After the tornadoes. . .

April 29, 2011

We live 4 miles from the Alabama / Tennessee state line.  So yes, we were in the middle of all that tornado trouble this past Wednesday.  We had no electricity all day Wednesday (it went out sometime Tuesday night), and spent a large part of the day in a dark basement with little battery-powered lanterns for light.  I got plenty of exercise running up and down the stairs!  We’d think the storms were over, go upstairs, and uh-oh, the weatherman says another is coming and “take your tornado precautions!”  And there we’d go, back down to the basement.

There are toppled trees all around us.  Others have been split by the high winds or actual tornadoes, and part of the trees are broke off and on the ground.  The Bradford Pears that are so popular in subdivisions don’t fare too well in high wind.  That soft wood just can’t take it.  But there were oaks toppled or in pieces too!

We were very fortunate that we didn’t get a direct hit from the tornadoes skipping around the area.   We had a lot of tree limbs down, but not any entire trees.  (Well, we haven’t walked back in the woods… no telling what’s happened there.)  Our walnuts, oaks and elms lost a lot of small branches and some bigger ones.  One big branch fell off a walnut tree and landed right by the peafowl aviary.

picture of fallen limb by aviary

A Near Miss!

Of course, several smaller limbs DID hit the aviary and it looks a little worse for wear, but at least the netting didn’t get all torn up like it would have if the bigger branch had smacked down on it.

There were some branches blown into other odd places, like this one:

picture of branch through tree

That's a little strange!

And we had to move branches like these off the driveway so we could drive out.

fallen branch

One of many fallen branches!

Most of the day the guineas stayed out in the rain, even though they have shelters!

picture of guinea in the rain

One bedraggled guinea fowl!

I suppose if a tornado had went right through here, it would have ended up pretty fowl!  No telling where the guineas would have ended up.

Once the winds and tornadoes were done for the day, the water started rising.

picture of flooded road

Here comes the flood waters!

That’s not unusual.  After particularly heavy rains, the creek usually gets out of bounds and goes over the low part of the road.

But it didn’t stop there.

Nope, for the first time since we built our lovely spring-fed pond, the flood waters got up and over the berm, and flowed into the pond.

picture of muddy flood water getting into pond

And the contamination creeps in. . .

I took the above picture from the far side of the pond, between it and the creek.  I didn’t get to stay there long. The water just kept getting higher, and pretty soon it was where it had never been before and I had to MOVE!

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The water not only flowed into the pond for the first time ever, it came on out the other side and flowed around behind it also, and into the bottom pasture.

picture of flood water coming out of pond

Flood flowing through the pond.

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flooded area

The Farmer checks out his flooded pond.

Not only did the pond get contaminated and water flow through it and into the pasture, but the water got so high it completely covered the bridge across the creek.

flood waters over bridge

See the arrow? There's a bridge going under water there!

That’s something I’ve never seen in all the years we’ve lived here!  There is usually one high spot visible during a flood.

Yesterday we started cleaning up.  The critters enjoyed the leaves off the downed branches.

picture of sheep eating tree leaves

A usually unreachable treat!

And although we didn’t loose our roof, we picked up some roof and soffit materials from someone else’s house… who knows where.

picture of soffit blown off by storm

Wonder who this belonged to?

Despite the inconvenience of no electricity for a day and a half, we are much better off than neighbors to the south of us who will not have electricity for 5-7 days.  And maybe we’re all lucky Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant didn’t take a direct hit, but just lost all the feeder lines.

Just a couple days after the storm and it all looks pretty serene here. . .

picture of muddy pond in sunshine

There was a storm here?

We’ve pretty much cleaned up around the farm, and if it wasn’t for the muddy pond, you’d never know we had such storms.

Sadly, it will take many of our neighbors that took direct hits from the tornadoes a very long time to put things to right, and some things will never be the same.

More Rain, More Floods

March 9, 2011

We’ve had a lot of rain lately, and it rained pretty much all last night and on into the morning.  Anytime we get very much rain, it means the creek bordering one side of our property is going to flood.  Fortunately, it floods the road AFTER you get past our driveway!

picture of pond and flooded rural road

Flooding makes it hard to get to the dead end part of the road!

The water had receded somewhat by the time Toby and I went out to the mailbox, so this isn’t as bad as it got.  Otherwise we might not have gotten cheeky enough to walk through the flood waters to get to the bridge.

picture of farm collie dog standing on flooded road

"Hey, you coming or what?"

I figured if Toby could make it, so could I, and off we went.  I stopped mid-way and took a picture of the water going off the edge of the road. . .

picture of water running off road

Enough froth for a latte!

 And here’s the same section of the road, and more, taken from off to the side.

picture of creek waters over road

Creek is definitely out of bounds!

The cat-who-thinks-he’s-a-dog was still enough of a cat that he declined to join the party and frolic in the water.

picture of white cat

"Are you guys totally CRAZY???"

We took our crazy selves and walked towards the top of the bridge.   I took this picture right before we got there.  It’s the side of the creek flowing to and under the bridge.

picture of flooded creek and culverts

Two Culverts & A Flooded Creek

There are actually TWO culverts, but you can’t see the one closest to the front of the picture.  It’s completely submerged in the flood waters. 

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The water really rushes out of the submerged culvert!

After we got our exercise walking around in the flood waters, we headed back home.  I noticed we have a new little reflecting pond in the back of the The Farmer’s pick-up truck:

picture of water in bed of pickup truck

Now all we need are some koi in there. . .

And that’s the way it is, on another rainy day of the monsoon season in the south.

Even More Weather Changes

March 2, 2010

So we went from a sunny day on Sunday, gloomy on Monday (all sounds kind of appropriate, doesn’t it?)… and today… it’s snowing.

For a while it was coming down pretty hard.

Snow!

A little snow, or a lot, it doesn’t seem to bother the cardinals.

Cardinal in snow storm.

Snowy days always seem like a good excuse to go walking in the woods and alongside the creek.

Snow on banks along creek.

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Creek with snowy banks.

Some of the snow was getting slushy and falling off the trees into the creek with little “splats!”

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There’s not really a lot of snow on the ground, but Toby had fun running around in the woods.

Toby having fun in the woods.

There was a little snow along the slews.

Slue and snowy ground.

Spot decided to come out and see what we were doing when we got down around the pond.

Spot walking through snow.

The bottom pasture was also snowy of course.

Snowy field.

By then it was getting so slushy, and so much water kept dropping on my camera lens, I just gave it up and went inside.

Toby and I were tired out anyway.  (Okay, maybe it was just me.)

Southern Snowstorm

December 9, 2009

We don’t get a lot of snow here in the southeast, but Saturday morning when we got up, there was a dusting of snow on the ground.  So here are the promised snow pictures!  Those of you in the deep south, eat your heart out, we actually saw snow!

Those of you further north, try not to laugh at the piddling little bit of white stuff we call a snow storm!

Looking out in the backyard, I saw. . .

Snow and poultry in the backyard.

. . . a little snow, a lot of poultry, and one dog carrying around a HUGE stick!

The bottom pasture was dusted with white, instead of the usual all drab brown.

Bottom pasture dusted with snow.

From there Toby and I headed for the woods.  Of course, it too had a bit of snow on the ground, and blown against the tree trunks.

A dusting of snow in the woods.

We always check out the creek when we take a walk in the woods.

Creek with snowy banks.

My other “dog” followed Toby and I into the woods.  He likes to rub up against every twig and tree.

Our cat, Spot, out in the snow.

The real dog, Toby, would rather hike his leg and pee on every twig and tree, but I spared you a picture of that, ha, ha!

The creek floods frequently, and the banks are eroded, so the exposed tree roots held a drift of snow on them.

Snowy Exposed Tree Roots By Creek.

Even the slues looked pretty with snowy banks.

Snowy slough and banks.

By the way, I don’t know if I ever called these little areas of backwater a slue until I met The Farmer.  I thought it was just an “Okie-ism”, but he has it right:

Slue: a place of deep mud or mire (also slew or slough ˈslü)

  1. swamp
  2. an inlet on a river; also : backwater
  3. a creek in a marsh or tide flat

Toby crosses these slues wherever it suits him, sometimes at a narrow place, sometimes through deep water. 

Toby, our American Farm Collie, crossing a snowy slue.

He loves splashing through water wherever he finds it.

The other “dog” that follows me around, however, is not so keen on the water.  He sits on one side of the bank and watches Toby wander.

Spot refuses to cross the water.
“I can’t believe he waded through that freezing cold water!”
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In fact, Spot just isn’t any too keen on walking through that frozen stuff called snow.

Spot shaking snow off paw.

He makes faces and shakes his paws frequently.

I’m afraid Toby laughs at Spot’s squeamishness over snow and water and all things wet.

Spot and Toby the Farm Collie by one of the slues in the woods.
“What a wuss! If you want to be a dog, you’ve got to like water!”
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Then Toby proceeded to show off a little and went through the water in the slue again.

Toby the farm collie in the middle of a slue of water!
“See? IN the water, you’ve got to get IN the water!”
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But Spot wasn’t buying it.  He promptly sat down in some leaves and declared he was NOT going in that water!

Spot sitting in the snowy woods.
“Can he talk to me like that?  I am NOT going in that water!”
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By then I figured it was time to head back towards the house.  In the front yard, the holly looked pretty with a little snowy white alongside the green leaves and red berries.

Holly and snow.

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Holly, snow and sunshine!

But it was warming up some, and the snow wasn’t going to last much longer.

Holly with ice drop.

It was forming little ice drops on the tips of some of the leaves.

However, in the shade, the camellia bush still had snowy blossoms.

Camellia 'Winter Star' with snowy blossom.

And since the Camellia ‘Winter Star’ bush is in the flower bed by the front door, I was ready to go back inside and end my picture taking for the day.

Natural Water Spring At Falls Mill

November 12, 2009

There was a lot to see at Falls Mill.  Across from the shed full of old farm equipment, there was an old wooden barn and an antique steam engine. 

Old Wooden Barn and Antique Steam Engine

We couldn’t figure out what the steam engine might have been used for, but it looked pretty solid and impressive!

We walked over behind the barn and could see one of the falls along Factory Creek.

Dam and Falls on Factory Creek in Belvidere, Tennessee.

These were created with a man-made stone dam built across the creek.  It looks like some stone retaining walls I’ve seen, which I guess is pretty much what it is.

Stone Dam across Factory Creek in Belvidere, Tennessee.

That must have taken a lot of work!  The Farmer and I kind of wondered how they managed the water flow while building the dam.

Not surprisingly, the mill is located on top of a hill.  At the bottom of the hill there’s a spring nestled in the hillside beside the creek.  They’ve got a neat system that was built to get the spring water without walking down to the spring.

It starts with a pulley system and bucket at the top of the hill.

Bucket on pulley used to fetch spring water at Falls Mill, Belvidere, Tennessee.

The pulley line goes down through the trees to reach the spring.

Pulley line going down through trees at Falls Mill in Belvidere, Tennessee.

At the bottom, they put a pipe into the spring, so they’ve got a gush of water coming out to flow into the bucket.

Bucket filling with spring water at Falls Mill at Belvidere, Tennessee.

I took a video when someone filled the bucket, then started pulling the bucket back up.

The bucket was moving so fast the camera wouldn’t stay focused in on it when it got up among the tree limbs.

You can hear the sound of the water wheel in the background.  We were standing near the top of it, looking down at Factory Creek.

Factory Creek at Falls Mill Operating Water-Powered Grain Mill in Velvidere, Tennessee.

You can see just a bit of the wheel in the corner of the picture.  It’s amazing how such a little bit of water turns such a huge wheel.

But that’s a story for another day.

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