A quickie little project for D&L turned out quite a bit more difficult than expected. I think it might have been easier if I’d gotten in there before the mud dried, though it certainly would have been messier…
A corner of their property happens to border the wash downstream of where two big branches come together. So what seems a very impressive flood upstream at my place can be positively cataclysmic at the low end of theirs. In this case the wash overran its banks by damn near 50 yards, not only flooding their low meadow but apparently doing so at considerable velocity.
The damage done to their 4-strand fence was surprisingly minor, but the first step toward setting it right was to dig all the interwoven driftwood and mud out of the wire. That turned out to be fairly hard work, and after all his health problems of the past few years D wouldn’t be up to it. So, looking for something for Tobie and me to do with ourselves this afternoon anyway, we snuck in and got it done. D and I will be able to straighten up the fenceposts together easily enough now.
It’s not entirely out of the goodness of my heart: I’m going to need to borrow his tractor to fix my driveway once I’m (somewhat) sure the wash isn’t going to flood anymore for the year. So this isn’t paying karma so much as swapping favors.
I assume that picture is just a sample of the larger mess. Did you recover any firewood in the process?
Yeah, the mess went past those trees in the background. And no, only a very little. Most of what was caught in the fence and entombed in mud was just foliage.
Intricate web of favors. But whatever works. Good luck fixing your driveway.
That looks like a heck of a mess. When you and D straighten the posts, I’m hoping that you will be able to use D’s tractor for the muscle power.