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Because life is not all sunshine and wildflowers!

Rain and flooding at ridge Haven

I’m usually a skirt and straw hat kind of girl. That’s my preferred attire. Not today. Today, I donned blue jeans and knee boots, and topped it with a rubber raincoat. We have quite a mess!

It’s raining, it’s pouring!

Nobody’s snoring. All hands on deck to clear our driveway. Uh, what’s left of our driveway. I did not have to twist any arms to convince the boys to go clear drains. Strange, because it really is nasty out there. I think when they see something as useful, it’s kind of a man thing (men in training) to go conquer it! Fine with me!

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Really, they stayed gone for a long time, so I headed out to investigate. I don’t use this term often, but all I can say is, “Bless their hearts!” They are trying so hard, but as far as I can see, to no avail. There is just way too much water coming off our hill! The water is rushing faster than they can scoop, but they keep on anyway!

Digging out driveway in rain at ridge Haven

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I think the blurry shots are from rain on my lens.

Rain and flooding on driveway.
Our poor driveway.

Our driveway is toast! No, it’s sunk! We have fiddled with it ever since making it, but the writing on the wall is saying that we need to give it a complete overhaul. We have drains, but never dreamed that we would be getting as much rain this winter, and so our drains are overwhelmed. Our drains are only 4-6″, so we definitely need to dig out the bad areas and install some 12″ pipe.

Drains overflowing because of rain
Normally a narrow channel, we have overflow

If a picture is with a thousand words, then let’s consider this an 8000 word essay.

https://www.ridgehavenhomestead.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/img_3764.mov
Drainage off of hill
Water cachement area running like crazy!
Rain and flooding
A new creek running down old driveway from drainage pipe
Flooding at ridge Haven
Looking up our driveway at curve

After wrangling the drains and getting them going again, everyone was wet to the skin. It’s not really cold, but when you’re wet, you do feel cold. So, it was a comfort and relief to come into our dry RV, to find a hot cooked meal and hot tea. Our oldest son thoughtfully brewed us one of our favorites: Madagascar Vanilla Red. That really hit the spot.

Madagascar Vanilla Red tea
Soothing hot tea!

I hope that I will have some updates to post soon about our newly improved driveway, but in the meantime, every time it rains, just think of us, and say, “Bless their hearts!”

Cat sitting on boys lap

Hairball the cat snuggling.

If you want to see the more fair-weathered treasures at Ridge Haven, read this post about our Early Spring Wildflower Walk.

So…I’m curious! Who else is getting dumped on? What does your driveway look like? Are we the only ones struggling with mud and ruts everywhere?

Let me know! I would love to hear about your journey and your homestead struggles–small or big!

Leave me a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

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3 Replies

  1. We’ve had so much rain in our valley here that our basement was flooded yet again this winter. If we’d only rolled up the area rugs it wouldn’t have been so bad, but when they get wet……I worked on a trench along our driveway even though it is short as we get an enormous puddle at the end of our sidewalk. It was fun digging and seeing a bit of the wet stuff diverted. The hubby will be digging a more serious drainage system in the near future I hope.

What is your experience? 💜 I read every comment, and so many times I find that I gain encouragement from what’s shared. ❤️