Warm temperatures mean all the snow we’d accumulated is melting. The pond in the front yard crested the driveway and created a small stream over the top. The ten inch pipe under the drive is clogged, either with dirt or hopefully just ice. In my waders I went into about two and one half feet worth of ice water with my shovel and hoe. I dislodged a lot of ice from in front of the pipe but there’s a blockage right in the middle. I tried to use an 8′ long piece of wood but all I managed to do was get that stuck in the pipe, after hitting it into the blockage with a sledge-hammer. I guess I just need to let nature take its course, and try to clear out the pipe in the Spring.

We have a most wonderful stream running through the south meadow into the east meadow. If I had the money I’d re-grade the front yard to drain the water off of that, and then deepen the swale around the gum trees and finally deepen the vernal pond on the west side of the driveway – would be a great eco-system for frogs and other amphibians.

The south meadow. It doesn’t look like much of a drop but all the snow melt from the south side of our property, and all the adjacent properties flows through here in late winter. Pretty neat really.

The east meadow, all the water flows away as seen from here.

Water streams over the drive.

The pond overflowing the driveway.