Shenandoah Gateway Farm

We had over 50 inches of rain last year. The snow came hard and long just before Christmas and there are still patches of it. When I go to the barn the ground is soft and the horses hooves leave an impression wherever they walk. It is slippery and wet.

Yesterday it drizzled all day. Then last night the rain got heavy. It has not been over 50 and is usually in the thirties. The ground is saturated.


This morning when I went to work I could see that the stream that runs through our property was running high and fast. There were log and debris against the seven huge pipes that run under our bridge. The pipes on the right side of the bridge were so blocked with logs and branches that the water was splashing over the bridge. A log about 8 feet long and about a foot across had washed up over the bridge. The water was running pretty high on the left of the bridge but was at least a foot below the stream on the other side.



When we moved here there were many days when parts of the stream bed were completely dry. This was a first for us. It makes me wish I was a kid and could race boats from this concrete bridge to the wooden bridge at the other end of the property. Of course, if I was that child's mother I wouldn't let her do such a stupid thing! A person could drown! But it's still cool.

Now if the stream were over the bridge and we were stranded and I couldn't get to work then I might be annoyed. Right now it is just cool and not scary. Plus we are on a well and we can use the water! I wish we had started a pond. We have the perfect place for one and for the first time, we have plenty of water. I'll put that on my things to do list. It's way down, but definitely on there!