July 14-16, 2008 Check Pond
This visit is primarily to check the new dam and pond before making the final payment.
The pond is one week old at this point and there is about six feet of water – mostly due to the heavy rains last week. Surprisingly, there are signs of life already. There are small tadpoles, dragon flies, and swallows catching insects.
I hand spread pasture grass seed on the dam top, the sod overflow, and where the dry creek feeds into the pond. I need to get more seed and a handheld spreader to seed the dam outside slopes.
During the dam construction, our driveway became seriously rutted, and then the heavy rains added to the mix so that the driveway was pretty well unusable. Ronnie used the bull dozer to smooth it all out.
Unfortunately, a neighbor drove over to look at the pond and put the ruts back.
The driveway is lined with trees so that much of it is shaded. The shaded areas don’t dry well and become very muddy. So I spent several days pruning the trees lower and overhanging branches. This should help dry the roadway.
I walked and recorded several of the woodland trails with the GPS. I intend to use these recorded tracks, along with a topo map to produce an accurate map of the woodlands and the trails.
