Water

In the desert sun is the enemy. Here, it's water.

At some point this spring a highly saturated chunk of our bluff land sloughed down to the lower level of the property. Heavy snowmelt has turned some areas into sloppy bottomless pits of soil and clay. We made the mistake of walking along Mud Bay yesterday where runoff plus seawater has turned the world to muck. Tag's rear end sank into a mud pit so deep he couldn't get out, that happening one day after diagnosis of a cruciate ligament problem in his knee. I was able to pull him out from a solid spot but he is really hurting today. No more walks on that beach until our world dries out a little.

Anyway, back to the bluff. We are looking at a very expensive solution to the ground water problem, but with all the water draining our direction from the upper bluff we have to do something to stabilize our property. An eight foot deep French drain will have to be dug along the north and west lines of our lot, diverting all the water collected to the lower level where there is a boggy area now. That should dry out the upper shelf, reduce the sloughing and maintain the stability of our building foundations. Maybe the extreme amount of precipitation that fell this winter was an anomaly, but we're thinking weather extremes are becoming more the norm than the exception so might as well prepare.

And since we're spending a small fortune for all that earthwork we're thinking we might as well put in a new septic system while everything is dug up. We're still hooked to the original crib that was put in years ago. It's probably functioning because we aren't here full time and we have some of the gray water diverted so it isn't being overwhelmed with water. It's going to collapse one of these days though, and no bank will loan on this place without a proper septic should we decide to sell. Might as well do the work now and enjoy the benefits. But I think Bob is going to have to go to work to help cover the costs. On top of all this, we have to get siding up on the garage this summer or risk damaging what we've already built.

In the meantime I'm doing a Dry Dance to keep the rain away.