It was raining heavily when Andy came down Friday afternoon, so there was a lot to do on the road yesterday.
He had already arranged for Orlando and Ron to work on the road this weekend, so he got up at 5 am to go up to watch the progress.
They’ll work on it some more today. Unfortunately another storm is supposed to start coming in tonight, and there’s a possibility of “heavy flooding in the burn-scar areas.” Oops. Please keep your fingers crossed for us.
I keep saying, “We’re all a bunch of nuts.” Do you think Andy and I are crazier than most? Our feelings won’t be hurt if you say yes.
Would the guys consider building a new road, from scratch somewhere else – even it means taking a detour 🙂
I hope the rains don’t cause more problems. Keeping up with it seems smart to me. Letting it get away from you might result in more work and expenses in the future. Road building can be quite expensive, so taking care of what you’ve got is prudent.
No you are not crazier than the rest of us. Seems crazy to be rebuilding the road after every big rain. But you have to be able to get to your crazy placed cottage which was necessary because you own the land. Mother Nature is the boss. “You can’t fight Mother Nature.” But we do & look what it’s done to the world with our global warming. FIGHT ON!
My garden soil was mostly tufa rock. Tom sledge hammered it out & I brought in black dirt from the woods. (When I see your loose black dirt on the road I say that’s what I needed.) I can name 10 wild animals that ate up our garden. You can’t beat Mother Nature but we try anyway. 😀
i don’t think you’re crazy! but bhb has a point. she will always win. it’s just the way.
to stop that here … because it’s so long between rains and when it comes it usually is a deluge so much fast run-off…
thy use BIG BIG BIG rocks all around those culverts. it works.
i don’t know what it would cost you… but couldn’t cost more than constantly moving the earth around! you might check in your area. and it’s quite attractive too!
and guess what…
i awoke last night to SOFT gentle rain coming down. it’s softly rained off and on all day here. unbelievably happy! the first day of my retreat vacation! a celebration! i’ve already been out in it with flipflops and wet feet. i love it. and still to be maybe tomorrow.
i’ll keep good thoughts about your rain stopping though.
do check on the rocks on the web… at other culverts. it seems to be a “state” solution on highway areas. prettier and more natural than cement. ok. this is wayyyy too long.
Cathy,
Unfortunately years ago the Forest Service closed the road we used to use and built this one instead. We knew at the time it would be a maintenance nightmare, but we weren’t given a choice. They have since abandoned it, but it’s the only way into our property.
Mike,
That’s what we were thinking. Unfortunately a lot of the work they did this weekend was already undone by a short rain (1/3 inch in 20 minutes) this afternoon. If a heavy downpour happens the road may be washed out. We’ll just have to see. My guess is I’ll get a blog post or two out of it.
bikehikebabe,
😀 Agreed. Peter Mayle, in Encore Provence says he would never have a garden because
tammy,
Actually they had some boulders 3 feet in diameter diverting the water into one culvert. They got washed away this afternoon. The water also washed away the few feet of dirt covering the culvert:
You can see how high the road was— it was at the level of the bottom of the bushes.
The problem is this part of the road is steep, and it’s on the side of a very steep hill. Again, a maintenance nightmare.
WOW. water running strongly enough to wash away boulders. but then i watched the mud slide outside manitou springs in
colorado… nothing more powerful than moving water i guess.
i so wish this didn’t have to happen on your beautiful site.
you went through enough with the fire! i wonder if you could lay down that film that’s biodegradable and filled with hay or seed or something. oh what a problem you have.
i know you’ll surely keep us posted. i’ll be thinking of you.
tammy,
This culvert isn’t on our site, it’s on another road going to it. The picture of the culvert above is over a mile by road to the cottage. Andy has planted some seeds on the part of our half-mile driveway with the steepest sides.
If he and Beate and Tim have to start walking in from the part of the road that isn’t threatened, it will be about 2.2 miles each way. I think I need to draw a map. It’s complicated.
I guess that depends on what the others are doing!
I don´t have a website. I live in a huge contaminated city. But ——–I can go to the beach, see archeological ruins, and listen to famous orchestras and see famous ballets. Compensation. And work at a famous university. No one retires.
Cute dog….
That’s quite a different lifestyle than ours!
On the contrary, I admire both of you. This kind of activity is not new to me coming as I do from a farming stock. Annual maintenance of some sort on the land and approach roads are normal farming activity and those farmers who do not indulge in that, loose the next season.
Rummuser,
Thanks!