It is annual inspection time at work. I enjoy getting out of the office and being outside on beautiful fall days. I also like looking at the things I manage once in a while. It is easier to take complaints, understand concerns, and know what people are talking about if you go out there and stand on things once in a while. Our dams are starting to age. some of them are not aging gracefully at all. This dam has a slump and bulge. This is very alarming and probably not good. This week, in addition to the annual inspection, we also had our engineering team on site and core drilling done to see if we can tell what is going on. This is one thing on a growing list of problems and projects we are in the middle of. We managed to get about 1/3 of the way done inspecting this week. I have about half a day of inspections that I will accompany the maintenance person on, and then he will take over conducting the rest with the federal folks.
The below photo was a moment of celebration today. We stopped off to see a different kind of project we were doing. Approximately 25 years ago, we built a lake. part of that project was a siphon and gravity line that was supposed to allow an adjoining landowner to water cattle without the cows getting into the lake water. I had no idea this was part of that lake, nobody ever mentioned it to me. Last summer, as I was out there to “manage” a very irate neighbor, the man who has the land on the back side told me it sure would be nice if our watering system worked. Say what now? He said it hasn’t worked for 20+ years. Why he never complained I have no clue, but I’ve been at the watershed district for 19 years and this was the first I’ve heard of it. Luckily, there is some money available for infrastructure projects, and although I have been unsuccessful in getting any of it for my projects, the local watershed restoration guy had a few tricks up his sleeve. He was able to not only get the system upgraded to solar power, he was also able to find the original equipment and modify it, saving thousands. He also found the money to pay for well over half of it. We drove in today as they were trying the solar pump out for the first time. Looks successful to me!
When I got home this evening I hired my crew (guilted the girls) and we got started on building our quail run. First step- moving the chickens out of the pen I wanted to use. This meant fixing, clearing and re-doing some things in an old cage we had for them. Once that was done, we started in reinforcing the smaller pen, putting up poultry netting to keep them in, and setting up all of the supplies they need. I thought this process would take a couple of hours, but I was wrong. After 3 hours, we are approximately 1/2 way there. As a result, the quail are spending another night in the garage cage. They don’t seem to mind at all, they are eating, drinking, and making happy noises out there. Quail are messy, and I was worried about changing their bedding, but they stayed calm and we were able to get them all clean and dry! I am obsessed with how pretty they are.
Unfortunately, I cannot get up early and finish their run. I am working tomorrow, driving junior high basketball. Luckily, the tournament they are playing in is supposed to be finished by noon, so I should have some afternoon time to get it done. This is Harper’s month to be sacristan, but I believe if Quincy doesn’t have to spend another evening helping me with bird projects, she would happily drive her over to take care of it!
The bad part of inspection time is that I can’t hang with my office assistant, and I didn’t get to see my best girls for the last couple of days. I missed them. Madison supplied me with updates though. Wrenley is 4 months old today! Time marches on.
Between working tomorrow, working my liquor store shift on Sunday, cleaning, doing laundry, building quail cages, planning out Sunday dinner, making sure Harper gets her church duties done, making sure Quincy is ok house sitting at the neighbor’s, and trying to finish up a couple of other projects, this is definitely not going to be a “weekend” at all. Reminding myself to breathe and be thankful. Life is good.
No comments:
Post a Comment