These endless storms .....

I worked like a dog today - burying 6" drain pipe. I use my trench cutter to cut the endless roots and rough out the trench. But it all has to be cleaned out with a trenching shovel. It's exhausting.

We got to where we installed the pipe. With a nice even grade. Wonderful. Sky had been clear as a bell. Hot as blazes. Lots of water, Gatorade. Dew rag and hat. Deep Woods Off. Gloves. Steel toe boots. Parasol .... ....

Well, before we are done .... it starts to rain. Blows up in a few minutes. Starts raising Cain. I try to button up and get the lower end off the 100 foot pipe low enough to drain. Storm just intensifies. I'm driven inside by the lightening in the area. Storm fades. I get a few pics of the system working. I'm pleased, soaked, and just beat. I head for the shower.

Before I can get there, the storm is back. Better post this much ...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2013 12:02AM by barnespneumatic.

So .....before I can get a shower -the storm is back, with a Vengeance. Lightening everywhere. Biblical rain. I look out a bedroom window - no water coming from the tube but a river flowing down the ditch. We had shoveled a bunch of dirt on top of the pipe, every 8-10 feet, to tack it in place. But the lightening and rain drove us away before we could backfill and compress.

And so .... the storm filled the ditch ... floated the pipe to the top ... and erroded backfill under the pipe. It will all have to be shoveled out again. Again.

Down here there is no time to finish anything between storms. And if you don't finish, nature reverts the area to the Jurassic Era, as soon as you turn your head ...

Lesson noted.

Gary

Well, dead silence usually means ..... "why in the heck is he doing THAT!"

I'm not rearranging my flower beds or installing my bird bath collection. The 100yard road back to our driveway is a "private road". That's one of those boxes that the realtor didn't bother to go over at settlement. That became clear when the county office told me that if we would bring the road up to county standards - they would then accept it and maintain it. They sent a fella around to discuss my problems - very punctual and polite. But it would cost about half the national debt to bring it up to county standards.
When it rains, about a million gallons of water run down the road to the lowest point before leveling out. I hear that the county raised the main road a few years ago which then made our access road slope down hill. Its only maybe 5 -10 degrees. Just enough to make all the water flow. It then exits into our yard. Floods the front terrace, and pours onto the house terrace. Its been a fight to deal with the road since we bought.
Previous owners had allowed the jungle to create a hedge row with an accompanying mount of roots and vines. We removed that mess. That removed the barrier -sort of a berm. And with the storms and rains we've been nearly washed out. People who have lived here 40 years say they've never seen this weather.
So, there's $500 plus of materials out there in the rain. Some fast setting concrete is trying. It has to be darned fast. Started raining again before I got it covered up.
That's why.
I'd rather be in the shop .....
Gary

mess that greeted after the storm yesterday late afternoon.

What you see will be a settlement box, and exit pipe. Now to be 2 exit 6" pipes to handle flow, and concrete apron in. Large in vent. Posts cut. Hinged top to remove sediment. Filter screen in. Yesterday's version was a Beta test - but not supposed to be a total wash within half an hour.

Not raining at present. Its waiting for me to show my head.

Well ... I'm talking to myself - but sometimes that's the best way to get a sensible answer. The concrete hardened without being damaged. I know everybody is breathing a sigh of relief.

Take the rest of the night off. I've got it.

Gary

I'm here Gary, feeling the pain......the projects that Mother Nature destroys effortlessly...
Global warming? I don't think so personally. Extremes of weather maybe.
Cheers
Neil

So I'm sure you got all permits ,DNR ,DEQ,EPA ,Army core of engineers? That water is tough stuff .I live in flood plane and you can't do any alterations without ALL agencies getting involved.But to the best of my limited knowledge I am able to move around any soil but can't introduce or remove any!!( subject to change without notice ).Looks Luke Kubota gettin a good workout too. You know that floating pipe thing is what happened under my house/ crawl space when the dikes blew out in refuge by my house flooding my neighborhood. Pvc joints cracked and it was a pain to repair. My crawl space has 2 exposed blocks high and each bearing wall / addition ro house has a few blocks knocked out to get into next room .It's like a maze of belly crawling and then back out to get needed supply . And did I mention still no insurance coverage ! 24yrs of payments and coverage started at carpeting . The Gov.and Prez did declare a disaster area and threw some coin at us but..... Only if you are a business .

Thanks
Kurt

Hi Kurt,
Hey, I was always impressed that you had CARPETED your craw space. Wattaguy.

Gary, maybe you should change direction from drainage and build a house boat. The way your luck has been lately with the weather, you would probably start a north Florida drought.

There, ya see ... a note of sanity in an otherwise crazy world. Great idea.

Golly Gary,

When you 'beta-test' one of your projects, you really go all-out!

Yeah Sean .... we had the Movie People in here with three firetrucks running 4" hoses .... no wait .... that was just a little quick SHOWER that tumbled boulders.

Now that it's done .... it probably won't rain for months. At least like that. It HAD been raining Monsoon style .... for SEVERAL WEEKS - daily. Everybody around here has told me they've never seen anything like it. But - THAT is exactly what you have to plan for .... to handle the stuff that tears things up. We lost probably 30 tons of soil off the back yard - down thru the woods. How do I know? Cause I had BOUGHT it and spread it with the tractor. You can't grow grass on it in between monsoon rains.

Sure was - it was in the plan. Right there under "Nature shall decide ..."

Sounds familiar, 'ol mother nature is one unforgiving...ahem..."witch".

I've moved over 40 tons of gravel in the last month, bought and paid for both with the checkbook and the aching back. Half of it has probably already migrated underneath the mud, but then again that's the point...I'm not slogging through the mud where the gravel now sits.

On the other hand, the grass is happy as all get out, lots of rain and lots of sunshine, it's growing like crazy.