Archive for April 2013
Calm
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it’s late
the light has faded
calm ensues
transcendent
the night air
filled with chanting
of innumerable frogs
resplendent
their calls
echoing
from somewhere
deep
within the ancient
of our lives
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Too Much
When there is no snow on the ground, a whole lot of work becomes available, all at the same time. It is a mental challenge to figure out where to start, and what to do next. It is a physical challenge to do it all. There is too much to do, but that doesn’t stop us, and we are loving it.
We ran into one hitch, though, yesterday. The snow may be gone, but the water isn’t. The ground here is like a saturated sponge. Our plans for the day changed early, when our fence contractor arrived to see the area we had hoped to work, was still too wet. However, it turned out really sweet for us. Since they couldn’t do any work on our property, they were headed to buy maple syrup from a local farm, and they offered to pick up some for us.
On their way back, they stopped in the road at the end of our driveway, and I walked down to collect our prize: Two quarts of pure maple syrup in unmarked Ball Jars. What a treat.
Then, it was back to work. We did some burning at both of our brush piles, then Cyndie worked on cleaning the barn, while I mixed up some concrete and put in a base for a removable umbrella style clothesline. I greased the tractor, and put in another shift on the burning brush pile.
At every turn, there is something additional that deserves attention. We have definitely neglected some organizational tasks, as we haven’t yet figured out where our preferred places are to store some of the common use tools. We want some things near the house, in the garage, and others belong in the shop garage, or the barn. We know full-well that wherever we leave a rake or shovel, we’ll inevitably need it next, in one of the other locations.
Ultimately, I’m hoping we don’t just end up getting three of everything. That just seems excessive, like a bit too much, to me.
Looks like a great conflagration
…but it’s just a drop in the bucket.
Doubly Tipped
Saturday we woke to an unpleasant surprise. Peering out our bedroom door to the deck, I discovered one of the pine trees at the bottom of the hill was leaning severely. Closer inspection revealed that there were two trees tipping over.
My first thought was that it might be the result of deer pushing on them, mainly because of the fact it was more than one tree. However, when I stepped near the first tree, I decided it was more likely a function of the soil being completely water-logged. Those tree roots were trying to hang on to ground that was like a thick soup.
We tried pushing them back as close to upright as possible, and then tied them to some T-bar fence posts that we had from the old fence that was pulled out last fall. It was a little tricky, because the posts have to get pounded down into the same soup that wasn’t good enough to hold the tree roots. I started at an opposite angle with the fence posts, but once tension was put on them, they moved to almost straight up.
It seemed to work for the time being, so we wandered off to the next project. We started the pile of tree roots on fire again, and raked out the ground on about half of the labyrinth. We wrestled with trying to move some boulders by hand, using pry bars, but we weren’t very successful. Lastly, we did a little work on the spot by the barn door where today we plan to host our fence contractor and his skid loader, to dig out the berm and open up a driving lane behind the barn.
Ironically, we need to uproot a perfectly happy pine tree, and relocate him to clear the way. I expect we will be staking one more tree, before the end of the day.
Finally Warm
Now we’re getting somewhere. The weather pattern has shifted, …finally. More importantly, no new snow has fallen for two whole days! It feels remarkable.
The first thing I did yesterday morning was, walk out to check on the water rising from the ground at the spot I discovered the day before. It had stopped flowing, but there was still a small pool of standing water there. I guess the next thing to watch for is, how soon that water disappears.
I have no sense of how quickly the ground here is going to dry up, once we get a few consecutive days without new moisture falling. I hope to find out soon enough. With luck, we can spend a little time down by the labyrinth this weekend, doing some more design work. Walking around near the spots where the soil has been turned up (left from last fall’s roots and brush removal in the areas of previous fence lines) will tell us very quickly if the ground is still muddy.
Yesterday, we committed to the purchase of a geothermal heating and cooling system, to replace the old, existing furnace and air conditioner, so it appears the ground around here will continue to be in a state of disturbance in the months ahead. We are challenged with trying to get some pasture grass planted in a few key locations, so our hope is to get the essential excavating projects completed in time to hit the ideal growing season.
We have a lot of activities to choreograph now that we are snow free, not the least of which involves being on our deck, soaking up the warm sunshine, and watching the forest finally burst forth with leaves of green.
Day’s Difference
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Here are the images I took on Tuesday morning, after the overnight dump of almost a foot of snow. It is hard to get an exact measure of the total amount, because, it is so heavy and wet, it compacts on itself as it accumulates.
When I left for work on Tuesday, the road beyond our driveway had only been plowed one-lane wide. That made it really nerve-wracking to climb the hills, not knowing what might be approaching from the other side. Luckily, there was no other traffic at that hour.
By the time Cyndie left, the plow had made another pass, and she discovered that it blew our mailbox off its post, again. With how heavy the water-logged snow was, it didn’t surprise me one bit to hear.
Next winter, I may need to strap that mailbox down, or I may be repairing it after every heavy snowfall. The plastic platform on top of the post, which is where a mounting screw is supposed to find purchase, is showing signs of wear, after the two dramatic failures this year.
When I got home from work yesterday, I re-mounted the mailbox, and then pumped up the tires on the new trailer, putting it to work moving firewood. I hauled the last of the split wood that the sellers had left stowed under the eve of the barn, moving it up to the wood rack we bought for the deck.
I took a picture of the trailer in action, which shows how quickly the snow disappears in the late-April sun. What a difference a day makes.
The water run-off was really flowing! I spotted something very interesting while inspecting how well it was running off the plowed field to the north of our property, and into our ditch, where a culvert runs under the driveway.
Just to the left of where the water was flowing in a concisely defined stream, there was a small pool that appeared to be bubbling up from the ground. I figured it was an optical illusion, and that it was just more of the flow through the grassy area.
I hopped from the edge of the driveway, through the flowing water, to get across the ditch, for a closer inspection. I moved all the grass away, to verify there was no above-ground stream feeding this flow. Sure enough, this water was bubbling up from below grade. I stuck my boot down into it, but didn’t really feel anything noteworthy.
That served to cloud up the water with the silty soil. Most revealing was how quickly that cloudiness was replaced by the very clear water that was flowing up from below. This was a classic example of what I had read about, where the spring appears when the ground in the area is saturated with water. I will keep an eye on it, checking to see how quickly after things dry up around here, the water ceases to flow from that spot.
I’m guessing it won’t be running for very long. And, if I discover that I am wrong about that, I’d be delighted.
Couple Images
Due to circumstances related more to our day-jobs than the weather, we stayed overnight in the Twin Cities last night. That gave us a chance to join Cyndie’s parents (who have returned from wintering in Florida), and also, her brother, and his wife and daughter, for dinner. It was a treat to see them, and worked well to save me the commute, but it does put a wrinkle in my usual routine.
I had hoped to post a picture of the amazing snow-scape from yesterday morning, showing the results of our overnight storm that dumped almost a foot of cement-like snow. I didn’t have time to process one, so I will resort to sharing a couple of recent images from my files.
A few days ago, I posted a picture of me napping with Mozyr, and described how differently his sister behaves, when it comes to close personal attention. I think it was the day after I wrote that, when Pequenita showed up on my chest, and my camera was within reach. While keeping one hand on her neck, giving her a soothing scratch, I snapped this shot with my other hand. Here, you have visual evidence of what I was attempting to describe.
It is interesting that this behavior can sometimes become burdensome, and aggravate us, but after a night of being away from her, and seeing this image again, I am noticing pangs of missing her little intrusions on my personal space. She is obviously creating a bond.
The next image is a fascinating collection of shapes that evolved in the snow that was melting on our lawn, …before the latest winter storm buried it again.
It is a little like looking at the amazing variety of possibilities that materialize in the clouds when sky watching. How many different things do you see?
Life Saved
I don’t know why, but the last couple of days have been really hard on some of the birds Cyndie feeds. We have been hearing multiple impacts on our doors and windows. Three have died instantly. One looked to be particularly shocked, but still alive. We checked on it, off and on, for a couple of hours. Finally, Cyndie could stand it no longer, and decided to bring him in out of the cold.
The cats seemed happy with that idea. I think they were interested, but didn’t seem overly fixated. Cyndie parked the box in the second bedroom, and shut the door. She had consulted online instructions for rescuing a stunned bird, and planned to see if it was ready to go in the morning.
At first light, she set the box outside and opened the lid. Success! The bird was well enough to fly away. That was pretty rewarding.
I decided to try to get some work done outside, before the predicted rain set in. I chose to work on moving rocks beside the barn. It is still really wet out there. The ground is completely saturated. When I pull up a rock, water runs in to fill the hole left behind.
We are going to try to move only one tree, and then dig out an opening, and move some dirt around the back to provide a path for the tractor. It is very obvious that we will need to make provisions for drainage, on both sides of the path.
This snowy spring is providing us with a very good demonstration of how and where drainage occurs here. Notice how much of the snow had melted by yesterday afternoon?
I ended up moving the pile of landscape rock up the hill to the area where the black container is in the image, to get it completely out of the way. I didn’t want to put it too far away, though, because we are going to need to put it back on the slope where we cut into the hill.
Halfway through that task, it started sprinkling. I ended up racing the weather. As I continued to get closer to finishing, the rain kept growing more intense. I didn’t want to quit, so I worked through it. I was pretty soggy by the time I was done.
If you look closely at the image, beside the eagle statue by the door, you can see the corner of the ice/snow pile that extends along the back side of the barn. We still can’t get the rocks loose in that spot, because they remain frozen in place.
Having a driving path behind the barn is going to be tricky, because of how the snow slides off the roof. It is worse now than it will be in the future, because that pile is from the full winters’ worth of snow that accumulated. 
Next year, I plan to plow that as it falls, so it won’t build up to the same degree.
By the end of the day, the rain had turned to snow, and we began with the next heavy accumulation, just as predicted.
Snow, again?! Yes.
Happy April, 2013, the year of perpetual winter storms.
Perfect Fit
Recently, we have been contemplating what we might want to use for hauling small loads around the property. I have been inclined toward a trailer that fits the little Craftsman mower tractor, over the big diesel tractor. I decided to see how much work it was to detach the mower deck from beneath the tractor. If it was easy, I could see us putting that machine to greater use, beyond simply cutting grass.
On Saturday, I consulted the manual, and set about pulling a few clips and washers. It was a cinch! But, I got ahead of myself. I jumped right into the task, without considering where the mower was parked. It was between the New Holland diesel, and a wall in the shop garage. The manual instructed, once the mower is detached, just pull it out from the right side.
Oops. That was up against the wall. I tried sliding the tractor to the left, off of the mower, but there wasn’t enough room. Soon, I had it wedged between the wall and the diesel tractor. I did what I should have done from the start, and fired up the big tractor to pull it out of the garage.
(While I was at it, I took the bold step of finally removing the chains from the rear tires. I hate to tempt fate, but am feeling emboldened by the fact that the last 3 or 4 storms of accumulating snow ended up melting off the pavement without any intervention. These late-season snow storms don’t last long on the black asphalt under that April daylight.)
Now that the mower was out from under the tractor, I needed to see if it would start, after sitting all winter. It took some coaxing, but it finally popped. I buzzed up to the house, and Cyndie came out to marvel over my accomplishment. I decided to give her an introductory lesson.
“In my slippers?”
“Sure!”
She did great, except being a bit too tentative when she left the pavement, where the snow stopped her progress and a rear wheel just spun in place. I don’t have any chains for the garden tractor. Yet.
After that, we made a run in to Ellsworth to pick up some items at the hardware store, and maybe check out a diner we had yet to visit. Last time I was at the hardware store, they had a discount price on a nice little trailer that I thought might work just right for us. I measured the opening of the hatch on the back of my car, and brought the tape measure with to the hardware store.
The trailer was still there, and still marked down in price. I pulled out the tape measure. It was close. Too close, I thought. With all the angles of the opening of the hatchback, and the addition of the wheels that would need to clear, I was pretty sure we wouldn’t be able to get it home in my car. The sales clerk said he would check to see if they had one still in the box. They didn’t.
I told him that I wanted it, regardless. I would figure out a way to get it home. Maybe this would hasten the plans Cyndie has about buying a pickup truck. Speaking of Cyndie, she walked up and took one look and said she thought it would fit. That’s no surprise. She thinks everything is possible. I voiced my skepticism, and pulled out the tape measure, to justify it. I figure that she can’t argue with the tape.
The clerk offered to help see if we could get it in, if I just back my car up to the front of the store. I accepted his offer, but felt there was no way this would work.
It rolled right in, rubbing on all sides, not a centimeter to spare. Cyndie beamed. I smiled. We went to lunch at the diner. They made french fries out of fresh-cut potatoes. ‘Nuff said. The day was a perfect fit.
Snow Again?!
We are three weeks into April, and still, this morning, it is snowing. I called our fence contractor yesterday, to check on his status, since it was predicted to be a clear and sunny Saturday. He has enlisted a crew to build our hay shed, and they were going to work weekends. I wasn’t surprised there wasn’t anyone here, since we had just come out of a blast of a winter storm on Thursday and Friday, which kept both Cyndie and me home from work on Friday.
He confirmed that it was just too wet to do anything down there now. He knew what he was talking about. Cyndie and I wanted to continue on a project to move the eagle statue, and the rock landscaping beneath it, in preparation of digging out a berm next to the barn. We need to create a path to drive the tractor around the back side of the barn, now that the front side is being fenced off with paddocks.
It was both too wet, and too frozen, if that makes any sense. Snow from above was melting, and running down around the area we were tromping, and the further we progressed in moving rocks, the more rocks we came to that were still frozen in place.
We changed plans. Next on the wish list was creating a labyrinth. We had a general idea where we wanted the labyrinth to be located, and had reviewed a variety of layouts. Next step was to physically measure the area, and see if we the idea in our heads would fit the reality of the place we want it to be.
Last fall, when the fence guys were ripping out the old barbed wire fencing that existed when we bought the place, they also cleared out a lot of brush, and turned up a few boulders. We asked them to move the rocks back to the area where we were thinking the labyrinth might be created.
The spot where they put them ended up being about 12 inches off of the center point we calculated yesterday. We used some of the metal fence posts they had pulled out, to create a circumference, placing a final one at the center point. Cyndie ran a fluorescent pink string around the circle. We plotted and measured, and are feeling very confident that our joint vision is viable. The project is a go.
That is, it will be a go, if it ever stops snowing, and dries out enough to navigate our property without fear of stepping into a bottomless sink-hole of muddy soup.
Relative Something 