December 27, 2015

Better than a water park

We just had the winter solstice but you'd never guess it from looking outside!  It has been raining and raining and raining for days on end. Everything is saturated, spongy and muddy. 

The boys have been locked inside for days because of the weather and we reached a breaking point today. They needed to run and let some energy out so we put on our boots and our raincoats and set out into the rain. 


First stop was the chicken coop, which is surrounded by ponding water. We made some ramps for the birds to get in and out without wading through water. 


Baxter preferred to go through the puddles though, splashing as much as possible as he went!

We also put lots of logs and perches in the run for the girls so they have places to hang out, up off the soggy ground. 

Then we went down to see the pond, which is way full. 


The water is rushing down the hill from the school.  Early this morning, I went out and leaves were starting to clog the pipes that flow into the pond. By the time we went out this afternoon, the water was flowing over the pipes, which were 100% clogged.



This is where the fun began for the boys. The gushing stream was like a water park!  

 
They waded through it, splashed all about, and performed all kinds of experiments to see what floated faster or slower on the water. 


On the other side of the pond, the water was "making a waterfall" (Oliver's description), flowing freely over the dam and down the hill. 



On the other side of the road, the river that flows out of east fork lake is also full to the max. 


The pond has an overflow pipe, which is not clogged, but it can't handle the volume of water. 


Oliver got a new camera for Christmas and was eager to record the "flood" going on in the yard. 


Meanwhile, the ducks are continuing on with their normal routine as if nothing big were happening... 


I sure hope this rain stops soon and maybe we can get a taste of winter before we hit spring. If it continues like this much longer, we'll be seeing trees budding and flowers popping up! 

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