Building inspectors inspecting the building materials. I got up this morning intending to work on some things in the house. Then I heard the weather report. Good chance of severe thundershowers this Sunday. I have had a very checkered history with this pond and the weather. I have been wanting to make some repairs. It just got dry enough to do some work and rain predicted soon.
Well that changed my schedule. There was a pile of broken branches in the front pasture so burning that was the first thing. Then I opened the gate and started moving dirt.
Hershey (our Llama) likes being up front but has been exiled to the back because of the motorized squirrels who cannot seem to keep a vehicle between the ditches. He and the donkeys have been known to play King of the Mountain but today there was no competition.
Well that changed my schedule. There was a pile of broken branches in the front pasture so burning that was the first thing. Then I opened the gate and started moving dirt.
Hershey (our Llama) likes being up front but has been exiled to the back because of the motorized squirrels who cannot seem to keep a vehicle between the ditches. He and the donkeys have been known to play King of the Mountain but today there was no competition.
About two days after it was dug a heavy rain filled it almost half way. It was about the time this picture was taken that I began to believe the weather guessers might know what they were talking about.
When this picture was taken we had just had the pond dug and we needed a light rain to settle the dirt on the side. We got a gully washer that the meteorologists had predicted. This is probably the ugliest that the pond has been. It looked like a sewage pit with some deep erosion. I know now that the sewage look is common with clay.
When this picture was taken we had just had the pond dug and we needed a light rain to settle the dirt on the side. We got a gully washer that the meteorologists had predicted. This is probably the ugliest that the pond has been. It looked like a sewage pit with some deep erosion. I know now that the sewage look is common with clay.
This was a shovel ready job from the first day. Some places looked like the start of a second Grand Canyon. I had some fence post bottoms that were still here for no discernible reason (I am a pack rat). I used them for erosion control and covered them with dirt to the top of the bank.
Different baby Grand Canyon but a little better picture. Filled in the remainder of the hole with clay and tamped it down.
The pond disappeared under a flooded yard. Then it rained. Only the ducks were happy but if erosion had moods, it would be happy too.
Fortunately the Llama had seen it dug and avoided the deep spots. I don't know if the Llama was happy but the rain did point out a couple things. The first was that water runs downhill. The second was that the northwest bank was downhill.
The weather never cooperates. When it gets dry enough that it can be navigated, it rains some more. I'm not complaining about having rain. I love that it's raining again but everything should be done in moderation, or so I used to be repeatedly told.
The weather never cooperates. When it gets dry enough that it can be navigated, it rains some more. I'm not complaining about having rain. I love that it's raining again but everything should be done in moderation, or so I used to be repeatedly told.
This is pretty much where today found us. This is the northwest bank where most of the flooding has occured. It actually just took two rains to get to this depth and this stage of erosion. I had installed some pipes for drainage but it's really more than that. If I build a new bank and we have a hard rain before it can set, these pipes will allow the water pressure to equalize. The clay sets with repeated wettings. Even underwater if there is no current. A hard rain before it sets could wash the bank into the pond without those pipes.
Some places like the lower right corner here, have a different type erosion.
There were two places like this and I used pieces cut off from a metal roofing panel to function as a dam. Have to be careful when you fill it with dirt or you will overpower the dam. That's why this piece of wood gets buried here. Keeps the pressure off the dam.
Folks might not know this but there haven't been any concrete dams made in years. They are clay dams with concrete facing. This is clay (mostly) that I am using here. When it sets, it stays. I will do this in stages.
Folks might not know this but there haven't been any concrete dams made in years. They are clay dams with concrete facing. This is clay (mostly) that I am using here. When it sets, it stays. I will do this in stages.
Where there was just a drainage pipe and the soil was not eroding too badly, I just filled it and it didn't take much.
I suppose when it has enough dirt laid down and packed, I will remove the pipe.
Another light area. It's not on the downhill side.
This is the side that goes way underwater. There was plenty of dirt so I think the contractor just missed building it up. It's possible that it dropped a little but I really hate to think about that. There are many more days with wheelbarrows of dirt in the future. If it's dry, I will spread dirt and drive over it.
This road (?) is my primary option for getting into the back pasture. If my neighbor moves I probably lose my second option and I'm such a packrat that the third option will require work as it has machinery parked there now.
This road (?) is my primary option for getting into the back pasture. If my neighbor moves I probably lose my second option and I'm such a packrat that the third option will require work as it has machinery parked there now.
The dead trees are (like the drainage pipes) placed so that the dirt doesn't all wash away. We can thank the drought for that bit of raw material. I wouldn't have cut them down.
We have some wood that for similar reasons has been sunk in clay for years without dissolving. I know that these are going to disappear but the clay will be long set by the time it does. May even have some rock by then.
This is what it looks like after a half day with shovel and wheelbarrow.
Would really like to have a light rain for this. If my luck in this regard holds I probably should build an ark.
Oh well, I'll just do it again if it washes away.
Same bank from the other end.
It isn't like I'm doing all this on my own. I have supervision and companionship all the time. Neither he nor the donkeys have fingers or opposing thumbs so I'm stuck as the only wheelbarrow jockey.
When I was done with the shovel work, Mama, Bob, and I went to the park. When we were pulling out we found this walking slowly across the street.
We stopped, picked him up, and put our first turtle in the pond. The water becomes clearer all the time. Possibly some feeder fish before long.
We stopped, picked him up, and put our first turtle in the pond. The water becomes clearer all the time. Possibly some feeder fish before long.
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