Snow gone in two days!



Rebuilt rock crib.

I went to all that trouble to move the snow and it is gone!  No more snow.  In our world this sudden warming can be quite the problem.  I have four fences that go across the creek.  When we went to bed last night there was a strong chinook wind blowing.  The back creek was still covered in snow and there was no running water in it.  As soon as I got up this morning I turned on the back porch light to see if the creek was running and indeed it was.  This means the fences have to be lifted out of the creek bed.  They have to sit directly on the creek bed when there is no water present or the sheep crawl under them.  The sheep will jump the creek and drink from it but they will not wade through it to crawl under a fence.  I anticipated this not being as easy as it sounds.  At the first crossing I ended up refilling about half the rock crib and retightening some upper fencing before even pulling the panels out of the creek.  I ended up fixing three sections of fence, repairing two rock cribs and lifting fence panels from four separate creek crossings. 






Poop covered dog!  Does he looked ashamed?

Zeke snuck away while I was working.  I called but he stayed gone for over 30 minutes.  When he came back it looked like someone had rubbed cow poop over his entire body!  The smell was awful.  He had to stay kinda close the rest of the time outside.  Not too close due to the smell.  After the creek crossings were fixed we walked down to the school house to look at the back irrigation ditch.  The horses on the school house pasture have eroded part of the ditch wall and it is leaking into the pasture.   Down near the school house it is just running out into the pasture.  I need to get down there with the tractor and dig some more ditch.  The trouble is it is very muddy and slick and I am not sure the tractor would do well. It needs to dry out some first.  The trouble with that is I don't want the weather to dry out until late spring.  I want us to get snow or rain. 

 

There is a block in the creek from the apple tree.  One of the large dead branches fell down across the creek and this is forming a natural dam.  All the little branches and leaves and twigs just pack together and form a watertight barrier.  In the summer I am going to have to clear this out with the chain saw and tractor.  I can cut the branches up and snag them out of the creek with the tractor.  This is going to be an impressive dam if the creek doubles in water output. 

 

I found the remains of another chicken coop?  On the back hillside, down by the large apple tree the skeleton and wire frame from a coop was partially buried.  It was not very big maybe 12 square feet.  I found it when I was making a scrap pile.  Now that I think of it there was a lot of loose metal laying around.  I wonder if there was not an old burn pile there at one time and someone was burning the wood out of the coop?  I bet that was the reason for its location.  I now have another metal pile that will need to be picked up.  There is one down pas the cattails on the lower pasture also.  It is a lot easier to find piles of metal than individual pieces in the summer when the grass is actively growing. 

 

I had to give the dog a bath when we went in, so he is currently sulking up on the breeze porch.  He can pretend he is lord of all that is visible and snub me at the same time, double points.