“Water, water, everywhere, and how the boards did shrink.”
Forgive me my preoccupation with water this week, Gentle Reader, but it has become a bit difficult to ignore. Drenching rains and out-of-the-banks waterways and giant holes opening up in the middle of roads are just not commonplace for our part of the world! I can count on one hand the number of 3″+ rains that we have had at our place since we moved here, fourteen years ago. Well, okay, maybe on two hands. But the point is, we don’t very often get them. This year, it seems like every time there is a good chance of rain, we get three inches or more. A three-inch rain is a significant amount, because (unless the ground is very, very dry) it will fill up our little farm pond, which is a run-off pond for the fields around us.
Several three-inch rains in a week (unheard of until this year) will do this to our little farm pond:
Can you see little Mack, standing on the far side? He is standing on the top of the dam, which is a few inches away from the water level.
Our pond has held its structure for nearly forty years. My dad says that if the water level goes above the dam, the pond will spill over the dam and our pond could completely wash away. No pond!
I never rarely doubt what my dad says. The thought of losing this lovely little pond really fills my heart with dread. That must seem silly to you. But it is a special spot on our place, and we enjoy it in so many ways. So we pray for a few dry, sunny days, and for the water level to go down before the next rain.
The fields around our place are so water-logged that any rain that falls on them just runs off, straight to our pond. That’s really not how it’s supposed to work, you know. The fields are supposed to drink deeply, and then when they can’t drink any more, they shed the rest, which trickles down to our pond. Gushing straight to our pond is not really the idea.
We lost our telephone line (and thus, internet) for several days because this happened:
The creek that runs under this bridge swelled to massive proportions, and started washing away the road next to the bridge.
But that’s nothing. Right around the corner from us, this happened:
I know there is damage all over the place, so it’ll take awhile before the road crews fix all these problems. And of course, the words that are on everybody’s lips: it could always be worse.
And it is a comfort that everybody in our area is basically in the same boat (harhar, sorry, I couldn’t resist).
At the end of the day yesterday, I puzzled over why I got so little done. Then I remembered: I had spent time in the morning hauling dry hay to the chicken yard, the dog’s pen, and the meat chicks’ tractor, so they’d all have a dry place to hang out. Also I had spent at least an hour trying to get a siphon going from the pond (my dad suggested that even a little trickle running out of the pond might avert its going over the dam), to no avail. I had slogged about in my rain boots all day and had soaked three sweatshirts (must–get–a–raincoat!) and had biked around with little Mack, checking out the scary holes in the roads. All while the rain was falling. My hair and skin have never been softer!
But hey, it’s not all scary and foreboding around here.
Check out this interesting development:
We have turtles! You remember the dainty, adorable Herman, whom we discovered in our pond in the early days of this wet spring. Turns out–he has a mama and papa in our pond, too (or at the very least some buddies).
Okay. So that’s why I didn’t accomplish much. But today, there are cherries to pick, because there is an upside to all this rain: it’s a fantastic cherry year! But the cherries do not pick and pit themselves, of course.
So yes, we’ve probably had enough rain for now, Lord. Or in other words, “Uncle!”
We all do agree–unanimously–if it weren’t for the fear of losing the pond entirely, we’d love it if it were always this big. 🙂
I re-read the poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and I love it so that I want to share it with you. But it’s very long. Ole’ Samuel was as long-winded with his pen as yours truly. 😉 Have you ever wondered where this passage came from? (Read the whole story and poem here.)
- Water, water, every where,
- And all the boards did shrink;
- Water, water, every where,
- Nor any drop to drink.
I especially like this passage:
- He prayeth best, who loveth best
- All things both great and small;
- For the dear God who loveth us,
- He made and loveth all.
Have a terrific day, Gentle Reader, stay dry and safe and count your blessings in any case! There are always, always blessings to be thankful for, even in the midst of flooding, or whatever.
*hugs*
- A few thoughts on flooding
- Wood chips are hot! Spreading the news with the Back to Eden film
Great post, great pictures. We have had two weeks of heavy thunderstorms and rainfall because we have had three hurricanes running up our coast line. Well actually one is still hanging out there and we are expecting to get the full effect over the next 48 hours..I never knew that a cement roof could develop a leak but I know better now. Our roads are washed out but in Mexico we expect it. The trick is to find the large potholes that are covered by water. If we go someplace, we followw a bus or taxi and drive where they do. We have not found a sink hole in the road such as the one that little Mac likes so much. And I’ll be just as happy if we don’t find one. I love the rain but I also love working outdoors and I hate that progress outside has stopped for now. So many projects to get back to as soon as the storms pass. Thanks for the quote from The Rime of The Ancient Mariner, it has always been one of my favorites. When I get behind in my chores I sometimes feel that I have an albatross hanging around my neck until I get things done. Anyway enjoy your pond, perhaps the storms will go away for a little while and the water level will recede.
Thanks Chef, I realize we aren’t the only ones with weather-related woes at this time! Hurricanes are something that we’ve never had to worry about here in flyover country, obviously. *phew* I feel the weight of the albatross hanging around my neck recently, too. I finally cleared out the weedy portion of my garden yesterday, and made 6 hills for watermelon-planting, and then discovered to my dismay that my packets of watermelon seeds fell out of my pocket somewhere between hauling hay from the shed, pulling weeds, and laying down a thick mulch! Oiy! Now when it rains someplace about a hundred watermelon seedlings will sprout, but I have no idea where!
When our village flooded in 2011, we were away on vacation about 10 hours away. We tried to keep up by looking for you tube videos. I remember one video of the flooding, set to music of Led Zepplin’s cover of “When the Levee Breaks” and it really set the mood for me. I think that was such an appropriate poem for you. I will try my best to steer your rains towards California.
Alana, thank you. I know that weather-related difficulties are fresh in your mind, after the winter you all had! We actually had two glorious, sunny, warm days with not a drop of rain, and things dried out just a bit and the pond level went down just a smidge. Now today it’s overcast and rainy again, but maybe we won’t get the usual 3″!
Can you send some of that to California? And add in some cherries too, they look delicious. My fingers are crossed for you that the pond stays secure!
Kimberly
http://FiftyJewels.com
Thanks Kimberly—I know about California’s drought and I would send you some of this moisture if I could!
Woodchips, woodchips, woodchips!!!! :0)
Yup, I’m with you, Rose! #mulchingsisters
I wish the weather would average out. It’s just crazy. Our wicked winter is carrying into a cold, wet spring. Your roads are crumbling (seriously, is the poison ivy thumbing its leaf at you??). It’s going to be 40° here tomorrow morning. I have a friend in Illinois who is fishing in her wheat field. And still, drought goes on in other parts of the country. I feel like I’m going to spend my summer concentrating on preparing for another winter with extreme cold and 200″ of snow. Happy medium! It’s not too much ask!
I’m with you, Robin! My kids who moved to Ohio feel like we’ve exchanged weather patterns with them: they are having the usual hot and dry that we usually have; we are getting the record rainfalls and mosquitoes that are more typical in Ohio. Gracious! Enough, already!