Relative Something

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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.