Dry Times

This week our county and about half the others in the state were declared federal disaster areas because of the drought here. Around this area it doesn't actually look that bad but I know it is. What is frustrating is that, like today, huge, dark clouds just filled with rain came up and boiled all around and then just sorta faded away without so much as a drop falling. The little spring doesn't seem to be doing too badly though. It is down about 2 inches. We put this 3" pipe down in the spring with these measurements marked on the outside just to keep an idea of what the water does. This pipe also serves to protect the suction pipe from a possible cave-in and keep any big frog or whatever away. There are a series of 1/2" holes drilled in the lower 4' of this pipe to allow the water to flow to the suction pipe. The suction pipe is 1 1/2" PVC with a brass footvalve about 18" above the bottom of the hole.

This is a little further down the line where I walk down to the stream, that comes from the spring, to dip water. As you can see, the path is well worn.

This is down at the deeper part; you can see my dipping can on the right. This is about as deep as it ever is though. This is a very nice area and I want to clear it just a little more and plant some native, flowering plants here and there. There are already lots of oak leaf hydrangea and ferns.

My garden is not doing too bad except where the rabbits came in and mauled it but I have been willing to haul water to it several days a week. I did pick some squash today and hopefully the tomatoes will be ripe soon. One thing that is thriving is the grasshoppers! They are everywhere and just waiting to eat everything I have. I keep the plants sprayed with Pyola or Neem oil which are both good organic insecticides. They even keep the Japanese beetles off.

On another subject, I look at my site meter pretty regular to see who is coming around and I have noticed many regulars but most never leave comments. Now, I love to hear from those of you who do (Pablo, FC, karl) but I would like to hear from you other people! I see some from New York, California (which always surprises me) Illinois, South Carolina etc. I know I am not perceptive enough to be explaining everything well about the house we are building. Do ya'll want to know something about things that I have not shown? Have I not explained something well? Do you wonder why in the hell I do the things I do? Speak to me!! Any other female construction workers out there? And another thing: I got people from Pella Corp. to visit my site just by mentioning the name because it is found by search engines, so I wonder, could I get say, Martha Stewart to visit my site just by mentioning her name a bunch of times? Hhmm. We'll see.