I did some work in the feed pasture barn. I got another load of muck shoveled out. The upper half isn't as deep doo-doo. It must have flowed downhill and collected in the lower back corner. I also got the rack set up to hold the fence posts. Some are new but most of them are used.
I leveled the spot for the blocks.
The left side blocks were about 1-1/2 inches lower so I put a 2x6 on top to make them even.
They were dirty but should stay dry.
The t-posts are the ones we removed from the aisleway.
I took the generator, compressor and nailer down to do the fence wall tomorrow.
Last weekend while I was cleaning up the flood debris I saw a small blue SUV drive by several times. It was going slowly and would abruptly slow even more and stop. A woman got out of the passenger seat and walked a few steps then bent over and picked something up from the road. They did it four or five times. Every time stopping, getting out and picking something up. It was something small and I couldn't really see anything from where I was. They eventually drove off and that was it.
Then on Sunday Lisa said she saw a silver pickup truck behaving the same way. It would stop in the road, the driver got out to pick something up and then slowly drive away. The truck came back by a few times and did the same thing. So, I had to go down to investigate. I walked down the road to Eddie's driveway searching the roadway and the small area that passes for a shoulder in the country. Nothing. I thought maybe they were looking for lost coins or jewelry. Or maybe a new Pokémon Go like game had come out. I walked back on the opposite side of the road and still nothing. I saw a few pieces of trash and some bugs but nothing that would make someone stop.
Then the Silver truck approached. The driver was a woman in her 50s or 60s. She came from behind me and slowed as she got near. She stopped when she was along side me and got out. She said " Hi, you're right next to what I'm looking for!" She went a few steps and reached down to pick up a woolly worm.
I said, "Is that a woolly worm you just picked up?" "Yep, it's for the festival".
The Woolly Worm festival. I talked to her for a couple of minutes and Heather spoke to her later. The people are collecting woolly worms to use in the festival events. They have races and judging. The woolly worms can predict the weather based on their coloring. They collect them on country roads because they are easy to spot and there isn't any traffic.
It's true, I'm not kidding. Here's the link. woolly-worm-festival-2021 The mystery was solved. Here's a video of one that walked by the other day.
I moved the trailer out and started mucking out the barn in the feed pasture. It's dark and wet in there. When I get the drainage sorted out it should be able to dry out. It needs a window or a skylight, it's too dark.
I pushed the hay rack over so the trailer could sit on the gravel.
The area where the posts were is pretty much cleared.
You can see the mark on the bottom board where the muck was piled up to.
I got three heavy loads out. The pile on the left is all from today.
They saw me working in their favorite pasture. They were sure it was moving day. By "favorite" I mean whichever pasture they aren't in at the time.
I got some of the cleanup done from the flood. I was mostly concerned with the gates and the bridge grate so I still need to clear some of the fences.
The debris only filled the cart once.
The husks came off of the floating walnuts easily.
I got another cart full from the black gate and the mesh gate to the ram pasture.
After lunch I went back down and dug a drainage trench along the top of the sheep shed in the front pasture. I dug a weep hole in the back corner so it drains out but there was a river running through it during the flood rains.
Before.
You can see where it's still dark from the rain water.
It's about four inches and I put the dirt on the inside as a berm.
The berm.
I positioned it so the corral panels would fit.
I sloped the walls so the sheep wouldn't trip in it.
Since I was down there with shovels I moved over to the other barn and pulled out those old posts.
I dug them out and pulled them with the four wheeler.
There is some "organic" material that needs to be shoveled out. I'll work on that tomorrow. I'll need to pull the trailer out to get it all. The compost pile is going to get bigger.
We didn't see the flooding because it came at night. We heard the rain and thunder and the evidence was clear this morning that the creek was over its banks.
A while back Andy and Allen came over and cut down the crooked black walnut tree in the pond pasture. We split it and it's been sitting in one of the racks. It had been surrounded with clutter so I cleared it out and moved it. It's in the bunny port now. I'm going to move the empty rack over so I can hang stuff on that wall again.
I'll move the rack over by the splitter.
It will be easier to get to this winter.
Foggy yesterday
Just cloudy today
Cassie doesn't get much screen time since she doesn't go for walks.
I got the rest of the dirt hauled off. I put a couple more loads up by the gate. The last one went to fill the washout by the entrance of the sheep catch pen.
It's still choppy up there but the holes are getting filled.
The sheep came over in case it was a moving day.
Remember Bobby?
There were a few high spots in the swale so I fixed the flow. I went down after the rain this afternoon to see if it was flowing.
There was a large rock at the beginning of the swale that made the box blade skip. I dug it out and fixed the flow up there.
I used the dirt I dug out of the high spots to make a berm at the bottom. The blade hadn't cut as deep down there.
The last load went here. I capped it with the flat chunks from the floor of the shed.
We walked down just after it stopped raining.
You can see the river in the pasture.
The swale drained well. I didn't see any water running through the barn.
