Tag Archives: mud

Oh, Verdun!

15 Feb

Have you ever seen pictures of the mud in the trenches during the Battle of Verdun? Sticky, viscous mud that sucks at your boots and steals your work gloves. Men actually drowned in that mess.  That was pretty much the way the front yard looked today. The Squire and a young man from church who goes by the moniker “Jason the Mason” started at the well, and dug a little over thirty inches deep for ten feet until they finally found where the pipe had been repaired in 2007.

Which wasn’t leaking.

We have no idea where the leak is. At this point we are completely stymied.

In other news, The Squire had to remove the top from the well to locate the outlet, so they knew how deep to dig, and discovered there are a LOT of fine, hair-like tree roots in there. Isn’t that a revolting development?

We also found another spring in the front yard, bubbling up near where the walk meets the drive, at the top of the hill. Other people have springs at the bottom of their yards. Only the Rice Paddy gets them halfway up the hill.  Jack and Jill went up the hill, and so, apparently, will we.

My mum often remarked that she did not want to be buried at sea. “I’ve had so many water problems in my life, that would be the ultimate insult.” I know ‘zactly how she felt!

Oh! And we have a mosquito in the house. It got up to 65°F today, and apparently that was all that critter needed. Argh! We also have ants again; the rain and warm weather have awakened them.  Well, it’s supposed to go back down to the lower 40s tomorrow and snow again on Sunday.

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The Water is Rising!

8 Dec

Although the are Some People in High Places who claim not to accept climate change, those of us who live in less rarified places know it for a fact.

My cousin has a sea wall around his home and the water has risen quite a bit since he had the place built. When I take Blazer for a walk in the park, I can see the river encroaching farther up the boat ramps. But mostly, we notice it here at the Rice Paddy. This place has always been a bit of a swamp, but it has gotten progressively worse. By road, we live about 5 miles from the bay, but as the crow flies it’s only a bit over a mile. While there are some valleys to be raised up, and mountains to be laid low between us and the Chesapeake, we are essentially at sea level here.

And we can tell.

Although the ground has always had damp spots – oh, heck! wet spots! – we now have more, and worse. Where once the spring outside the den window only ran in wet weather, now it runs all the time. All the ground around the front porch is soft and squishy – a sort of grab-your-boots- and-pull-them-off-your-feet mud.  It’s really bad when you need waders just to mow the lawn!  Y’know, there’s just a limit to how large a pond we can dig.

We have finally accepted the inevitability of having to move; we hoped to have time to dawdle a bit, but the entire place is beginning to sink into the mire.

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