Posts Tagged ‘water’
Big Day
Lately, every day seems to be a big day around here, but yesterday was bigger than most. We had excavators and fence installers working at the same time at two different locations on the property.
A ditch was dug to lay in a water line and an electrical wire to supply an on-demand water station between the two paddocks, which will be heated to keep from freezing. They need to move a lot of dirt, to get below the frost line, and to make a ditch wide enough to be safe for a person down in it. It was a fascinating process to watch.
The backhoe is like a toy. I can see why there are “big machine” camps where adults can go to “play” with them.
The man running this one was a real artist. After they finished with the water installation, he drove around behind the barn and shaped the ridge beside our new driving lane. Then he moved out to the fields where he buried what remained of our two brush piles.
They worked non-stop till after 6 p.m., pausing only briefly for lunch.
Now that the work requiring the backhoe is complete, they can finish the fence around the paddock.
If we don’t pay attention, these paddocks will be ready for horses, and we won’t have yet prepared to bring some on. We’ve been waiting so long – since we moved in last October, really – it would be a shame to have not prepared in advance for the moment we’ve dreamed of for a long time.
After all that waiting, it suddenly feels like things are moving real fast.
That’s good, but also, a little scary.
As Planned
photo by Elysa Hays
With rain threatening for most of the morning, we stuck to our plan and started the day focusing on the landscape pond. We rearranged a lot of rocks, placed the pump, built a waterfall, and then stacked stones around the plastic tubes to make them less conspicuous.
Cyndie had purchased supplies to help keep the water clear, and set about tending to that. Elysa served as my consultant, giving me feedback on how my placement of stones looked from afar. Elysa also took a turn at capturing photos, and pruning dead growth from the few perennials growing out of the water.
Since we are experiencing problematic wetness around the property this spring, it feels nice to finally embrace water for once, as opposed to frowning over it, longing to see it gone. Cyndie wrapped the water line and power cord from the pump with some vine leaves, and after topping off the overall level with a bit of fresh water from the hose, we declared the pond complete and ready for the season.
We are lucky to have had the help of Elysa and Anne all weekend on the variety of things we chose to do. We didn’t make it to the work weekend up at the lake place, but having them here made it feel like a special weekend, and their efforts provided great gains and priceless company on the first Memorial “work-weekend” at Wintervale.
Relative Something 