Posts Tagged ‘Wintervale Ranch’
New Dilemma
We are now at the middle of May and our place is finally beginning to show signs of greening up. The weather has moved very quickly from chilly temperatures, to a day with a heat advisory being issued. The grass is wasting no time. The lawn beckons to be mowed, especially if we are to keep pace with all the other property owners in the vicinity. Everyone around us seems to have leaped into that task with gusto. Don’t they have more important things to do first?
I still haven’t figured out which areas I want to continue to mow in the manner they were previously tended, and which areas I can turn over to nature’s whimsy. As it is now, areas around the driveway and barn are going to be hard to mow, because of the disruption caused by the projects underway.
Speaking of projects, one more thing demanding immediate attention made an unwelcome appearance yesterday. I was running a load of laundry, in preparation to pack and leave for Arizona, and while I was out discussing the location of our planned backup generator with a contractor, we witnessed some water flow out of the lid of our septic tank!
That’s not right!
Especially, based on the fact that it was pumped out and inspected about 8 months ago when we made our offer on the place. Based on only 2 people living here now, that is way too soon for the tank to need to be pumped again.
It seems a little ironic to me that the whole time our property was soaked through like a wet sponge, there were no signs of trouble from the septic system. Now, just as things are finally drying out, the problem shows up. And, of course, it happens just as I am headed out of town.
So, today, while I am at work, and then headed to the airport, there will be a drilling crew setting up at the house for few days of work, and a septic company pumping our tank. I hope they all get along fine with each other, …and without me.
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I’ve got no posts prepared in advance, so we’ll see what the next few days brings, while I am in Arizona. Cyndie tells me I will have access. Hopefully, I will be able to provide some up-to-date stories and images from our adventures over the coming weekend.
And, hopefully, there’ll be no more new dilemmas popping up for some time.
Good Wet
Of all the days for the new geothermal furnace installation project to start, they picked the day when I leave to join Cyndie in Arizona. Isn’t that just the way things go?
But, hey, that’s progress, and any progress is good progress, as far as I’m concerned this spring. Yesterday, at the house, I was able to meet with the lead person on the boring crew for the fluid lines that will go underground. He said that if all goes well, that part of the job will be done in two days, and thus, completed by the time we get home. It was good to meet him and talk, because as he was leaving, he commented that I may never see him again.
He offered to take some pictures of the process for me, which will be fabulous, because burying the lines is the most dramatic part of the project, I think. The rest is just units in the utility room in the basement, which is about the same as the installation of a conventional furnace, as far as I’m concerned.
Interesting note about our soil, which is the big question regarding whether the boring goes well for them, or not, is that he said, “The wetter, the better.”
Well, we’ve got wet here, that’s for sure!
He also said that clay would be good to go through, so I’m hoping they will benefit from the very thing that has been a big nuisance for the people trying to put up fences for us. The geothermal guys will be happy to find clay and wet soil.
‘Being happy’ sure is a switch from what we’ve been hearing for quite some time now, from the fence contractor.
Lucky Loss
Throughout our life together, up until the purchase of our current property, Cyndie and I had never owned a parcel of land that amounted to a single acre. Now, we are responsible for 20 of them. That feels real intimidating at times. I am seeing an awful lot of things that deserve to be dealt with here, and we just can’t get to them all at once. I need to work on developing acceptance with not being able to take care of every issue I see, as soon as I see it, or I will become very frustrated.
That’s a risky proposition for me. I grew up in a home where I developed a notable ability to accept unaddressed issues. The kitchen of the house where I spent my pre-teen and high school years, was torn up when we move in, with the intent of being remodeled. My father put up metal shelves to store things on. It stayed that way until after I had moved out. It didn’t bother me one bit.
I have a recollection of there being a vice grip pliers to turn on the water for the shower in the bathroom I used. It seemed like a workable solution to me.
I have a dangerous ability to turn a blind eye to any number of things in my own living situation, that would strike me as odd for being overlooked or disregarded in another person’s home. It has taken a conscious effort to motivate myself to not be that guy who just gives up and lives with unfinished business. I have failed more often than I have succeeded in that endeavor over the years.
It seems counter-productive to be considering a strategy that gives me permission to do the very thing I am trying to learn not to do. Somewhere in there, I hope I discover that some sort of achievable healthy balance exists.
I did a short walk-around after work yesterday, to check on the water in our drilled holes, the remains of the smoldering brush pile, and a couple of evergreen trees I have propped up. I also walked past the second pile of root bundles, which is on the agenda for further burning, around the area marked for a labyrinth, up through the now-long (and getting longer) grass on the hill behind our house, and into the garage with wood overhead doors that are about shot, and log siding that is overdue for being re-stained and sealed. All of it on hold for the time being.
I did pass by the one tree that tipped under the weight of the last record-setting snowfall, which we are totally okay with, and have no intention of rescuing. I don’t think I have mentioned it here yet. It is the one tree that we were going to need to get rid of, in order to open up a road on the back side of the barn. We were talking about trying to transplant it, but it was going to be a difficult and iffy task with the equipment we have at hand.
Now the decision is made for us, as the roots have broken, and there is no sense trying to save it. We got lucky on the loss of that one.
…And I am very happy to have an item removed from our list of issues deserving immediate attention around here.
Project Interrupted
Happy Mother’s Day, all you moms out there! 
Yesterday, the crew showed up to begin the process of framing the hay shed. They didn’t get very far. Guess what. It’s too wet. Imagine that. At least they accomplished the first critical step of stringing up the exact square dimension of the future structure. After that, they drilled one hole with the skid loader, and quickly discovered they would not be able to set the posts yet.
The dirt that came out of the hole was a sloppy muck that plopped to the ground like a wet cow pie. Then the hole filled with about 2-feet of water,
the sides of the hole collapsing, as water ran in. If you look closely at the second image, you will see the muck in mid-air, dropping from the drill on the skid loader.
Progress is stalled, once again. But, not for lack of trying. At this point, all we can do is wait for nature to take its course. Luckily, it was a windy day, which does wonders for drying things.
Too bad it was offset by a May 11 snow shower. We need wind and sun, not wind and snow.
I busied myself with getting a fire started in the brush pile nearest the barn. We haven’t been giving this pile as much attention as the other one, partly because it has so much dirt on the pile. It also has a much larger collection of branches, most of them still too green to burn easily.
To get them to ignite, we have to feed a lot of dry wood to the pile, so I made multiple trips up the hill toward the house, to pull out dead branches that are stacked throughout the woods across from the house and shop garage.
It isn’t the type of walking exercise that I am supposed to be doing, especially when I am trying to lift too heavy a batch of branches, but I hope it counts for something, because it totally exhausted me. I decided to end my work before something gave out on my body and forced me to be done.
We’ll see if I quit in time to save energy for today. Over half of that brush pile remains, and I have plenty of trips to make if I’m going to reduce it a noticeable amount by the end of the day.
Lyrical Reality
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sleep begs my eyelids to give up
tugging them down against their wishes
with miles to go
before I am home
pieces of asphalt lie scattered
in the grass that grows up around them
waiting patiently
for someplace to go
trees lean in every direction
victims of unforgiving forces unleashed
with vengeance
despite their innocence
the cats refuse to call a truce
behaving erratically and always on alert
to an impending threat
they themselves created
and the clock rolls on
ticking and clicking
advancing
as if being forced
to march on
no matter how ready
we don’t think
we really are
sunshine peeks up over the horizon
and everything takes notice and responds
absorbing and growing
greater than before
pounding like a heart always beating
inspiration thumps on my sleepy head
like a freight train
with someplace to be
things to do overflow my thoughts
like the snowmelt water that still remains
wreaking havoc
on any sense of order
brush piles patiently await their fate
as if being prominent carried specific intent
an always easy option
to fulfill a burning desire
and the clock rolls on
ticking and clicking
advancing
as if being forced
to march on
no matter how ready
we don’t think
we’ll ever be
.
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Significant Milestone
I walked into the sunroom yesterday afternoon, where it is supposed to be sunny and warm in the springtime, and the scene brought out a chuckle. I have removed my winter jacket from the coat tree inside the front door, but something has kept me from finally putting away the boots, hat and mittens, that remain there.
Maybe I am waiting for that 2-weeks in a row without snow to fully play out.
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Hidden in the background of all the projects currently underway at Wintervale, is the work Cyndie has been doing to complete an apprenticeship program with author, Linda Kohanov, to become a practitioner in Eponaquest’s educational model, Equine Facilitated Experiential Learning.
Cyndie has been attending workshops, and engaged in lessons and other projects, off and on for over 2 years. On Wednesday, she traveled to Amado, AZ, for the last session, after which she will have completed her apprenticeship. I will be flying down to join her on the second weekend of her 10-days there, to be a member of the first group of students to be trained by this session’s graduating apprentices.
It is a very significant milestone on this journey that we launched back when we decided to sell our suburban home and find property suitable for horses. Property that had potential for her to create a place where she hopes to train others. Quite simply, it is why we are here.
It feels like a sacred moment. I am looking forward to seeing her in action, in the role she has been envisioning for herself, pretty much since she read Linda’s first book, and then spent time with Ian Rowcliffe and their horses in Portugal.
With all the fence work on our property being delayed as much as has happened, some of the most significant progress could end up happening while Cyndie is in Arizona. It is setting up to be a close finish of her training and our readiness to finally bring horses onto our property.
It adds poignancy to an already special time for us. Let’s hope the weather allows things to work out that way.
Damage Assessment
Thank goodness that is over. The weekends are an amazing opportunity to work on absolutely everything here. Yes, I am feeling grateful to have the distraction of the day-job, lately.
Yesterday, we started with one agenda, and wandered through several distractions that were not really part of the day’s plan, finally finding ourselves mired in a muddy exercise of clearing an area of the woods near the barn, to prepare a spot for future manure management.
We went for a walk along the trails of our woods and discovered how merciless that last blast of snow was to our trees. It also explained the dramatic number of snaps I heard that morning. It was a bit odd, because I could hear so many branches breaking, but I rarely spotted the damage happening. Yesterday, everywhere we looked, large and small, we found branches, and sometimes main trunks, cracked, shredded, or completely broken.
In the grand scheme of overall damage, ours is actually rather small. Others suffered more dramatic tree loss than any single tree on our property. But in comparison to no damage at all, it feels like we have an overwhelming amount of loss.
It will be a big chore just clearing the trees that now block our trails. I don’t think I will venture into the rest of the woods. Nature will have to take its course there.
Quick Rescue
It is the month of May, after all, so it comes as no surprise that when the precipitation pauses, and the sun peeks out, the snow melts very quickly. The first order of business for me was to try to salvage or mend the damaged trees.
Using a pruning saw on the end of a telescoping pole, I gave my arms a workout, cutting broken branches back to the main trunk of otherwise intact trees.
This image shows how the damage varies, and can be easily overlooked, if you only scout for obviously broken limbs. The branch below is easy to spot, but the one above has an open split that remains connected on each end. It demonstrates the reason I was hearing so many cracking sounds, without seeing very many branches actually falling, when I was out for a walk after most of the snow had accumulated.
Hard as it is on tiring arms, to stand on the ground and hand-saw a branch high up in a tree, there comes the added complication of trying to get the severed branch down out of the tree, without breaking others, or causing any additional damage. It had me cursing for fear of doing more harm than good.
I succeeded in pruning multiple branches out of 4 of our prominent maples, before my arms gave out, and daylight faded.
I took one significant break from exerting myself on that project, during which, I rigged up a way to pull up a pine tree that had tipped over, using a come-along. It is the same tree that I wrote about in my post titled, Doubly Tipped, which we tried to support by tying to t-posts. That time, we just used muscle to push it back up to a partial tilt. The posts weren’t able to keep it upright, because the ground was too wet for them to stay put.
For now, we will let the tree rest against the pull of the cable, rigged to a nearby tree, with chains and straps. When the ground finally dries out, we’ll put the posts back in the ground and tie the tree off to them again.
Look at the dramatic difference of a few days in the life of this pine: (If you click on the last image, it will enlarge so that you can see the way we have it supported.)
Messed Up
Things are seriously twisted. It should not look like this in the first week of May:
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Yes, it is absolutely beautiful. But, this isn’t the time for it! There are some farmers who won’t be getting their crops in the field in time this year. It is just too wet around here. It was already wet. Now that has been compounded. It is even soggier, and getting later in the year.
I don’t mean to seem ungrateful. It was desperately dry last fall, and all this moisture will be good toward making up for that. It is a bit sad that it comes with a cost, though. The weight of all that snow really did a number on the tree branches. Standing out in the middle of the storm with all other sounds muffled by the snow, the snapping and popping of limbs giving way stood out like the report of rifles at a gun range.
On Wednesday evening, as I drove home from work, the weather reports on the radio indicated there was a chance for large accumulations of snow in a narrow band from the southwest to the northeast across their listening area. That narrow band ended up over our place. When I woke up in the middle of the night, I could see it was already a significant amount. By Thursday morning, it was over-the-top ridiculous.
I had gotten up a bit earlier than usual, trying to contemplate whether or not to attempt the drive to work. The electricity kept kicking out, and then coming back on again. We knew it was a signal that lines were being affected. Finally, around 5:30 a.m., it went dark and stayed dark. Losing electricity means we have no power to pump water from our well, no lights or electricity for our appliances, and no fan for our furnace.
We plotted to use our battery-powered devices sparingly. I just happened to have my phone on when a call came from our geothermal furnace company. He said that he had completed the quote for that backup generator we had inquired about, and wanted to send it to me. I expect he feels quite confident in our willingness to accept the value of his offer, as we read it by flashlight, huddled next to the fireplace.
Trees falling and branches breaking under the heavy load.
It is funny how, on one hand, we like to exclaim how perilous our situation was, yet at the same time, could adapt to it like it was a pretty posh camping expedition. Overnight, the fireplace helped hold the house temperature in a comfortable range. We collected water that was dripping off the roof, to pour into the toilet tank for flushing. We went to bed when it got dark. It wasn’t that hard to cope.
The difficulty that we struggled with, was not knowing how long we might be in this predicament. By leaving our refrigerator and freezers closed, we could last a moderate duration of an outage. It turned out to be about 28 hours until our power was restored in this incident. Once we get our generator installed, we won’t have that concern.
One other problem I suffered was, getting a sunburn, through the clouds, on my unprotected face. When I am out clearing snow like this in January, the sun is never high enough to be a problem. It just didn’t occur to me at the time, that it was a much higher month-of-May sun up there over the snow clouds.
My whole sense of normal is completely messed up.
Clothesline Fail
At least she was able to use it once. I guess that is why they make it removable. Unfortunately, it doesn’t hold up 14 inches of wet spring snow as well as it holds up wet sheets and clothes.
We are running on battery power, so I gotta make this short. What an adventure!
(edited w/ update: 10:12 a.m.) I made it into work at the day-job, where there is heat, running water, and electricity; all things we are still lacking at Wintervale. They tell us there is still no way to estimate how long we will be without power. Oh, joy. We are burning wood in the fireplace, in attempt to hold the temperature of the house up at a livable above-freezing level. One advantage to the cool temps: the food in the refrigerator and freezer may last a bit longer.
When I left the house this morning, I drove through falling snow.
Happy month of May, everyone!
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Relative Something 