Local Flooding

After last week's rain from Hurricane Irene the ground was saturated and today's heavy rain caused flooding all around the Rome area. We recorded 6 inches of rain in our gauge by 6:00PM and it was still raining.

School students at the Northeast Bradford school were stranded due to the many road closures and people were evacuated from Seven Hill trailer court in Rome.

Gillette's Bridge
The water from Wysox Creek was over Route 467 at Gillette's Bridge. Many trucks were able to cross the water on the south side of the highway.







Not everybody made it through the water successfully. This car stalled during the crossing and was pulled out later in the day.



Route 467
Water crossing Route 467 between Gillette's Bridge and Joyce Road.



Joyce Road
Starting up Joyce Road it looked like a St. Patrick's day prank but the green water was from the "AquaShade" pond dye from Fravel's pond.




Wysox Creek at Bliss Road (Water Street)








Wysox Creek at Route 187
North of Rome, Wysox Creek was flooding Route 187.



Just behind the skidsteer in the center of the photo is the antenna for the
National Weather Service Automated Flood Warning System gauge for Wysox Creek but due to funding cuts by the Bush administration, this unit is off line or uncalibrated.








Bliss Road
The East end of Bliss (Abell) Road near Jim Burrows.



Jason and Mary Abell's.

Spiders

I had been clearing brush at the cabin property and had just started the truck to head home when I noticed some movement on my shirt sleeve and found this very large spider heading for my shoulder. The main (round) part of the body was over 5/8 inch across and at least 2 inches from one leg tip to another.



A close up view

Cute and Cuddly (No)

While spraying some apple trees behind our barn I noticed what looked like a very fat, hairy woodchuck in some weeds.



The "fat woodchuck" turned out to be a young porcupine.



After several minutes of attempting to pose the porcupine for a photograph I let it proceed from the field to the woods where it climbed the first small tree it found.



A photo of some quills in my boot after attempting to pose the porcupine for a photograph.

The Sting

Earlier this week I noticed a hornet's nest had been built in the corner of garage door. We were busy working on another project and didn't have time to remove the nest but I did point out the nest location to Mary, since this is where she stores her lawn mower.



The nest was built by bald-faced hornets (Dolichovespula maculata) which are known to aggressively attack with little provocation, a fact that Mary learned a few days later.

King of the Hill (Bale)

How many turkeys can fit on a hay bale?

At least 10.



I was watching about 2 dozen turkeys feeding in Jason's field as one of them jumped on top of a hay bale. This soon became a game of "King of the hill" as more turkeys jumped on the bale.

Curious Buck

For the past week or so I have been installing drainage pipe around the cabin as another phase of this year's cabin project. Several times while digging the ditches for the drain lines with my backhoe I would notice a small buck near the pond watching me. Unlike most deer, this buck didn't run away but stayed near the pond, bedded down and continued to watch me work.



After several days of us watching each other, I was able to walk within several feet of the buck as he hid in the tall grass around the pond.



The following photo was taken within 15 feet of the buck while he was hiding in his "nest".



Whenever I find the buck in his "nest", he will watch me take pictures then jump from his "nest", run for about 20 yards and then stop and watch me for a minute or two before heading to a clump of bushes. Within 20 to 30 minutes the buck will return to one of his "nests" near the pond.

How deer beat the heat

We have been working at our cabin for the last month and during the current heat wave I've noticed a small buck spending a lot of time near our pond.



The sound of us working doesn't seem to bother the buck and I can get within 30 yards of him before he will leave his "nest" next to the pond.



On one of the hottest days he was seen standing in the pond, cooling off, with two fawns.

This Year's Cabin Project

When we bought the cabin property we knew the supports for the cabin would need some attention. Over the years, the 4X4 supports for the cabin have yielded to wind and gravity, and are slowly tilting.



Now that the spring rains have stopped so we can dig holes without them filling with water, we started the project by removing the porch deck so we could access the supports on the west side of the cabin. As so often happens when doing repair work, we found additional problems to fix. With the deck removed we found rotten wood.

Not only was the 2X8 floor joist rotted, some of the sub-floor was rotted. We cut out the rotten sub-floor and replaced it with pressured treated plywood. We then replaced the single 2X8 floor joist with two 2X12 pressure treated joists which now match the size of the rim joists used on the north and south sides of the cabin.



With the rotted wood replaced, we jacked up the cabin and removed the 4X4 supports one at a time, and dug deeper holes for the new supports. Concrete forms were positioned in the holes and held in position by temporary blocks until dirt was back filled around the forms.



Once the back filling was complete, the temporary blocks were removed and concrete poured into the forms. Each of the corner supports had a "J" bolt positioned in the concrete for attaching a bracket to the rim joist.



After the concrete cured, two pieces of pressure treated lumber were placed between the rim joist and the top of the concrete supports. These pieces of pressure treated lumber extend out from the rim joist to allow the porch deck to rest on the new supports when it is re-attached.



View of a side support.

The "flame"

For the past couple of days a large "flame" has been visible from the north end of Joyce Road. The "flame" is caused by flaring the gas well across the valley at the JACOBS well pad. The following photo of the "flame" was taken from our cabin located two miles from the JACOBS well.



A close-up of the flare from the entrance of the JACOBS well pad.

Well Pad Reclamation - Days 22 & 23

The grading of the reclaimed well pad site is complete and for the past two work days the main activity was hydroseeding the site to get some grass growing to reduce soil erosion.



Loading the sprayer truck with water, grass seed, mulch, fertilizer, lime ...

Well Pad Reclamation - Day 21

With the well pad reclamation nearly complete they are running out of room for the equipment at the site and started parking at the entrance to the access road.



A view of the reclaimed site taken from the hill behind our barn.

Well Pad Reclamation - Day 20

The main activity today was working on removing the topsoil stockpile and spreading it. This work is moving along but going slow due to the dampness of the topsoil, it is almost as wet the day it was pile up during the rains of April. Because the topsoil is so wet, it needs to air dry for a day just so it can be spread and graded.

Well Pad Reclamation - Day 19

The topsoil stockpile is shrinking as the topsoil is hauled out to cover the dirt reclaimed from the pad area.



Topsoil from the stockpile is hauled to the west side of the site, above the silt socks, and the dozer with GPS grades the topsoil back to original grade.



With the topsoil on the south end of the site dried out and finish grade complete, the hydroseeding of the south end started today.



The west side of the site after hydroseeding.

Well Pad Reclamation - Day 18

The "Super Silt Fence" that was along the base of the well pad was removed today.



Once the "Super Silt Fence" was removed, the stone next to the silt sock could be removed.



A tractor arrived today to pull the disc harrows. Mary is standing next to the tractor tire to show the size of the equipment.



A view of the site from the field behind our barn. The dust cloud is from one truck crossing the site.