A Bit Of A Problem . . .

By day's end after the driveway had been finished, the GilGuy and I were taking in the finished product.  I was thrilled!  Mesmerized by it's pristine beauty (as far as roads go), I carried on and on about it . . . but Gil was looking over the edge where the drive meets the stream bed.

"This isn't good."  he said, in his conversational manner of assessing a situation.

"What do you mean?" I replied, in a state of non-committal disbelief.

"See this side of the culvert?  It's two inches higher than the upstream side."

Ugh.

He was right.

About that time, the man who had created the driveway arrived, and we begin a hearty conversation about the state of the culverts.  

"They'll settle."  he assured us.

It made sense, his lengthy explanation of how the culverts would respond to traffic ~ but, rain was on the way, which would be the true test of the virtue of the placement of the new waterway.

Rain it did, while we were away for several days.  Our very first stop upon returning home was the driveway.  The property owner next to us, was outside talking to the property owner on the other side of us.  Sure enough, minor flooding had occurred, and we knew we had to begin repairs immediately.

Water was flowing through the pipe system, however, it took the water table rising to make it do so.  Once the water table was lowered, we'd be back to the same issue.

A full discussion, and a solution was negotiated with the property owner, which set us in motion toward a fix within the next few weeks.  On the way home, however, the GilGuy (aka McGilver) hit upon a temporary aid.  Suddenly, our first day home was planned, and we were on tap for some waterworks of our own!

His plan?  Siphon water through and beyond the height of the barrier, until we could get to the digging out of the culverts and repositioning thereof.

It was cold and windy as we set out.  All bundled, but ready for anything, our first task was to get the temporary hose through the culverts.

Gil on one side, I on the other, each of us up to our knees in water . . . Israel was the go between, handing us tools as needed, and clipping thorn brush behind me as I maneuvered the new channel.  Starting a water flow would be challenging, as we weren't dealing with a simple irrigation tube, but a full length of hose.  Once again, Gil and I were faced with meandering his way/her way ideas.  

Keller?  Keller was in charge of the safety battalion, keeping watch with his handy "gun" and "killing" every lizard which attempted to foil our project!  LOL

Soon, a request to move downstream was given to me, and I began to turn . . . only to find my boot stuck, and within seconds, myself in the water . . . covered with SPIDERS!  :eek!:  I'd landed near or on a momma spider with babies . . .  :shudder:  and I was wet, and muddy, and . . . I could feel I'd injured my foot and hand.  How on earth?

Ah well.  Such is the life.  Israel gave me a hand up and out, and we carried on, as if nothing had happened, with the exception of a tell-tale limp on my part.

The hose is securely in place and functioning, until such time we can get in there with a crew and reposition the culverts . . . perhaps this weekend?

As for me, I've no plans to return to the creek bed bottom.  One water initiation was enough for me!  LOL