Irrigation Project at a Stand Still

Uh oh

This weekend sure was busy. Usually things are pretty quiet around here--little house projects, breakfast at Sophia's, tooling around on bikes. The last three days have been exceptions.

After spending the day harvesting and processing prickly pears, Friday night we drove up to Cochiti area to a friend's so we could be there for her 6am hay delivery. She has two rambunctious kittens who did not allow us to get more than a few winks of sleep. Six o'clock came early. We unloaded and stacked over 200 bales of hay, had a quick bite and coffee and headed back to Albuquerque. Once home we started digging for the big irrigation project. Running water from the acequia was going to be a multi-step affair. Part of it included us digging by hand, very carefully, around the gas and water utilities. It took a fair amount of time. Our neighbor and his friend got to work excavating from the ditch to our property. Here he is working his tractor.

They worked all day digging and laying the pipe that was purchased Friday. At the end of the day they were short on pipe and short on daylight. As night fell we had an open trench with 40 feet of pipe nestled inside. Covering it up and finishing the job would have to wait until Sunday.

The completed trench was re-graded, the pipe dropped in and covered without a hitch. Then they started digging for the distribution box. This collects the water as it's distributed around the property. At first a lot of old cinder blocks were being unearthed. Then we heard "shut it off!!" Well, they hit water but, strangely,  it wasn't ours. Things are a bit funky here in the North Valley. All of our walls are curvy and the house next door as quirks of its own. This one takes the cake. Their water main runs from their property, over to ours and then zig zags back to their property. The only rational reason for this is the giant Siberian elm that may have impeded running the main straight back. It's odd and now it needs to be rectified. Here's a reminder as to what it looks like:

The copper flex line was installed so they will continue to have water until we all figure out what to do. In the meantime, 5 holes were dug for future fruit trees and some concrete was removed to be taken to the recycler. We also went back to our friend's in Cochiti to have a potluck. I made delicious peach-blackberry crisp and she served deviled eggs and corn from her flock and garden. Absolutely delightful. The drive back was partially illuminated by the moon and looking out on the hills and sage reminded me, yet again, why I like it here so much.

Stay tuned to find out how this irrigation dilemma is resolved...