Four wheel drive driveway
It’s the worst I have ever seen our driveway. Not only was it washed out, but it was frozen with a layer of ice on top. It gets worse. It was washed out in front of the wooden bridge over Fiddlehead Creek. There are washouts throughout the woods of water streaming down the hill to the pond. The pond overflowed the dam, the dock at my place was underwater, water over the dam, the overflow tubes were clogged (and frozen), the beach was breached, Zug’s rock garden is half gone, and everything I have mentioned had a layer of ice on top. Check out some pictures:
Breached Bridge
Beach Breached
Zug's Rock Garden rocked
Overflow overfilled with debris
Debris high up on dam
Sophie doesn't care
Right now a car can’t make it down the driveway, and a truck without four wheel drive won’t make it back up the driveway. Because of the ice storm on Friday night, Angy and I decided to stay home and go to the Creek on Saturday morning. When we left our house, the deck, driveway, and truck was a solid sheet of ice. The roads in Hamilton County were not too bad, the roads in Indiana were not as good, and that was the State Highways. The backroads were ice covered. We took US50 and 350, which weren’t too bad. 25E was treacherous, our driveway at the Creek wasn’t any better. As we drove down the hill, it just got worse. Ice covered deep ruts made for interesting driving. When we got to the bridge, I got out and broke the ice in the puddle at the bridge to make sure it wasn’t a hole to the creek. The debris was everywhere, and everything had a coat of ice on it. Even the gravel around the LoveShack on the hill was washed out.
Pretty impressive. It was pretty with all the ice, but the damage was devastating, as you can see from the pictures. We had trouble opening the door on the LoveShack, breaking off a chunk of wood on the bottom of the door because the ice was so thick. After we fired up the heat, we walked around the property, checked the deer decomp project (more on that later), and took a lot of pictures.
What a Winter. We have only had about 5 days of cold weather, but the cold was brutal and the rains were fierce. I was in the West Palm Beach, Florida airport on Thursday afternoon in 80 degree weather, and at midnight I was in the Dayton, Ohio airport where it was 7 degrees, two inches of snow on the ground, and my truck door was frozen and I couldn’t get the door open (with a light jacket on…..Welcome to Ohio). Friday was the ice storm, and it was going to be 50 on Sunday. Wow. That’s a lot of weather in a few short days.
Angy and I stayed in at the LoveShack on Saturday night, a nice night of relaxation in a very warm place with a great bed. In the morning, we slept in a little longer, then trekked into Osgood to the Whistle Stop for breakfast. We returned to the Creek realizing that the driveway wasn’t going to get any better without any help. I fired up Ol’ Blue, which started on the first try. That was impressive, we haven’t started it for a couple of months. I took off the bush hog, wasn’t planning on cutting any grass. I put the box on, the box is a gravel box that you drag behind the tractor to spread and level the gravel. After several trips up and down the driveway, I realized that it was frozen and I wasn’t doing any good. I put three concrete blocks on the box for additional weight, and that didn’t break through the frozen driveway. I gave up. It’s not going to get fixed till it thaws. I did manage to break up our gravel reserve pile and dump some new gravel on the bridge entrance, making it passable. Four wheel drive on a tall wheelbase will get you to the bridge, where anyone can now cross.
I then went up to the overflow tubes on the pond to try and clear them of debris. It was frozen, and I took a rake and pipe to bust it up and clear just enough around the tubes to allow flow. Even the tubes had damage, they are smashed down a bit and will need repair in better weather. All the damage is manageable, not a monetary loss, but some hours and back breaking work to look forward to. We need more gravel, but I think we have to fix the driveway to get a gravel truck down the hill. The weather is warm all week, hopefully it will be warm enough in the daytime to defrost the driveway and I will be able to work on it this weekend. Until then, the Creek is closed to cars, two wheel drive trucks can make it back up if it isn’t ice covered. Four wheel jeeps and trucks will find it fun.
Unlucky Buck lower left, camera upper right
The Deer Decompositon Project is doing great. Angy and I checked the photos taken the last 7 days and they are better than ever. We didn’t see any new faces, but better shots of the coyote, redtailed fox, possum, raccoon, and redtailed hawk. I will post them on the Deer Decomposition Project page found on the right side of this blog page, probably Tuesday or Wednesday night. Check them out, you won’t be disappointed. I’ll keep the camera on the Deer Decomp for a few more weeks.
Weatherwise, who knows what tomorrow brings. Plans are to get the driveway repaired this weekend and you can get to the Creek soon. Weatherwise, it’s pretty warm, and a daytrip to the Creek is not a bad plan. Stop down and I can tell you how bad the weather is in West Palm Beach, Florida (not so bad….), you can see the storm devastation, and we can do that around a warm fire with a cool drink in our hand. You have to make the best of a bad situation, right? Every day is a good day at the Creek, even when you need four wheel drive to get there. See you at the Creek, soon, I hope.
