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| "More were coming in on the creek." |
It’s been dry here in Roseau County. We haven’t had any rain for ... well, until supposedly Wednesday night, May 19th. But here in Palmville it was still dry at 9:30 pm; 9:49 pm; and 11:00 pm ... as dark clouds and lightning all went north of us. Even Roseau was getting rain so said the on-line weather sources. Everything here was anticipating a good soaking. Geese were in the yard with their goslings, more were coming in on the creek. Redwing blackbirds were noisily welcoming the non-existent rain; however the robins hung back; the skeptics they are.
And so it’s been for several weeks; the exact number of days I wasn’t ambitious enough to discover. The fire-conditions sign at Wannaska forestry now indicates EXTREME in big bold black letters against a red background, up from last week’s VERY HIGH danger alert.
If they weren’t forecasting rain, they were warning us of immediate fire danger on radio, TV, and on-line. Nobody even joked about it, things are so tinder dry here. Whenever we smell smoke, I take a drive toward the schoolhouse to see if I can see smoke, carrying my Indian-brand Smoke Chaser backpack style fire pump with me just-in-case, and of course my cellphone.
The trees in the yard and field need water badly. I can’t help the ones in the field, but the ones I’ve planted in the yard should be watered and the sooner the better. I was thinking of doing just that the other day, but using well-water isn’t feasible really. Several years ago we had a situation when we were watering trees, and the well couldn’t recover fast enough to meet demand. Despite the fact our well isn’t fifty-feet deep, it had never acted that way before, so this concerned us more than insuring the trees got sufficient water. We stopped watering altogether; the trees still survived.
But this spring, watering provoked me again especially as water levels in Mikinaak Creek seem high thanks to downstream beaver dams and the channel-deepening efforts made by the woodland habitat engineers. It was then I remembered the lift-pump that I had put in the box of the old Ford pickup I use for scrap storage, that I replaced with a new one.
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| I remembered an old lift pump I had laying around. |
“I should make sure that still works before I put in any time into this idea of mine, “ I remember thinking. “I’ll use the portable generator to power the lift pump to water trees in the yard using creek water via a garden hose.”
So I set to work, using one and a half-inch PVC, two-inch ABS plastic pipe, and some leftover fittings from another plumbing project. I tested the pump in a half-barrel filled with water -- and shot water several feet, excited now that my main drive was in working order. I figured that if we didn’t get the week of rain we were forecast, my pumping system may take care of both watering the trees and provide potential fire defense, should everything work as I hoped.
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| All the parts were salvaged from other projects |
The best thing about it, so far, is there was no immediate cash outlay for plumbing parts, as all my parts were salvaged from other projects. Plus, I remembered the location of the big two-inch plastic valve and 25-feet of 2-inch hose I bought over 30 years ago, when I used a gasoline-powered ‘trash pump’(dirty water pump) to do this very same thing. That pump went by way of Jerry Solom, when I gave it to him in lieu of cash for a welding job he did for me; “Good trade, eh.”
“Yeah, good trade; good memory Jerry.”
Never throw anything away and you’ll never suffer from downsizer’s regret.
ReplyDeleteI see The Chairman is in a sage mood this a.m. Bring it on . . .
DeleteAs for WW, I wonder if he realizes what a beautiful balance he strikes between stories from the Homefront and intimations of higher insights. Sort of like "Winesburg Ohio" Wannaska style. WW has a way of bringing this reader smack in the middle of what's going on his territory this week. I'm grateful that I get a peek-a-week.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to the honkers and their goslings?
They multiplied! Everyday, there are between three and four families of geese in our yard eating and pooping beginning about dawn. They watch for us at the windows, then seeing any movement there mosey back down to the creek or just go as far as they think is necessary to protect all their fuzzy young yellowish offspring, of varying ages; their neighbor's kids too. Before the eggs hatch they are bitter enemies, after the eggs hatch and they are out and about, the family groups are buds, to an extent. Safety is in numbers and tolerance is the behavior of the day.
DeleteSpeaking of 'higher insights,' we visited my daughter and her family near Minneapolis for a few days last week; their daughter a spry 11-months of age and quite the character in her own right. Being raised by two highly educated, career-oriented parents who work from home, the baby is learning about the things around her, including frequent visits by three grandmothers and two grandfathers, and a favorite auntie who lives in DC; she's learning a few words and in lieu of them, trills, repetitive word beginnings, sign language, and what highly expressive facial expressions are good for.
In her growing library, bestowed by all of the above and her extended family including college and high school friends, are contemporary children's books published in the recent progression of B.L.M., as well as those explaining feminist activism and understanding of LGBTQ+ communities, many of the books I paged through and laughed, not about their content, but the in-your-face audacity of the information in print in children's books. AMAZING GRASSROOTS STUFF!
Some adults may pale at the subject matter within them, but truly, honesty is a difficult subject, versus ignorance and fear, often completely countering what they have been taught all their lives, and subsequently taught their own children perpetuating the myths. It goes back to my earliest ideas during the Civil Rights Movement of the Sixties, that had my generation and those before us been taught the truth about our country beginnings and the people that inhabit it, we wouldn't be where we are now, repeating the same mistakes, visiting the same horrors against our brothers and sisters no matter their color nor stripe of belief.