Ready To Rise

We drove out to Moon Lake a few days ago.  With the high snowpack in the mountains beginning to melt, we expected the lake (actually a reservoir) to be full. 
Not so.  The water managers had let out as much water as possible, preparing for record amounts of water expected to flow down from the High Uintas as temperatures rise and melt the snow. 

Here's the reservoir on June 24, 2010, at close to full capacity.

 On the way, we saw this pretty elk cow grazing near the road. 

She must be used to cars passing.  She was curious, but not overly concerned about us.  I hope she develops a better sense of caution before hunting season.

Spring on the Home Front

The tulips are out.

Elm trees are spring green

Crabapples are blooming, and the aspens have leaves.

The apple trees are in full bloom.

And the cottonwood trees are sporting catkins, their form of flowers and method of pollination. Leaves will follow.

Grass and alfalfa are coming up in the pasture. Now if we could just get the darn irrigation system working, we could grow ourselves a hay crop.

You can see the wheel line in the background. Water is coming. Maybe this week...

Our Magician

We called Merlan the Ditch Rider for a dose of irrigation water today. (His name reminds one of the magician, doesn’t it? And he does bring us water, which is kind of magical in this semi-arid land) We asked for just an hour of water to hit the driest spots, but when the pipes came on, the flow seemed down. We checked with Merlan, who checked around and found that one user was a little slow on shutting down his system. Another was “priming his pipes” and turned on two hours early. A third fellow was just outright stealing, no real excuses. Merlan said “the guy must think I’m napping instead of out looking around.” Seems that everyone believes that it’s okay to try to cheat, and just hope you don’t get caught.

Anyway, appropriate adjustments will be made. From previous experience, we have found Merlan to be imminently fair. I’m sure he’s heard every excuse in the book, including “the dog ate my control valve” or some such. Even in the year we’ve been in the system, we’ve had previous incidents. One guy left his spigot on for a couple of extra hours. Another time someone, maybe the same guy as was guilty this time, was caught stealing. Seems to be much more commonplace than one would think. At least we’re not having range wars over water … yet. But I'll keep the ghost of John Wayne on speed dial just in case.

Anyway, we got some water on the dry spots today. Daisy had a good time racing through the puddles. No blown pipes this time. No gushers. Pretty boring, huh? And we still have enough water left for one more irrigation in September.

Next year we’re supposed to go to a pod system, which should be easier to monitor and a much more efficient use of our water. If everyone goes to pods or wheel lines, both more efficient than flooding, maybe there will be less motivation for “forgetting” or “priming” or outright theft.

Crisis Management

Now that we’re country folk with our own little “ranch,” we’re getting an education in water control. Who knew it was so complicated? After the first irrigation, we replaced all the missing gates on our gated pipe, and Steve was even able to take apart the overall off-on valve and fix it so that the system doesn’t leak too badly when it's supposed to be off. We got proximal control on the cracks and holes in the pipe. By trial and error, we figured out approximately how many gates produce a good flow. That is, if the water is full pressure. However, if someone along the line has forgotten to turn off a valve, or someone has turned one on without letting Merlan, our ditch rider, know about it, the flow is significantly diminished, as we also discovered by trial and error. I think we now have an idea what the flow should look like, and if it’s not right, we’ll call around for a water check right away.
This last irrigation, our third, produced yet another surprise. The end cap blew off of the section of pipe watering along the side of the house. The resulting geyser got our attention in a hurry. We attempted to slap the cap back on, but there was no iron stake holding it in place, so it wouldn’t stay. In a panic, we opened up valves on the east-west line to relieve the pressure, then rushed around to see how we could rig the cap on so it might be likely to stay put. We came up with a t-post, a driver, and an inch-thick plank. Steve drove the post and stuffed in the wood to hold the cap firmly in place.
That worked. The geyser shut off. Only then did we notice that Steve had driven a stake right next to the electric power box that’s out in the pasture. Whoops. Luckily, no one was electrocuted. The house power even still worked. All was well.
The pasture is well-watered. The grass has grown 3 feet tall. Too high, actually, for our 2 horses to have any chance of munching it all down. Next project: making hay. Fortunately, our neighbor offered to cut the hay for us, since we have no machinery. Unfortunately, our gates aren’t nearly wide enough. Next project, pulling and moving posts to allow a 14 foot gap for the haymaker.
We called Blue Stakes, too. Before driving any more posts, finding out where electric and gas lines run seems wise. Luck only holds out so long.
Another day on the farm, another lesson in crisis management.

Summer Timer

5-6-08
Our lawn grass was looking dry and listless. It was time to give it some care… in the form of regular watering, that is.
· Our old automatic sprinkler control box was kaput, so I fetched a new one from Lowe’s, a nifty 12 station Orbit Watermaster. I had replaced one before at our Vernal home, so I wasn’t too intimidated. The installation turned out to be relatively easy.
· My difficulty came in trying to get the water turned on (couldn’t seem to get the turner-on-er into the right slot), then in figuring out how to close all the valves that the sprinkler winterizer dude had left open. I kept having trouble with not enough pressure and with the zones staying on when the timer was off. Finally got that figured out and solved.
· After a little adjustment, we were in business! Our lawn feels loved now. All we have to do is sit back and watch it grow.
· And tune up the lawn mower while we’re resting…

More Day Labor

We had our first irrigation this past Saturday. I was under the mistaken impression that we just had to turn on the water to the gated pipe system when it was our turn to get the ditch water, and we’d be set.
Wrong.
First we had to repair the hole in the pipe where Boss stepped on it last fall. (After that mishap, we ran electric wire along the pipe to keep the horses off.) The pipe replacement wasn’t too difficult. Then we found out that we needed ditches and some furrows to reach the higher areas. Even though the pasture appears completely flat, it’s not, at least not as far as the water flow is concerned. Our neighbor dug some of the ditches with his backhoe, but the furrows were up to us.
The actual water flow went pretty well, except for a minor tsunami coming out of one of the pipe connections with a worn out gasket. Finally, exhausted and filthy, we had the whole pasture watered, after 9 and a half hours of monitoring. But… we couldn’t get the water turned off! Something was wrong with the seating of the valve. With the neighbor’s help (he was anxiously awaiting his own water turn) we managed to get it closed down.
Ah, the relief. However, three days later, the valve is gushing again. We’ll just have to accept the extra water until the group of neighbors who are on our system finish and the main pipe is shut down. Then we can fix the problem. We hope.
Ibis, some kind of gull, and other long-legged fishing type birds seem to follow the irrigation in the early spring. It’s fun to see the birds squabbling with each other over a worm. We also saw mallards in the flooded field, and possibly snowy egrets (not sure of the identification.) We’ve seen lots of goldfinches and other finches at our backyard feeder, and there are always plenty of water birds, robins, and various raptors back along the creek.