Ocklawaha Florida, 1898
Yesterday afternoon we got 1 1/2 inches, & the washes ran. We need the rain of course, BUT, getting it in quick downpours is getting old in a hurry.
We were suppose to go stock car racing tonight, but last nights deluge cancelled the races. So this afternoon we went into Benson to get what I forgot yesterday. No rain in Benson, but when we turned on the main road to come home, it was flooded. Hmmmm, we made jokes about making sure to watch the washes, so we didn't get any big surprises. When we left home I asked John if he thought we should take the Bronco, at that time the sun was shining, & he just laughed.
We have to cross the big wash that crosses our property 7 times out on the main road, before the final crossing that we waded a few days ago. As we saw the first crossing we noticed 3 or 4 vehicles sitting in the road. Sure enough it was running big time, & in fact large chunks of the pavement were standing upright with the water crashing around them. A few more neighbors showed up & we all milled around for 1/2 an hour or so. Finally a couple of trucks went thru & although there were deep holes where the pavement was missing, they made it. Our years of 4 wheeling has made us feel invincible I guess, cause we tried it. Unfortunately a 3 ton van is a little different that a high sitting 4 wheel drive Bronco. We got high centered, & had to be pulled out by a jeep.............bummer. Once we got on the road it was terrible, lots of big rocks, tree limbs, huge piles of sand & gravel to climb over. We figured when we got to the final crossing, we might have to wade again, but by that time the water was going down, so we made it.
Got home to absolute chaos. Although we hadn't driven in much rain it obviously had rained somewhere & flooded our property. The wash jumped a large berm, covered with very large rocks, & flooded the pens.
(This is the dike usually over 10 foot high. The break is on the right & goes directly into the pen area. The rocks are 18"-36", & a lot of them are missing. I'll be calling for a load tomorrow, to give John some extras to work with, rather than having to walk the wash to find the ones that are missing.)
The pens are filled with rocks, dirt, gravel, limbs, & all sorts of junk. Mud everywhere, & the 3 fences across the wash all down, which means nothing to stop the donkeys from going on a walk-a-bout once they figured it out. I started trying to organize the pens & John & a neighbor started working on the fences. Of course any time we do anything out of the ordinary, it is very interesting to the donkeys. The next thing we know they are headed up the wash. I finally had to quit working on the pens & start wrangling donkeys. Thank goodness a couple more neighbors showed up to help with the fences. Of course once the donkeys figured out they could go where they normally can't, that's where they wanted to go. And of course they don't go in one big group, so I would chase one group back from one area, turn around & there goes another group in a different area. After chasing Tula & her little band all over Burroland, I decided it was time for them to go in their messed up pens. The mud is so thick it almost sucked my shoes off my feet & they really didn't want to go in it. But by this time I was taking no prisoners & if anyone wanted to argue with me, the consequences were going to be theirs. (G) Up until I got them all in the pens, I really didn't know if any were missing or not, but thank goodness they were all present & accounted for. I don't know if there is more rain in the forecast or not. Hopefully it will hold off until we can get the pens cleaned up. The mud was so thick & heavy it even knocked some of the walls loose where mud flooded into the shelters. The mud will have to be removed before the walls can be fixed. Poor John he's going to have a lot of work for the next few days. I told him not to be in any hurry to fix everything, because if we get more rain, the ground is so wet, I'm sure it will flood again. As long as we can close the gates & keep the bunks cleaned out, we won't worry about the pens.
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