Monday, January 28, 2008

Yikes! Where's My Rainbow???

Good grief. Yes we need the rain, we need it badly. But getting so much in one day, it just runs off rather than soaking in (although as we are also sinking in inches deep mud it doesn't seem like it!)

It's much worse in other places I know, but I almost feel like I should be building an Ark. Instead of 2 of each animal, though, I'm going to fill it with donkeys, mules, horses and dogs!

It rained here basically all day yesterday. ALL DAY. I kept checking to see if it would stop so I could go out and get to work on drainage... but almost every time I looked out the front door, I could see the raindrops on the fish pond. We did get one 20-minute break and quickly cleared out the drainage ditches in the worst areas, but pretty quick it started pouring again. When it rains this much, it really doesn't matter that they have covers. Everybody is wet and muddy and unhappy...

This is the view to the north, out the front gate, from the west end of our house. Yup that's my driveway, under all that water. And since we HAVE to drive through it to get in and out, that means lots more ruts - oh joy!
This is part of the back porch and our work/project area. Guess we will not be doing anything there until the water soaks in!
SOME of the dogs actually come off the porch to see what I am doing out here. Behind the house is a section that is high ground, but obviously it has a low spot in the middle as you can see behind Tank, who is looking at me like "what the heck are you taking pictures of"!
Water also runs from behind the house toward the southeast and right into the "garden" where there are 3 mini pens, including the foaling pen. We call it the garden because the lady who owned this place before us actually had a garden in this area. I don't have a green thumb so we put pens in it!
Mary Ellen and Ellie Mae in their lake... and this is WITH drainage ditches!
This is about halfway back on the property, the water comes from the northwest corner and runs down our "road", turning in front of the hay barn and heading east at that point.
Then it turns south again and goes on past the tractor shed... to where Trooper and Fred live... where apparently there is a BIG low spot {sigh}
I didn't even get any further than that, it started to rain again and I had to get the camera back in the house. The rest of the mini pens and the big horse pens are full of huge puddles...

And my brilliant 16-year-old put the rubber boots away the last time it rained. Right under the overhang of the house roof. So look what I found:
Yup that's rain water, INSIDE the boots, almost up to the top. That's my girl!
Supposed to rain again tonight, Wednesday and next Sunday... can I get internet on the Ark???

1 comment:

Carroll Farm said...

We feel ya on the rain. It is fun, but too much at once - give it to us spread out so it can soak in. Our yard looks the same as yours- WET! If you do build an ark, can we squeeze in? :) Rubber boots are any farmers/ animal feeders/ pasture cleaners best friend as long as they work correctly. I went to put mine on Sun. morning to go feed. As you know by 8 everything was SOAKED. Well, I took my first step into a puddle and imagine my surprise when all of a sudden both feet were soaking wet, with COLD rain water!! Apparently there were holes in them. Well, by then it was to late to change. Later that day when I went to take some pictures, I decided to be smart and wear my husbands - since they are newer I decided that would be safe. Wrong! As I stepped into a puddle with one foot, a familiar freezing sensation took a hold of me - yea, hole in his too. So, I have decided that if we get much more rain the next couple of days we will have to cancel school - some of the teachers (me) won't be able to get down their roads! lol