by Jan Fielden
This could be another story about the water gaps needing to be cleaned but I am sick of water gaps!! Besides that, The Colonel cleaned out one of them and the other two are bad, but the cows can’t get out so…as soon as it decides to stop raining they will get cleaned out also. In the meantime, we have another problem; the road through the Sweetgum Grove is falling in as in collapsing!
This road has only been there for 39 years and has been solid until this Spring. We knew we were going to have some work to do on it after feeding season because traveling over it had worked some deep ruts in it. We also knew that the rain kept coming and so it would not be wise to try and fix it while it was still raining every week. The rock would be washed away and quite possibly we couldn’t get a truck in here without it getting stuck. The ground is absolutely water logged but we will be glad we had all this come July and August.
The road was a victim of the last two thunderstorms to roll through this area. It seems that a hole had been dug out by the rain, the next rain caused the water to sink into the hole and it built up, breeched the road and started eating away at it. Finally, it started collapsing during the last storms even though we were keeping an eye on it. The water was hiding the damage until The Colonel went over and examined it thoroughly. Some concrete should take care of it once and for all…hopefully! The Colonel says he couldn’t complain after all the tough weather over the last 39 years and the road held. He builds things to last for a long time at the Red Oak Ranch.
