Inching Forward

I think I’ll start posting some of Laura’s photos when I don’t have time to write anything. The Ark is on the verge of becoming habitable, and I’m feeling motivated to get it finished.

On Saturday, Mundo and his crew came out and drove the well at the beeyard. It’s a productive well – as one would expect twenty feet from the river – but even better, the water tastes surprisingly good. We might even be able to irrigate with it. We’ll have to get it tested for salinity and dissolved minerals to make sure.

Last week the Highway Department reamed out North Arroyo with a Bobcat (a tiny loader), and built up the berm a little bit. A higher berm always makes me feel safer. The district foreman made it his personal project to straighten out a kink in South Arroyo. Everybody agrees a straight shot to the river would optimize the flow down the arroyo... but the question is, how to do it? Last summer South Arroyo ran extremely hard one night, blowing out sand and sediment, and lowering the bed of the arroyo farther than I’ve ever seen it in 35 years. This is good, but means that, even after drying out all winter, the bed of the arroyo, being closer to the water table, is still very soft just beneath the surface. The foreman decided to have the Bobcat haul multiple loads of rocks to provide a bit of solidity, but it got stuck anyway. So they had to bring in a big loader to pull out the Bobcat. Quite a little project. All in a day’s work for these guys.

More homestead happenings to follow, no doubt, as well as more of Laura’s photos.