Monday, February 8, 2010

Land of a Thousand Lakes


No, not Minnesota, but Sweet Bay Farm and surrounding areas. At the present time we have a swollen creek and small lakes and ponds everywhere.

The neighbors have a little fishing pond just out of sight behind the trees to the right in this picture; the banks of the pond got washed out in Hurricane Floyd, so every time we get rain the lower part of their horse pasture goes under water. This is only a very small part of the neighbor's horse pasture; it goes up a steep hill and extends a few hundred years to the neighbor's house.


We got a ton of rain on Friday, so much so that the creek gauge about 15 miles from us got up to almost 10 feet on Saturday evening. By Sunday evening the swell had reached us. I took this picture at the end of the shelter paddock at 8 o'clock this morning. This is looking down the grass road that winds down to the creek. Everything past the shelter paddock is in the floodway.


The shelter paddock itself is dry; the water level would need to be at least 3 feet higher for this paddock to go under. Usually we need at least 8" of rain at once (and upstream) in order to get a flood of that magnitude, where the water comes up beyond the floodway and covers everything.


The area by the gate of the electric tape paddock was under water when we went to bring up the horses last night.




There is a drainage slough between the two pastures.



The low parts of this paddock are under water too.


The horses were acting freaked out by the ice skating crows, and by what sounded like a bobcat fight in the neighbor's woods (my own cats were safe sleeping on the back porch), although not freaked out enough to forgo rolling in the mud.


Ice in the ditch next to the horse pasture. Typically the water is only a third that high.


The water comes up fast, but it goes down fast too. By 11 am the water had already drained away from around the gate.


In this picture you can see how much the water between the two pastures has gone down. The swell will probably be gone by tomorrow morning, which is a good thing because we're expecting more rain.


In the spirit of helping to highlight other blogs, I offer Cake Wrecks. It's not a gardening blog and doesn't need any promotion but it's freakin hilarious. I found it through Dreamybee's blog Subliminal Intervention. Dreambee lives in Hawaii and posts pictures of beautiful tropical plants and flowers, so going to her blog is like going on a mini-vacation. :)


32 comments:

  1. Do you ever get thrush with the horses? I use to be very "horsey". I always called horses my drug of choice. But after seeing these photos.....I'm reminded of all the crap that comes with the cream.

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  2. SweetBay,
    Looks like you got more rain than we did! Those photos are impressive, sure you have seen much worse many times.

    Our pond is about a foot from the top of the drain pipe, the last time it overflowed the pipe after Hurricane Bob.

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  3. Yes, Randy, this is pretty minor. The worst I've seen, in order, is after Fran, Alberto, and Floyd.

    TGG, the horse's feet are fine, in spite of how wet everything is. If the soles start getting too soft I hit them with Durasole, and every once in a while I put White Lightning (Clorox-based gel) on the sulcus if it starts getting too mushy. We trim the horse's feet ourselves (had to, otherwise they were going to end up as permanent pasture ornaments), so no worries at this point about pulled shoes.

    As far as the flooding, we have a paddock behind the house that the horses go into every night that's out of the floodplain.

    What type of horses did you have?

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  4. I've done it all, from fox hunting to dressage.

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  5. A lot of the rivers west of here that drain into Albemarle Sound were to crest today. If we get any more rain, snow or other - I am not sure where it will go. A spell of warm dry days would be most welcome.

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  6. We had some coastal flooding this weekend. I am getting tired of all this. The muddy ground is just getting torn up and the dogs track it in.
    I like Cake Wrecks, have had it on my sidebar for a little while. My daughter and I enjoy it.

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  7. Wow, that is a lot of water in a short time. Glad to see it draining away. I'm sure all those mature trees around there just love it :)

    (Hope you get a little sunshine soon, tho'!)

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  8. BTW: Cake Wrecks is making me laugh so much it hurts!

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  9. Actually, MN is land of the 10,000 lakes! :) Horses roll in mud? Really? I need photographic evidence.

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  10. Hi SB~~ I love your photos. The setting looks so serene and quiet.

    I'll check on the blogs you recommend.

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  11. Monica, didn't you see the pony in the background?? It's true about MN, but there's only about a thousand lakes on my place, for which I am grateful.

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  12. Just as well your home is on high ground.
    Ours is too, and I am grateful, as the Thames flood meadows below us are all under water.

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  13. Hi Sweetbay

    So you got all the rain from THE storm that dumped two feet of snow further north. It was on the news here.

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  14. At least you have good drainage. I always find it very unnerving the way water spreads so fast across a flat area, no matter how large. Aerial pictures of floods are very intimidating.

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  15. You have a beautiful farm~~Strange weather we are all having! I checked~our total 2009 rainfall was 10 inches above the average. Looks like 2010 will be another Southeast record breaker. gail

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  16. Gosh reading your post and seeing your great photos... then reading your comments ... which I do not do enough... makes me so anxious about what is coming with climate change! I am not certain about how rising oceans affect rivers and tributaries... but surely they will rise too. Meanwhile most of our leaders keep their heads in the sand... or I should say oil and coal. I am so glad you have good drainage Sweet bay. I always love seeing your lovely landscapes and horses!

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  17. Hello,

    I would imagine that all the rain would mean that you will have a lot of beautiful green grass growing soon...We are dealing with a lot of rain as well (at least it is a lot by Arizona standards :^)

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  18. I feel your pain with all this rain! At least we dont have horse's to deal with in our back yard. Our back is taking the most punch from the rains. Our neighbor’s horse pasture is fine as it is hilly so the rain drains properly. Good Luck as more wet stuff is on the way…

    Your blue birds seem to be much bluer then our birds. Plus, we dont see ours much during the winter months. They must go elsewhere for snacks then return to nest and call our yard home in the spring and summer months. Great pictures of them girl…

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  19. Hard to keep the grass going in there. Horses walking on swampy grass is a mess.
    Marnie

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  20. I'm guessing this must be the rainiest season there or is this something you deal with all year? It's amazing how much water comes up. Glad it's on it's way back down again and hopefully you won't get much more rain this next time.

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  21. Our pond is at its highest this year. My yard is nothing but mush. I am so ready for the ground to dry out so that I can go outside and dig:)

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  22. Thank you for your comments everyone.

    I'm glad development has slowed down around here, personally. Too much rampant unplanned growth, too many arrogant contractors, and development wouldn't have helped the state of Middle Creek. The water has been rising and falling rapidly for many years according to my 45-year-old neighbor, who grew up here, and it doesn't need to rise any faster.

    Yes, all of this rain will mean a lot of deep moisture -- if we have a dry summer it will take a long time for everything to dry up. It's kind of a pain right now though -- I get wet, the horses don't like it, hay gets wasted, and it's hard to lug the wheelbarrow around.

    Skeeter, the birds really are that blue. It's amazing. The water went back down, as it usually does, before the current rain hit. Anyway, it would take a *lot* of rain to make the water go any higher. When we get a swell like that it's accumulated rainfall from a large area.

    The grass is fine, except in the really low spots. The turf in the pastures is over 11 years old now (a mix of fungus-free fescue and bermudagrass) and holds up well with just two horses.

    The creek doesn't go up to 10 feet every year. I think after Alberto (and the water got up to at least 14' that time) was the last time the water got that high.

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  23. I'm glad you are enjoying the Cake Wrecks site-I can always count on them for a good laugh! Thanks for the kind words about my blog! I love my tropical flowers and plants, but I am envious of all the space you have! :)

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  24. So much water and it has to go somewhere-just not in your house! I think it's pretty though. I'll check out Cakewalks when I have more time. I'm on my way out now though.

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  25. Oops, I meant Cake Wrecks. Very neat! Those frog cakes are something.

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  26. Had to laugh at your observation about rolling in the mud. I spent about an hour last week grooming every inch of Bella. She looked so pretty when I was done. Then she promptly searched out a thick spot of mud and poo and rolled to her hearts content! :)

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  27. At least no drought, right?!! All the moisture has to be helping the water tables a lot, whether it's snow or rain. I bet things will really pop up with the first warm weather you have now.

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  28. Don't ya just hate when this happens? I know we get enough flooding around here. We're fairly safe from it up here on the hill and have only had a few things get ruined because of flooding but my heart really goes out to those that lose everything including livestock. Especially the last couple of years when we had it 2 years in a row. Those people were barely recovered when they got hit again. Thank goodness this year has been mild.

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  29. What a winter this has been, Sweet Bay! Rain and more rain, snow, more snow, cold, winds, barely any sunny days and no warmth to speak of. Thank goodness your land drain well so that the water disappears fairly quickly. I do want to say that seeing your bluebirds did my heart so much good, like a blast of warmth and happiness. Your photos of them are spectacular, thanks so much!
    Frances

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  30. The Land of thousend Lakes I thought I would find in Finland, but obviosley I can find it in different places...
    Loveley!
    Birgitta

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  31. Goodness, you have rain and we have snow. I'm not sure which is worse. I hope the precipitation for all of us quits very soon.

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  32. I'm always in awe of your wide-open spaces....even when some of it is under water.

    donna

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