Not Dull, Farm Life
Well, the next big wave of super rain is on its way. George is in surgery today and this morning I'm looking at the weather and thinking flooded barn event number four, coming right up now. The pile of soaked shavings waiting to be hauled down to my place (where they become nice garden soil) is getting scary. So I took my trusty and recently sharpened shovel up there, determined to figure out just why this barn, dry for thirty years now, is flooding. Prowling the uphill, southwest side, where the water seems to be coming from, I spy a bit of water welling up through the grass. Stuck the shovel blade in. Eureka! Someone turns on a fire hose down below and it spurts into the air. A mole hole. Carrying, apparently, the entire drainage of the development at the top of the hill right down to the corner of the barn. Woohooo!! Gotcha, you sucker!
So now, I dig. It's warm, raining and blowing, but I'm wearing my totally uncool and totally practical saddle slicker with cape shoulders and my sou'wester. I look like a hybrid between a lobsterman and a resident of Dodge City in the 1800s, but you know what? I can work and stay dry so nyah! So I'm digging and the fire hose, er mole hole, is pouring into the ditch I'm aiming toward the south pasture sloping down to Mitchell Creek. Meanwhile, Annie is doing the Pasture Check and Cricket, the fuzzy puppy, is bouncing in her wake.
We were at it pretty much all morning. Five acres of pasture checking took ''em awhile. Then Annie taught Cricket how to dig mole holes which Cricket loved because most are running water on this saturated slope and she loves water. And of course if they aren't running water, then you can dig in all the nice mud. So finally, I get the ditch nice and deep and sloped out to the pasture where the water spreads out and heads for the creek a 1/4 mile away. By now, Cricket is sort of a soggy mudball and she really looks like a Rottweiler. White feet? White chest? What white? So we head back to the barn to put the shovel inside, so I can deepen the ditch some more when I do evening chores (I want a mini Grand Canyon by the time that big storm hits!) Ah, the shavings pile! Cricket dashes up to the top and tumbles down a couple of times. She does a really good soccer ball imitation, which delights Annie by the way. Annie is really good at soccer, Cricket and I have discovered. So now, we have a black, wet, soggy, muddy puppy well frosted with sawdust. At this point I am leaning against the wall of the barn laughing like a loon and really really sorry that I didn't bring my camera up with me. I think when I do chores this evening, I'll just bring a nice big five gallon water bucket up with me and fill it up. Before we head home, I'll just grab her by the scruff, slosh her around in it and we'll walk home through the nice, clean, grassy field. That should get the mud off!
Right now she is sleeping quite peacefully. And looks remarkably clean. Well, this is why we have vacuums and brooms.
Off to work while the working is peaceful.
So now, I dig. It's warm, raining and blowing, but I'm wearing my totally uncool and totally practical saddle slicker with cape shoulders and my sou'wester. I look like a hybrid between a lobsterman and a resident of Dodge City in the 1800s, but you know what? I can work and stay dry so nyah! So I'm digging and the fire hose, er mole hole, is pouring into the ditch I'm aiming toward the south pasture sloping down to Mitchell Creek. Meanwhile, Annie is doing the Pasture Check and Cricket, the fuzzy puppy, is bouncing in her wake.
We were at it pretty much all morning. Five acres of pasture checking took ''em awhile. Then Annie taught Cricket how to dig mole holes which Cricket loved because most are running water on this saturated slope and she loves water. And of course if they aren't running water, then you can dig in all the nice mud. So finally, I get the ditch nice and deep and sloped out to the pasture where the water spreads out and heads for the creek a 1/4 mile away. By now, Cricket is sort of a soggy mudball and she really looks like a Rottweiler. White feet? White chest? What white? So we head back to the barn to put the shovel inside, so I can deepen the ditch some more when I do evening chores (I want a mini Grand Canyon by the time that big storm hits!) Ah, the shavings pile! Cricket dashes up to the top and tumbles down a couple of times. She does a really good soccer ball imitation, which delights Annie by the way. Annie is really good at soccer, Cricket and I have discovered. So now, we have a black, wet, soggy, muddy puppy well frosted with sawdust. At this point I am leaning against the wall of the barn laughing like a loon and really really sorry that I didn't bring my camera up with me. I think when I do chores this evening, I'll just bring a nice big five gallon water bucket up with me and fill it up. Before we head home, I'll just grab her by the scruff, slosh her around in it and we'll walk home through the nice, clean, grassy field. That should get the mud off!
Right now she is sleeping quite peacefully. And looks remarkably clean. Well, this is why we have vacuums and brooms.
Off to work while the working is peaceful.
posted by Mary Rosenblum | 11:27 AM
1 Comments:
Sounds like everyone had fun. And like someone needs a serious bath:-)
Glad you got mole problem taken care of.
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