Mercy drops round us are falling... an update, Part I posted 7/20/2008 1:57:19 PM | 8 kudos what's this?     report abuse tagged: life, rain, gratitude

redtigr

It's been two weeks since I wrote about my parched land and subsequent troubles. That Fourth of July weekend was my lowest point in many years. Jentoblues said it so well: "...how a few extra challenges can totally upset our equilibrium sending we who had been so carefully holding ourselves together, plummeting off the edge." Actually, I didn’t plummet to that low spot – but rather slid.... grasping for purchase all the while, and finally grasping at straws...

Way before the pump seized up, the drought was making life difficult.

As paid work dwindled nearly to a standstill, I’d had time to labor on projects around my farm. In exchange for pasturing her horses, my friend Carol often purchases materials and helps me do improvements. For a 125' x 70' oval riding arena adjacent to the barn, we needed approx. 50 posts set three feet deep, eight feet apart. We took turns drilling postholes one very hot Sunday. At first everything went splendidly. The auger bit into the earth for the first six or eight holes, hitting red clay at about 8 – 12 inches. We "cleaned" the holes by quickly raising the auger to shed away soil and clay and then set and tamped in each post.

When we moved to the opposite end of the oval, the trouble started. The ground there was hard as cement, and when disturbed, it turned into a miasma of sand and grit. The auger spun at a depth of about six inches until its tapered point seemed to smoke. After several tries, I examined the cutting blades to find that the edges were worn away, and we were, in effect, just stirring the dirt on the surface. The John Deere dealership was closed until Monday, so we tried carrying buckets of water to the started holes. The ground was so hard the water just sat there, and I feared damaging the auger if we continued.

With no rain all week, the following Sunday we tried again with new blades and an extra 150 feet of garden hose to avoid carrying water. The high was predicted to be (><) 100F, but when something needs to be done, you do it when you have the time. We sweated and sunburned and consumed liter after liter of Gatorade and H20, and made our way slowly around the oval.

When using an auger mounted on a tractor, you have to turn all the way around in the seat to keep watch and control the mechanism. In that twisted position and squinting through sweat in bright sunlight, I thought I saw something white in the red clay as I pulled the auger to clean it. Probably a root thought I, as I lowered the mechanism and turned for a second to check the rpms.

Suddenly I felt the shock of cold water spray across my back! At the same moment Carol yelled: “You hit water!!” and for a millisecond my heart leapt as I pictured my very own spring! Reality thundered back as I recalled the something white in the clay. I’d hit the very water line we had so carefully planned to avoid. It was over thirty feet from where my ex had marked its path. I wondered if he’d done that on purpose...

To stop the geyser, the water supply to the horses had to be shut off. Then we had to bail out the water and dig out enough pipe to attempt a repair. For over two hours I lay on the ground amidst thirsty but still sadistic fire ants, trying to fix that damn thing. When my fourth attempt failed and I ran out of couplings, I said “enough” and headed for a shower. Luckily I’d filled the horses’ troughs earlier that day. The next morning, armed with the proper compression fittings, I replaced the leaking section in less than 20 minutes. I had a few days’ work so the arena had to wait.

continued in Part II...

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Blogs by redtigr: Dear Matchdoctor: Hearing voices... Gifting admonition for the gents... Mercy drops round us are falling... an update, Part II Mercy drops round us are falling... an update, Part I Why we are in such a mess... How Dry I Am... The Little Red Roan, Revisited On Penning A Poem (for Unionman) New people... Comfort Zones and Danger Zones and Zoning in... To reap the whirlwind... In the South, February is April... "Forever is composed of nows" The real thing... I, for one, am not from Venus... Superpowers ...and supersculpture... email exposure... the tar pool... Let the rain come down on me.. That Little Red Roan... I seek... Illustrating a blog... November 9, 2007... a blog about life, without rancor Sunday morning... early.