Monday, August 2, 2010

I've Officially Had Enough

Yesterday was blessedly dry - as far as I could tell being in town most of the day.  It seems we escaped the daily downpour.  Some of the smaller puddles in Our Road had diminished to mere mud.  This morning I checked our little creek.  No water. Sunday was supposed to be the last of the heavy rains...so I heard.

But then, there was today.  Another scary thunderstorm settled in over our woods.  As I holed up in the bedroom doing a crossword to keep my mind off the too close lightening and loud thunder, the phone rang.  I don't answer the house phone during a lightening storm. 

Then my cell phone rang.  It was our neighbors - the ones that share our usually dry but occasionally raging creek.  She asked if I was doing OK.  Huh? She said the creek (which we call Iris Creek) was a good three feet wider than it should be and she feared the road will be completely washed out at the culvert.  I looked out the dining room window to see our little trenches overflowing and water flowing in sheets all around them.  Then I went to the back door.  Water standing 3 inches high up against the foundation.  There was SO much water everywhere!  The trenches were no match for the amount of water running downhill at us. 

I waited (paced) a little while and observed the lightening and thunder.  It seemed to have moved from right over top of our place so I ventured out with my little ditch digging rake/hoe-thingy (don't laugh, Gary. I haven't a clue what it's proper name is.).  I dug trenches to connect to trenches.  I burmed up the sides of some flat spots to stop the overflow.  I scooped up buckets of gravel from our pile of leftovers and tried to raise the low spots close to the house and direct the water down the side and away.

The rain was easing up and my trenching was making progress.  I decided to go check out the Road.  I walked down Our Driveway Road, with it's two streams flowing downhill in the tire wells.  When I saw Our Road, I was stunned.  It wasn't a road.  It was a river.  Literally.  From the culvert about 50 yards away up-road the road was a river from side to side.  Four to six inches deep of water racing its way past me and on out toward The Big Road.  It hadn't made it all the way to The Big Road yet because most of it was flooding off into the big meadow across Our Road.  But as I stood out there marveling at it all, I could see it progressing.  By the time I headed back up the Driveway Road it had reached about  200 yards.

Hours later I'm sitting with an open window at my back and I can hear the water.  Oh, yes, I can hear the creek raging.  But I'm not talking about that water.  I can hear the little babbling, gurgling sound of water still running through one of the trenches just  five feet outside.

Another thing...when I walked back up Our Driveway Road I heard that rushing water sound coming from the opposite direction as our racing wash.  Just like I thought I'd heard it a couple nights ago from that direction.  Hmmm...  I walked over to our other neighbors' - whose house is much closer to ours.  I thought, maybe Iris Creek is echoing off their house.  I walked around to the front of their house.  Noooo, I definitely heard rushing water from that direction, too.  I couldn't see it but it sounded even more forceful than Iris Creek.  I'll have to take a walk over there tomorrow and see what I can see.

1 comment:

  1. Judi, it must be really difficult at times like these. I suppose that in living in such a beautifully wild area, one has to accept the wild weather that goes with it. I laughed at your naming of the hoe, and hey, who cares what it's called as long as it does the job! I hope the rain eases very soon...Take care

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