A small success

My sister called me early Wednesday morning (27th) to let me know that we had over half an inch of rain during the night. I would have rushed down from Alpine, but she said it came slow and none ran, plus I had to go help band hummers in the Davis Mountains the next day. So after banding I headed south, my pickup loaded with mulch.

Nothing had run into my tanks at the oasis except for what fell into them, BUT to the east of my place there must have been a heavier rain because my upper dirt tank had 2' of water in it. That might be anywhere from 4 to 10 thousand gallons. I'm not a good judge of that.

In terms of watering the oasis, that's at least a month's supply for this time of year. I had already lost a quarter of it before I got here because that dirt tank doesn't hold water for very long. so I was desperate to get it pumped out to the stucco tank. Easier said than done. After nearly 2 hours of trying to start the gas pump, I called my son in Alpine and prevailed on him to drop everything and come. He couldn't get it working either. He said my gas was too old, and because the tank wasn't full, a connection above the water was letting in air and it wouldn't pick up (download) the water. It was nearly dark by then. He took the pump to town with him.

It was torture to have all that lovely water, and not be able to save it. It was a blackish rain, probably because of the fires in the area, so the water was definitely tinted and sooty smelling, but lovely, nevertheless. So, I took my little electric pump (that I used to bail out the concrete tank previously), ran extension cords from the guesthouse about 150' or more away, stuck a hose in the 3" line, and waited for water to show up at the other end.

 When it hadn't by 10:30 PM, I took a flashlight and walked (more like bushwacked) the line. Found where a joint was letting it all leak out. A little leak is no problem when you're pumping a torrent through with a 3" pump, but with a little garden hose it's altogether different.

To make a long story short, I spent all morning killing myself before a trickle finally started going into the stucco tank. What a joyous occasion! I gave myself the rest of the afternoon off! My body wouldn't move anyway, so it wasn't a hard decision. And it's way too windy to unload the mulch, thank goodness. There are still several leaks on the line. I didn't have the fittings I needed to fix it, but I figure I'm still getting over half of the water.

The amount of water in the stucco tank is partly what I had put in there for the wildlife and gambusias, and partly what fell in there during the rain. Notice the little stream of water starting to come in now. It'll probably run for 2 or 3 days, but unfortunately I have to be in Alpine Sunday morning. I'll get all I can until then.

The soapberry trees I was so worried about in the arroyo are putting on some leaves, so hopefully they'll survive. And finally, it's obvious these plants in the courtyard didn't forget how to bloom during these horrible months of record heat and drought. I had been watering them, but it's not the same.