Flooded Creek

There seems to be a lot of rain falling all over the country.  We’ve had a bunch here lately, but at least we don’t have to worry about the record level flooding of the Red River like the folks in Fargo, North Dakota, and on into the Manitoba, Canada, area do.

Nevertheless, we still got a lot of rain a little too fast, and by yesterday morning the creek that runs along one side of our property was flooded. 

It backs up a lot when it gets to the culvert/bridge just down the road from us.  There’s just too much water and not enough space for it to run through!  The culvert also gets clogged with debris, and that constricts the water flow even more, and it has to go somewhere.

The Farmer decided to check out the flood waters before he left for work and walked down as close as he could get to the bridge, then headed back.

Thankfully, since the bridge is past our driveway, we don’t have to worry about flood waters over the road when we want to drive somewhere.

However, The Farmer was worried about the flood waters getting into his pond.  When it was built, they made a high bank on the side closest to the road, hoping to prevent that.  So far it had worked, but he decided to check it out.

It almost worked this time, but in a couple of spots there were trickles of water flowing into the pond.

There wasn’t enough water to worry about, but we’ll just have to see what happens next time we get a lot of heavy rains.

When the creek floods, the water also backs up into our bottom pasture and flows through the adjacent woods.

As you can see, the water runs over the fence line, which is why we have an electric fence there.  It’s easier to fix when the fast waters tear the wire away from the posts, or the debris just flat out breaks the wires.

The ground was so saturated with water, the earthworms were bailing out everywhere.  The grass was polluted with them, and I could barely walk down the driveway without stepping on one.

The guineas chose to stay high in the treetops, even though it rained on them all night. 

Of course, I wouldn’t accuse guineas of having an excess of intelligence.  They obviously don’t even know enough to come in out of the rain!

All this wet weather makes our Maremma LGD (livestock guardian dog) look pretty ragged since she’s all white.

She probably looks like a lot of folks in dangerously flooded areas feel – a little rough around the edges.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we’re done with the rainy weather, so time to hunker down and wait it out!  I’m just thankful we got the basement water-proofed a couple of years ago, so I no longer have to spend hours and hours with a shop vac trying to drain the rising pool of water in the basement!

I guess there’s a silver lining in every cloud after all.

Continued Cold in The South – That’s My World!

Mother Nature seems to have forgotten an important premise… it’s supposed to be relatively warm in the south.  Yes, it gets pretty cold in the winter sometimes, but it’s usually brief, and usually not much below freezing.

Lately, we’ve had much colder weather lasting for longer periods of time.  In fact, according to our local weatherman, we’ve had the coldest temperatures there’s been here in 6 years.  Me, I hope it’s at least another 6 years before it’s this cold again!

When I walk out to the mailbox, there is ice on the pond beside our driveway.  A little ice around the edges happens now and there most winters, but this much ice is too much!

There are lots of cardinals here that must brave the cold, cruel world for food and water. Here was one in the tree beside the birdbath.

However, the heater in the bird bath can’t keep up with the continued cold weather and let some ice form.

Even the birds can’t believe all this ice everywhere, and look in disdain at the icy water in the birdbath.

When I walk out the back door and see the tub on our back porch – said porch having solid walls on two sides I might mention! – I see even the tub garden has a skim of ice on it.  I’ve never seen ice in this tub before.

There’s even a little iceberg forming where the water hits the surface.

After I’ve been out and done chores, I often go for a walk in the woods.  Even there, things are weird.  For instance, the creek has crusts of ice here and there along the sides.  With the swiftly running water, there usually isn’t any ice on the creek.

The shallower water in some of the sloughs is totally frozen.

And strangest of all, the ground is crunchy. That’s right, when I walk through the woods, my steps make crunching sounds.

That’s just wrong. The ground in the south is supposed to be dry and hard, or maybe wet and sloppy, but it is NOT supposed to be frozen and crunchy.

Just take a close-up look of our crunchy ground.

Ice, my world is full of ice, and that just isn’t right!

Friday’s Farm Fotos

After a summer of few keets, a nesting trio decided to show up their peers and produced a HUGE bunch of keets. I counted a couple of dozen running around that first day.

They sure were fun to watch running along after the adults, trying to keep up on those very short little legs!

Once they get in the grass, it’s impossible to see them. Once in a while a little head bobs up, or you can see the grass moving.

Other sights in the back 40 (actually, it’s probably more like 5), include our matron ewe, Coconut, lazing in the shade of the trees on a hot southern summer day.

Not far away, our female llama, Keira (aka Miss Crankypants), is also taking advantage of the shade. When your wool is black, it really soaks up the heat from the sun! At least she now has a lot less wool to soak up the warmth.

What are YOU lookin’ at???

Down in the bottom pasture, we’re not mowing this year, or allowing grazing. We’re just letting it grow wild.

We have more than enough pasture for the animals without it, so it’s good for growing wildflowers and butterfly grazing.

I love the nice bright red of these Cardinal Flowers. They like the bottom pasture as it has a spring keeping part of it wet.

Of course, the hummingbirds love the Cardinal Flowers too. Those tube-like flowers are just made for hummers to sip some yummy nectar.

There is also a lot of Ironweed with purple flowers, and Joe Pye Weed with lovely dusky pink flowers. The butterflies really go for these!

The Farmer mows walking paths through the weeds, so Toby and I enjoy checking things out in the mornings, and looking at spiderwebs glistening with dew, bees buzzing around the flowers, and butterflies flitting about.

It’s a nice, serene way to start the morning.

We usually end up at the pond. There are droves of dragonflies dancing through the air above the pond. They stop for a rest on a weed now and then.

They fly around so much they kind of beat their wings ragged!

Then it’s one last glimpse of serenity before going back to work.

“The Mirrormere”

If you’re a “Lord of the Rings” fan, you might recognize that reference. Anyway, the pond has lovely reflections, even though the water is way down due to drought conditions.

And that’s a glimpse of the past week here on the farm!

A Sunny Sunday on the Farm

After record breaking warm temperatures earlier this week, it’s back to cold weather. Yeah, I know “cold” is a relative term, and what’s cold for us is a balmy day further north. There was a hard frost this morning, but the sun came out and it turned into a lovely day.

The return to cold weather hasn’t obliterated all signs of a coming spring either. After doing the critter care chores, I went for a short walk in the woods. I noticed the redbud trees have – what else? – red buds appearing.

I noticed other signs of growth in a slue towards the back of our wooded area that is filled with water again, thanks to the recent rains. The algae is bright green there. The moss in the woods also continues to green up, and there are a few plant leaves poking up here and there.

In my flower garden, the plant my Granny used to call “Live Forever” is already showing new growth for this season.

This particular variety is officially known as Sedum ‘Matrona’. It has lovely pink flower heads that the butterflies and bees dearly love.

The animals enjoy the sunshine too, and I noticed a bunch of the guineas in the front yard, headed down towards the pond.

All in all, it’s just nice to enjoy a sunny Sunday here on the farm.

Our Pond Runneth Over…

A look at our pond. . .

When we first dug the pond, it only took two months for it to fill up. It’s spring fed, so that made a difference. I’m sure it would have taken a lot longer if rain falling in the pond was the only source of water.

Then came the drought. Months and months of little or no rain, and the water in the pond went down, down, down, until it looked more like an overlarge mud puddle.

Lately we’ve been getting more rain and the pond slowly started filling back up. When I went outside this morning, I was thrilled to see it is totally FULL again.

The water is right up to the overflow pipe. Who’d have thought it would be so exciting to see water running out a pipe?

Ahhhhh, the lovely sound of running water…..
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Hooray! Here’s hope we don’t see such low water levels again!