New Bird Blocks

The Great Flood of '07

...just one of the many reasons that Mary has been slacking on posting new stuff to the blog for the last 6 months.....

Back in the end of March, the very day after we put the finishing touches on our new awesome porch greenhouse:
we got two inches of rain in three hours, and living down in the valley like we do, all that water came crashing down the mountainside with a ferocious earth-shaking force all around our precarious little shack. There was so much water rushing around us that there was a constant roar as if we were in the middle of an earthquake.

If you look closely you can see Joe, in a yellow raincoat, standing by the raging river that covered our little driveway bridge: And while we were stranded at home, sitting on the porch watching the deluge surrounding us, a new spring popped up on the hillside right behind our vegetable garden (which I had recently cleared in order to plant some spring greens):
All we could do was watch as the fenceposts slowly leaned, then fell over under the weight of all the water. Once the fence was down, the soil washed away and or lttle garden was obliterated.

Stubborn as I am, I refused to let one extraordinary flood keep me from having fresh vegetables outside my kitchen door; so with Joe's help, over the next several months we rebuilt - re-setting the fence, adding new boxed raised beds to divert water and retain soil in case of future floods, and, with the help of my folks who we put to work on their vacation, re-planting the new and improved garden with tomatoes, peppers, squash, kale, chard, sunflowers, zinnias, nasturtiums, and marygolds. Back, and better then ever! The garden is now flourishing and beautifully holding out through our severe summer drought. (after pictures to follow soon)

The old piano soundboard (left over from Joe's piano sculptures), which had been propped up on a clearing next to the creek driveway bridge, was completely washed away in the flood. Without a trace, the three-hundred pound 4'x4' board disappeared. Several weeks later, while hiking down the creek, I found the remains of the pianoboard - just broken wood and protruding wires...
...two hundred yards and several creek falls down from where it had been.

And, while re-digging the trench to fix the garden fence, I found the most amazingly beautiful white quartz arrowhead that had been buried in the sediment of the dirt that had washed down the hill in the flood. Perfecty whole, and unimaginably ancient, and unearthed from who knows what long-buried hiding place. Saved as a reminder, that for every misfortune that befalls us there are also some buried treasures to be found...