A Joke In There Somewhere
A man goes to the water bar…it does sound like the beginning of a joke. But what I am talking about are the divergence devices we use to control rain water and mud from destroying our dirt roads that go up into the woods. If left to run down the roads, the run-off would make deep ravines and ruin those skid roads that Mike worked so hard to etch out of the forest landscape.
After logging was halted with the onset of rains in September that ended our logging season abruptly after a couple of weeks of rain delays, we had the roads all prepared with water bars across them. Many of the roads have several bars across to divert the damaging flows. On occasion, a water bar will fail and then someone needs to walk up the slick, muddy road to manually re-dig the bar ditch.
On this day, Mike and the dogs Jackson and Butler, went to do the dirty work of repairing the blown-out water bar. With the trusty shovel in hand and using it as a support to keep from sliding back down the road, the three amigos we able to get the water ditch operating again so the mud and muck wouldn’t slide down the hill into the area around the outdoor cattle feeders.
The dogs didn’t do much of the work, but they are always happy to help with any project that has them going into the woods. They must have put their stamp of approval on the job, because when the three of them came down off the hill when finished, they were wagging their tails(not Mike, just the dogs).
The story about rain ending our logging season can be read here for those who want to catch up of the story.
I thought Mike was going to use his shovel to point to where the dogs should dig. Maybe next time.
I keep pleading with the dogs to do work like hauling seedlings up the hill, or bringing me a chunk to split into firewood, even digging a hole where needed. I do not believe we are very good at dog training because they do not pay any attention at all to our struggles!