6-6-11

Upside/Downside


On the upside, Questar natural gas came out today to *gasp* fix the orchard road that was cracking over the natural gas  pipeline.  I'm sure this was because "their pipe is safely buried at 10 ft. deep".  


All sarcasm aside - it was very nice to see them out there, taking care of a potentially hazardous situation - even if they did not "cause" the situation.  

A good friend assured me this afternoon that the orchard road was dry.  I laughed,
scoffed, made fun of her just a bit (sorry Brooke!) and said goodbye.

Just in time to answer a 2nd phone call from Charles Davenport - telling me that indeed,
the road was dry.  The water had been diverted so the gas company could fill some
of the holes that had developed over the pipeline. 

Marking showing areas that had sunk.

Yet another very clear showing that this water CAN BE TURNED OFF

The pathway that two canal companies have CHOSEN to create

changing property, ruining trees, eroding pipeline.....

CAN be diverted to other places.

Why isn't it?

The downside is - When I went downstairs to take some camping gear to the basement today, 

I noticed all types of cracking in the basement floor.

I took pictures, Christmas 2009 of the road freshly painted.  I have looked at them,
almost with a magnifying glass and don't see this type of cracking.


Hopefully, these cracks have been there, and not noticed,
because there has been no reason to notice them.
I guess I'll add something else to my watch list
figure out how to map them,
measure them,
reassure myself that they are not growing, widening....

Somehow, I feel like there is a monster in my basement!!!!!

Where Saturday brought water back to the orchard road, the warmer weather added to that water, and to the erosion of that road, on Sunday.  

The water changed from running mostly down the side of the road, to running over almost the entire road.  There are numerous cracks and holes in the road itself, and some parts seem very unstable for vehicles.

 Our most interesting find of the evening, was a FISH that was swimming down the road.  Guess we'd better be calling the road a stream now!

I also tried to take a look at the leaves on the trees - those sitting in water, compared to those not sitting in water.  I will be the first to admit, I am not a botanist, or tree specialist of any kind - but it does appear the leaves of the trees sitting in water are beginning to show signs of damage.  

The water is again over most of the orchard road.

Water coming from the flooded orchard

Signs of damage to the road - the long crack here is
started by a hole in the ground where water is running
underneath.

More cracking

I am glad she was brave enough to catch that fish.
I certainly would never have believed a story of a fish
swimming down the orchard road!!!

First berm - leading the water into the field 

Thought the moon was a nice touch

The last berm.   Still plenty of water headed here, and from here into a small ditch
in the field

As long as the water keeps coming, the road will continue to crack and sluff off. 

These are leaves that I picked off
of trees standing in water.  Keep in mind, it was
pretty dark.  I did not pick them with the intent
of showing the MOST damaged leaves.  

These pictures were of leaves whose trees were not sitting in the water.
I think we are seeing signs of the trees beginning to die.  

6-4-11

Warmer weather = more water

Just so you know - that was an awesome blog vacation.  That one day while there was no water on the orchard road.  Got so much done!  Ha ha.  I will say that when we went to look at the orchard road on Saturday, I was astonished to see water there again!  Had I not taken pictures on Friday of one solitary puddle, I never ever would have believed it!  

It seems that, as predicted, the warmer weather (we have been all the way to 84 degrees today) has brought more water.  I first noticed this morning, that the sound of water going over the waterfall this morning was much more intense than it has been since they attempted to repair the breached canal.  The orchard road proves that YES, there IS more water and YES, the orchard is already saturated and the water is going right to the road with no time spent seeping into the ground this time.  

Overnight, and with the warmer water, there is again water on the orchard road.  

This also means that there are more rows of trees again sitting in pools of water.

The first berm seems to head the water right into Dale's field.  It looks as if
along with managing the flow of the water, he is benefiting from some of it too!

The second berm was not taking much water.  It was heading water into the old ditch.

The final berm, also heading water into the small ditch.  It does
seem to be controlling the flow of the water.

Hopefully they will remember the time spent, the water played in, and that
once upon a time, mom did not complain about the mess!

Large cracks line the sides of the orchard road - over the natural gas pipeline

And finally, the sign has been removed.  It was funny (funnier when it said Greg's)
but Bob says maybe, just maybe, it will reappear in his garage
as a memento.

No water, no story!!!

I think it is at this point I say - if there is not a vast amount of water to worry about, there is probably no reason to update every night anymore!  

This is how much water was on the orchard road today:

Only a very small puddle of water remains on the road

The pooled water is now standing at row 30.  I feel as if time has gone back a week!

 

The large crack over the natural gas pipe remains and is pretty deep

I find it amazing that with a simple repair of a canal wall (only 75% repaired) time seems to have gone in reverse.  Why, oh why did someone not do this in the first place?

6-1-11

Here today, Gone tomorrow!

      When checking out the flood situation Monday night, I quite enjoyed taking pictures of my children enjoying the frigid water.  I did not think I would need the pictures.  However - yesterday, most of the water disappeared.  I thought I would use some of the kid pictures to show just how much water was running down the orchard road.

 

Yesterday morning, 5-31-11, Sherry Carrol, a neighbor to the north called to tell me that someone had been out working to repair the breached canal at 8:00 am.  I was not sure what she meant.  The kids and I took a tour and this is what I found:

You can see that the water has dramatically lessened.  The flattened grass
on the sides of the water marks the place the water WAS running.

The canal is now very full again

This is a picture of the water running into the canal, and the makeshift barrier
erected to stop the water?   Maybe 1/4 of the water.

A front view of the water coming from a very full canal, over the sandbag,
plastic wall.

We followed the water to the end of the canal, near Carrol's house.  Even with the
debris, the water was still flowing.
 

This is the canal/pipe that was near Fowers a month ago.  I stopped to take some
pictures of water on the grass.  The pipe in the background is the
one that now lays on top of the ground, the ditch covered.  

Someone said Mike, worried about the flooding, and the ditch overrunning piped
the canal himself.  Again - self sufficiency!

Our water hunt ended by Sheryl Fower's house.  I am guessing that from here, the water goes to five
corners, and then through town.



I guess at this point, I am baffled.  I don't understand why the canal next to us was ever breached - if what we are seeing now is -  the water going where it was intended to go?  It looks as if a little bit of pre planning, or less panic may have kept this situation from happening.  It looks like Genola will most likely get to foot the bill for a new culvert pipe,
as well as a very lengthy installation process.  Chris Johnson gets to deal with a man made lake and a very large trench
on his property.  The Fowers get to deal with a swath that has again been cut into
their orchard.  The farmer across the road from me gets to deal with dead trees, sitting in pools of water.
And all this time, the water could have gone where it was supposed to?

I guess we will wait and see what happens as the weather warms.
Let me leave you for tonight with a before and after picture.  Before was the orchard
road on Monday night.  The after was the orchard road
Tuesday night.  Truly baffling.

I am not trying to be ungrateful for the reprieve.  I am happy that the rapid flow of water has been
slowed.  I am just left wondering why it was not done right in the first place,
and if the water will continue on it's current path once the weather warms,
and the snow begins to melt.