Since last time I wrote it snowed. Another good six inches on top of what we already had. Today it’s raining. Melting snow and rain–water is everywhere. Mud is everywhere too.
It’s a mess.
It’s spring.
The land around here is clay. With snow still covering about half of the ground, much of it is frozen clay. This combined effect causes most of the water to run along the surface of the ground rather than seeping away, out of sight. Water gathering, running down hill, combining, all has a cumulative watershed effect. Drainage ditches are filled to bursting. Springs have sprouted up everywhere. Water is simply running downhill in a mad rush of gravity.
Sometimes the land seems almost convulsed with the arrival of spring. Frozen sections of ground bulge upward while those sections of the earth that have defrosted sink downward, giving the land a uneven, hummocky appearance. Water cuts channels through the softened sections of earth, depositing dirt in new locations. Springs of water vomit up dirt, leaving heaps in the middle of the lawn.
Forced through frozen clay, the water table–and water pressure–has risen almost as far as it can go. The ground is saturated. Out in the side yard an old sink hole that first showed itself over five years ago is making a reappearance. The ground is soft beneath my boots and then starts to give. I stomp and find that I can sink into the earth almost up to my knee. I withdraw my foot and see water sitting in the hole, nearly to the surface of the grass.. I jump up and down on the ground and the water sloshes in the hole. The ground is being eaten away from beneath by some subterranean stream. The earth is honeycombed . . . I don’t know how much more will give away.
Across the driveway to the south a particularly strong spring has appeared. The ground bulges upward like a miniature volcano and from the top spouts a geyser of water that is 1-2 inches tall, splashing down through the lawn. A stream continues to run through the driveway.
At times like these I am both amazed and thankful for how little the water seriously affects our living. The water table, it would seem, has nearly reached the surface of the ground but our basement remains (relatively) dry. Our well is artesian so there is a pipe in the basement which overflows, the water running through a drainage ditch to outside. A manageable thing. Looking outside one would expect that on opening the basement door one would find water lapping at the top steps.
Also, I am very glad that we finally moved the chicken house last year. (Long story–I’ll have to tell it sometime.) The chicken house is in a new location, on proper cement piers. The old location . . . well, the ducks have made it into their mud hole. The place is a mess of mud and standing water, that, if you told someone a building used to stand there, they would laugh at the idea.
It’s Cold, It’s Raining, and There is Nothing Good to Eat
Speaking of the chickens, they are quite fed up with winter. Chicken boredom has set in. They want something fun to do. They want fresh bugs and fresh grass to eat. They wander off to every far corner of the chicken yard, scratching through the weeds, searching for something, anything, besides their boring old feed. They stand around and watch it rain and look miserable. It is the time of year when chickens start thinking about flying over the fence. Last week one hen continued to fly over the fence, stubbornly, every time after she was put back. There will only be more disgruntled inhabitants as the snow continues to melt.
In contrasts to the chickens, the ducks are having a grand old time. The more water the merrier. The more mud the merrier. They root through every stream and every puddle until everything has been churned to mud. And then chuckle and quack to each other about how wonderful this all is.
Water is fickle around here. Today we are nearly drowning in all of it, but come midsummer it seeps away and the once sopping heavy clay becomes dry and cracked hardpan. No mercy.
In Other News
Teman bought a trailer for his jeep. I am already thinking up many uses for his trailer and jeep. Mostly they involve driving to the store to pick up supplies for all sorts of building projects. But I am dreaming up other uses, too. So nice of him to buy a trailer for me to use. (Ha ha.)
So far I have avoided any catastrophes with the trailer. Backing it up takes a bit of skill. I’ve found that I do just fine when not under stress. If I am under stress, have an audience, or must hurry . . . then I am a moving disaster. Of course, when must we do most of the backing up? When we have all the time in the world or when people want to get by and you’re trying to back up past a car?
Yeah, and the trailer is made from welded angle iron so if I hit anything I hit it good. No rubber bumper here. Needless to say I have the desire to put this useful piece of equipment to work warring with my foreboding that if I don’t stay well away from the trailer there is an accident waiting in my future.
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