Spring! And Cuba!

Spring seems to be settling in here finally. With no frost at night, odd for so early, much of the snow is melted other than where it has been piled. In the country side, a winter's worth of road clearing results in miles of lengths of ice which can take into May to completely melt. Melt water runs along these ice channels in the ditches, often flooding across the road completely.



Since our farm lies along the edge of a large marsh-lake, much local runoff makes its way to the lake via our property. If the County does its job and opens a channel to the road allowance, much of this water could run straight down the road allowance ditch and into the lake. As this picture shows, the County rarely does its job, so Dad has been out with his tractor, trying to open it from the other end.




So for as long as I can remember, spring has meant a yard full of water. And since the new(er) house went in 15 or so years ago, this flooding often comes dangerously close to flooding the septic tank.




This year, nature selected a slightly different path to reach the partial creek that runs through our yard.






Years of this spring flooding has carved a partial ditch through our yard, but the ends of the ditch are both flat and the run off water floods as the above picture shows. So for some time now I have been trying to convince my folks to rent a backhoe for a couple of days so that I could extend this runoff ditch at both ends. This would give us a lovely creek that runs through the yard in spring and after heavy rains, adding value to the property and doing much to remove the threat of spring flooding and having to rely on the county to clear the road allowance ditch. Mom and I have also been talking about trying to design a pool in the low part of the yard, where spring run off first enters our property from the roadside ditch.



Maybe I can convince them this year after the plumbing excavation is done. Just one more thing I'd like to do this year...and the list is long. Good thing its a 3 year list.

This does mean that I will likely be posting less often. Or maybe not. After all, its not like the world looks to be calming down any.

For the next week, however, posts will be very few as I am heading to Cuba tomorrow. My younger brother is getting married, and thanks to his lovely fossil fuel exploitation salary, the immediate family gets a lovely vacation out of the deal. As I have mentioned before, there is a bit of guilt in this for me...with so many who have lost everything, its just a little hard to reconcile a trip like this. But on the positive side, Cuba is a country that I very much want to see. I am hoping to get a chance to do some exploring and really get a first-hand look at how agrarian communities are set up there. Obviously I am also keen to have a look at all the urban agriculture for which Cuba is becoming famous. I'm quite excited to have this opportunity, and thankful to my brother for it. I will post upload pictures from the trip and post a link upon my return.

Peace and comfort to all.