The pipe that allows water to flow from the pond into the stream has been clogged for months – there’s a picture of the mess on my post of December 1 – but The Squire is simply not physically able to do the work. We’d asked his godson to come lend us a hand, but that was a no-go, so we finally prevailed on Local Grandson to come down to help.
Grandson and his nephew came down yesterday morning (Saturday), and set to work. While Grandson and The Squire worked on opening the drain, Nephew and I got a tarp and some work gloves and began pulling smelly, muddy, leaves out of the “well head”. Messy work, but this nine-year old boy was in hog heaven! He even helped me drag the tarp to the woodpile, which was quite an operation! Both of our wells are spring fed and the water comes up so hard and fast that the well cannot contain it. Not too long after we moved in, The Squire dug a hole around the concrete sides of the well, lined it with cement, and put in pipes to direct the overflow to the pond. Because the “pit” is about 18 inches deep, leaves and muck build up over the winter, and we have to clear it out before summer. Yesterday was a bit on the cool side, and the ground was already so soggy that we didn’t bother to drag out the garden hose and wash out the pit, so it still looks disgusting. The small, squarish lid is just for access to the overflow pipes; the huge round lid covers the actual well.
While they were at it, The Squire and Grandson ran the snake through the pipe from the well head to the pond, and back the other way. Grandson also cleared the pipe from the second well, which we do not use or need, which will help keep the water from flowing over the yard. (We sincerely hope!) The water is flowing much better now, but it will take a month of Sundays to get the ground dry enough to mow. I’ve suggested we get a goat, but that suggestion did not meet with a favorable reply. Probably just as well. We went through this with our horse.
Once the pond was cleared, and we had the well head cleared, Nephew spent about a half an hour catching tadpoles. I had to remind him to be VERY careful; handling a tadpole is just about the same as picking up Jell-O. They are very, very soft and do not yet have bones to protect their innards. Catch and release is the name of the game.
Nephew and I drove up to return the electric snake, and then stopped to pick up some lunch. Some places don’t open until 11:00, so we ended up getting a huge pizza. We swung into Aldi’s to grab some bottles of soda, and I got snookered into buying a big bag of Goldfish for Nephew to snack on.
Which is still on the counter!
Grandson and The Squire also cut up and stacked a tree that had fallen during a storm. Grandson will come back later with his truck to collect some of the wood to burn in their firepit, so he got something out of the day.