fits 3). It is getting so mucky in there I can't wait to be able to get a little tractor in there to scrape it clean! The girls decided to have a little frolic when I fed them last night.
Silly mama Belle! Thea was wanting to get in there and work them.
Today is more of the same, waiting out the weather, which is more of the same for a couple of days then a sunny break (yay) before the next bout of rain. Welcome to March madness!
9 comments:
It's just awful!! It's like that here, too. First the snow started to melt, then it started to rain. We're expecting rain for the next week! Basement continues to flood. We're setting wetness records because this is not at all usual.
Linda a wet basement is so much worse! I hope this is over soon!
Sadly, it's not really showing any signs of letting up. It started last October--rainiest month EVER in our area--and now we've had the wettest October-March. There's rain in the forecast as far as I can see. But it has to end sometime, right?
Usually after we get a wet spring we get a dry summer- sure hope it's true!
You need a pallet of sand bags, that would help out in problem spots. Who knows next year could be dry! Looks at those pathetic dogs...bored silly...I know that look:)
Drainage can be so tricky! I have had my place for 3 years now and still don't have it all figured out! At least your dogs are super cute!
Oh my, definitely worth whatever redirecting can be done. Usually requires tweaking and a watchful eye, unless a larger scale more permanent solution is possible. At least that's been our experience. Belle looks like such a happy girl under your care! Those dog faces, priceless!!
that is a lot of water! Hope you get teh drainage all sorted out sooner than later!
Yuck, that is a lot of water flowing through the yard. Ours kinda flows down the one road and then out through the bull pasture, not perfect but as good as we can do here i think. Until it gets too much and starts flowing into Neil's shop, that's not good.
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