May, Water issues Continued.

May started off, as it usually does, exactly as April ended. WET!

They want me to drink, bathe and cook with this?!

But the fun didn't end there, after the first rain/snow fall the well became contaminated. The ground water is too saturated and all the crap from my flooded septic field and the annoying cow pasture behind us are overwhelming the well and the bad water is seeping in. We now have YELLOW water coming from the taps.

Phone calls and emails are flying and the disaster flood relief services might be able to look at it someday maybe. Till then have a glass on us!

On the flip side the thunderstorms and rainshowers did fill the rainwater barrel again so I at least have rainwater to wash in. I assembled sort of a still using an old pressure cooker, some hose, some tubing, and a instant-on hot water tank. It gives me "drinkable" water. The costs of buying bottled water for the dishes and coffee is far too much. At least the rainwater is clear.


The Yard Sale 

It used to read: "Repent the end is near"
But there was no money in that . 

We figured with the massive amount of garbage we have on the yard still, plus the stuff from former tenant,  parents,  and roommates,  we could make a penny or two selling some of it off.

Weekend one, We setup and scrambled to get the stuff from the sheds. We rewashed dishes that the squirrels and mice got into all winter long. unpacked  bags of old clothes, and stuff from goodness knows when. I spent all week cleaning up the yard, and moving some Trailer axles and plywood off the yard to make it look presentable.

Ready to hit the highway!

Saturday went well, considering that I had no advertising, I had one sign on the highway and one sign on the road, we had a dozen people here. Marianne wants to yard sell with prices from the 1970s where it is quarters and a buck. I tried to tell her a buck or two is today, what a quarter or two was back in the 70s. She still sold a box full of stuff for 4 bucks  NOT the 10 I had said the first three times. I am not angry just frustrated, Yes I want to get rid of the junk on the yard but we need to make a profit too.  I told her I am going to put a big sign up, "The asking price is $1,000,000 or best offer."

Sunday got canceled more because of the road flooding out by the "light" shower we had following the yard sale. Minor thunderstorm that knocked out the phone, the computers and the power. added about 4 to 6 inches of rain in spots on the yard and refilled the rain barrel for us. It was also Mothers day, so I  was in a particular mood that day. The forecast called for more rain all day but we didn't have anything, just some light clouds. Darn forecasters ruin my day! I should send them a bill!

Things got worse for allot of people in May

Tanner, came by our place late on the 10th, and was hungry. We called the Boy and told him. This was not unusual for the dog to come over, because the boy spent allot of time here during the winter. It was raining, still, and I figured the dog wanted to crash out in our shed, like he has done before. They said they would come and get him the next day, I got worried in the afternoon cause he had not eaten so I brought him out some leftover stew. Tanner cleaned the bowl out in a few minutes and came back for another helping. I figured he was out of food at home and the boy's dad was just drunk or something. His mom went to check on what was up.

When the ambulance showed up here, lost, I figured something bad had happened. I knew something bad was going on when the cops and the fire guy went booting it down our old back road like they were being chased by Satin himself. The Boy's dad died sometime between the 10th and 11th.

Man's Heart will fail him due to the troubles of the world.

( I don't know the exact place of this passage, and have had a dickens of a time trying to find it. So I am sorry if I don't have the verse numbers here for the quote, I think God will forgive me though, even if you all cannot.) =o)

The ambulance people came back later with food for the dog. They told us that the boy's dad was dead. The boy and his mom are, needless to say, complete emotional wrecks. Marianne called the boy the next day and we offered to sit the dog for however long was needed. She then went over to there place with another pot of stew, (not the stuff we fed the dog but a fresh pot). She told them we are at their disposal.

Tanner dog After getting out of the dog run. 

I got to make a dog run, which I later discovered that a adolescent Collie can get out of. I set up a shed with a nice bed, and food and clean water. We also cooked up some soup bones that the folks gave us, and Tanner chewed them down as fast as I could serve them up. We now have a happy, albeit somewhat lonely puppy on our hands.

I also had an opportunity to have my faith in people reaffirmed; after the funeral and internment Bill's relatives were over at Kyle's farm seeing how they would divvy up the assets.

The poor kid just lost his dad, the will said it all goes to the boy, and the vultures are trying to get in on the kill before the corpse is even cold! I wanted to take the whole lot out into the brush and have a 'hunting accident'! It makes my stomach turn just writing about it, let alone seeing it in action.

Other things happening, the floods are effecting allot of people all over the province. 

This was Yahoo's take on the flooding
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/manitoba-ranchers-move-cattle-floodwaters-rise-151017726.html

This was the take from Global Winnipeg on the flooding threatening to wash out people in Cottage country by the lake If the video plays for you. Their website doesn't always like me and my poky computer.
http://www.globalwinnipeg.com/video/index.html?releasePID=GBZ8s6bR1kgH_qZH56fH2FJZaq_rzkqF

Everyday there are more stories and I could fill this post with nothing but flood links.  But I won't.

We have had the army, and everyone else getting in on the act helping to sandbag wherever they can. I am on a waiting list if they need me.

As time went by the Government finally repaired the intentional breach in the dikes. They set up 'programs' to compensate the farmers, we were able to have the well tested for free,(which I can afford) and we are currently able to use the water as long as it is boiled for 2 minutes first. At least it is no longer YELLOW!

Ontario has flooding, Alberta has wildfires, and Flooding! The States have been hit by tornadoes, floods, and all sorts of fun.

May 21st 

The world was supposed to end. Since I am still here writing this and you here reading it, Guess what, they oopsed!  The world never ended, and we still have to get work done.

Wild Life

The Hustle and Bustle speed of things here

As you may have guessed I love it out here because of the abundance of life.

Pete, unfortunately decided to abandon the nest for some reason and the 3 eggs were destroyed by hail. We tried to save one that was not broken or full of holes, but I think the frost got to it. Pete has been visiting the yard, but now just for forage.

This fellow was applying
for the Job of tape measure

It is a little frog stone grey in color, He sat here for 4 days.

On the other side, the sparrows were fighting over who got the nest from last year. Since they were dive-bombing me and potentially injuring other people at the Yard Sale, I knocked down last years nest. They decided to move and rebuild another nest over the bedroom window.

Beaver from the swamp across the road.
Just to annoy Kyle I am thinking of calling him Justin!

Grass fire number one.

I have little blackbirds happilly eating things that I turned up in the garden or while mowing and burning the yard. The wet weather allowed me a couple of safe burns in some trouble spots from last year.

The little yellow guys are back again too!

Marianne has vowed to kill, on site, any dumb cow that goes and destroys her roses this year. I guess I need to fix the gate so it works, soon!


Last words

All in all life is slowly returning to normal. I am working about 14 hours a day on fixing the place up. Trying to come up with the startup capital to make this a working and profitable little farm. Kyle is starting to figure out how to best turn his farm into something workable, as of this writing he has 4 tractors, 3 trucks and a couple of other vehicles on the farm and none of them work. I will probably be helping him resurrect some of them this summer. The bill collectors and other vultures want something that we do not have and are unwilling to listen to reason.

I think it was a bill collector who returned to his original state!

I will be adding a page on here in the next little while detailing the house in Calgary and the life we left behind, and how people have been winning my love and adoration.

While tilling my garden patch I did actually make a little profit, I found a US 5 cent piece from 1891. It makes my mind run rampant thinking of ways it could have come to be there.

When it was minted it would be worth about a days wages for unskilled work, now it is worth about a cup of coffee. The coin and camera do not like each other so I was unable to get any usable pictures to post. So you just have to come see it in person.

Finally.

All worn out after a day of  helping me work outside.

Oh look now it is RAINING again!

An intense low pressure system will move across Southern Manitoba today bringing a total of 50 to 60 mm of rain to parts of Western and Central Manitoba. The rain will begin to taper off from the west in the evening.

April, The month of flooding.

April started out with a nice slow gradual snow melt.This kind of melt was the best possible kind for this province that we could have had.  For the last few months now the 'experts' have been saying the flooding this year will be worse than in 97. I found this video on YouTube. I think the song says exactly why we didn't have the kind of flooding mess they were calling for. Thank Goodness! Watch it then continue reading. 

Of course I have had this song in my head all month long now, as I worked on the headaches we have appearing in the yard. 

Me working on cleaning off, and out the drainage
ditch running through the front yard.

I began last month removing the snow from the yard one wheelbarrow full at a time. By the time it started melting I had removed enough to expose the drainage ditch. I then had to dig out all the debris that had collected in the ditch. The snow varied in depth from about 10 to 24 inches deep.

After almost a week of melting and shoveling and
Hauling the snow off the yard One Wheelbarrow at a time

There was allot of melting during the snow removal that allowed the snow pack to shrink. By the time I got the whole thing cleared off the cow pasture behind the house began to melt, I then had more minor flooding on the yard as it all ran through the drainage ditch I had just opened up.

The Yard beginning to show itself

Last Year The mid yard lake was not draining at all I had this giant pool of stagnant water festering on the front lawn for several months. Even with the drainage ditch running at full bore it still took a few days to empty.

Lake Artmore It gets any deeper I will need a lifeguard!

I found out also the cow pasture had flooded my septic field. The tank was full to the lid! Guess I just gained another summer project. Eventually the whole yard melted.... almost, then it snowed again! 

This is April right?! 

Other Flood fun! 

Marianne went into town for a appointment, on the way back she hit a pothole that wasn't there on the way out. The pothole tried to eat the back end of her car. She jarred herself quite seriously and was in pain for a week or so after.

The hole that wasn't there an hour ago. Notice the tire tracks?  

The road closed sign that appeared
while she was  in town,
 It was on the pothole on this side
of the road

The flooded field that overwhelmed
the culverts.

The ditches and fields on either side of the roadway were filled with water, I had to flag another soft spot just half a mile down the road from our place. Once again we were cut off for another few days while we waited for someone to fix the road.

This poor fellow's field entrance was flooding over the drive
as the culverts couldn't handle the amount of water flowing.

The ditches orverwhelmed

You would never believe that the
ditch is about 4 feet deep here. 

This would make a nice postcard, If it wasn't someones pasture.

 High Voltage and water a good combination?

More ditches further towards home

(sigh)

Another overwhelmed driveway.

Well the flooding was depressing enough. We continued to monitor the flood reports, the news and the weather. No more rain, with the exception of a few small isolated showers here. But apparently the US was getting smashed with tornadoes. The immediate threat to us was minor but it could produce some storm surges later on.

Signs of spring, aka Kritters `n Things

Never seen a rusty frog before. 

Spring is slowly showing its head, almost as if it is afraid of being seen. We have some frogs, snakes and birds. a few more squirrels and a couple of chipmunks. Bugs, Spiders and all sorts of other nasty things

Someone said let there be life and there was...  LOTS of it.

We took a walk down to the beaver dam and the minnows were everywhere. The road is flooded over and washing out in spots. So it will be even harder now to head down that way.

A road runnith through it  But don't tell the beavers that.

If you look close it is full of minnows

I don't know what kind of bug or grub it is but it looked cool.
Sort of like a half flattened oval shape on the cross section.
and about 1 inch long. If you know what it was
don't hesitate to post it in the comments.

We also encountered a Millipede (something I have not seen around for a long time). I didn't have the camera with us or I would have gotten a pic of him too. I found, on one walk, a leach that looked like a thin piece of wire, about a foot to 18 inches long. Don't get me wrong I detest bugs and things, But God made them and I find interesting ones cool.

This little guy was one of the first of the season.

Also we have this big mound of rock out in the back 40 that the garter snakes hibernate in. They can be found sunning themselves on the rocks all the time now. It is kinda cool to see about half a dozen snakes hiding in the rocks working on their tan.

Pete, or as they are commonly known as Killdeer 

Pete found the time to start nesting in my garden this year. Good thing is the spot they are nesting in is a spot I have no intention of tilling up for quite some time, as it is all rock like the other spot I have been using to build the driveway with.


As of this point they have now 3 eggs in the nest.

The first Egg 

April 19 2011

Today started out as any crappy April day should not. It was cold last night so I had to get the fire going before coffee. I look outside and there is a light dusting of snow on the ground. It is overcast and looking like it is going to make more snow. I got coffee ready grabbed a couple of cups and headed back to bed to snuggle up to a cranky and irritable wife. We griped and moaned about the usual issues, having no money and whatnot, it was looking like another lousy day stuck indoors fighting with uncooperative computer issues and idiots on facebook.

About 7am we decided to get going on the day and dragged our butts outta bed. An already crappy morning looking like it was going to go down hill from there. That is about when it ended...

I got another cuppa coffee, and the sun was peaking out, so I looked outside and the morning just looked like it may become alright. Marianne fired up her computer and was getting ready to work on her online job. I opened the front door and the most glorious morning I ever have had was waiting for me. I finished my coffee and got the camera and Marianne. We sat on the steps and enjoyed the morning together.

Robins in the morning frost.

This was my Facebook post after I came in and sat back down to work:

Just woke to the most undescribable perfect morning.
Coffee on the front steps.
Dozens of different birds singing chirping and dancing over the lawn.
A fresh crisp frost covering the grass,slowly melting and causing a light fog in the air above it.
The soft aroma of wood smoke from the fireplace inside.
Woodpeckers in the forest behind the house and geese and ducks circling over the flooded fields across the street.

More robins and other birds
(just ignore the garbage dump behind them.)

I wish I could have shared that morning with the world. After that nothing else mattered. I had a song in my heart and a bounce in my step all day. Sometimes God does remember that we need a little cheering up








Last Notes

The first wheelbarrow full of the spring.

At long last the snow and flooding finally melted and subsided, The final river crests are not expected for another week or so, but so far all appears to be ok.

I started working on the second layer of the driveway, again shoveling the gravel out of the "garden" one wheelbarrow full at a time.

I fixed up ol red and like I figured the head gasket was toast, I used a little RTV sealant and some love. The cylinder walls are scored quite badly but until I get a hone I cannot do anything about that. The battery will not hold enough of a charge to turn it over past compression more than three or four times, so I need another new battery or a bigger one, or both.

I have not worked over the tiller or little red yet, but I suspect they will also need maintenance.

PESTS!

Among the vermin that have also made the return to the inverted cow this year is mice, (so far still in the yard) flys (you name it I got it), Pesky rude insulting arrogant idiots on the internet, (it got so bad we had to contact the authorities about one). I cannot say more about this idiot because I was instructed to keep it quiet. Don't ask and they will not have to kill you. Ok not that bad but  well you know how they can be. and last but not least my least most favorite creature on the whole planet (yes even less than politicians but the election is next week)  Woodticks! Found my first bloodsucking parasite this evening just crawling through my chest hair. YUCK!!! Back to having a bath with tea tree oil every evening, spraying clothing down with tick spray and spraying up with the Watkins bug spray before going outside every morning again. Someone suggested Vinegar and water also works well for getting rid of the pests. but the yard burn is now getting underway soaked grass or not. Rake burn and repeat. (sigh) it never ends.

And last but not least ...

Oh look it is SNOWING AGAIN!