THE GOOD

In this photograph you can see our Great Pyrenees Gracie herding several guineas back toward the safety of our barn area.  They are walking along a stretch of the two mile unpaved road which leads from the paved state highway to our home.   About 3/4 mile of this dirt road lies entirely within the boundaries of our property, and is our means of egress when it is necessary to interact in person with the outside world.

You can see from the photo that the road is in pretty decent shape, and you might conclude that Hal must keep himself busy with the tractor to keep the road in such good condition.  If this was your conclusion, then you would be wrong!  For some reason that predates our residence at this location, the county took this road into the county road system, and as a result, they are responsible for keeping the road in proper maintenance.

There really is no good reason for the county to keep this road in their inventory, as it serves no compelling public need.  We are the only residents that this road serves, yet we get the benefit of having the county absorb the maintenance expenses that inevitably arise.  And that is the good news about having a county road run into your property.  You don’t have to fund a road maintenance budget.  Having said that, I must admit that there is bad news, too.

THE BAD

There are some negative consequences that come about as a result of the county road running into the property.  First, we can’t install an entry gate at the point where the road comes into the property.  A county road must have access for all, so a gate is out of the question.  Because of the public access issue, you may need to be prepared for occasional “lookie-loos” to come driving into your land.  Second, the property owner who is served by a county road is at the mercy of the county when it comes to the quality of maintenance that is provided, and the responsiveness of the county government in handling issues that might arise with the road, as the following example illustrates.

Notice on this topographic map that our house is located at the end of an unpaved road, as denoted near the top of the map.  Notice also that there are two street signs that designate the names of the county roads shown on the map, one of which is located at the intersection of the dirt road and the paved highway.  Without this sign, passersby would have no way of knowing that this is a county road, nor what the name of the road is.  In the event of an emergency, sheriff, fire department, and ambulance personnel dispatched to our house would be unable to locate our premises.

In January 2006, a careless driver managed to knock down the street sign while turning from the paved highway onto the dirt road.  Fearful of what would happen in an emergency, I temporarily duct taped the street sign onto my mailbox so that it would be visible to emergency vehicles, and proceeded to call the county road department to repair the sign.  To make a long story short, nine months later, after numerous phone calls and  correspondence with the County Judge, the county road department fixed the sign in September, 2006. 

On New Years Day, 2007,  a vandal saw fit to steal this very same street sign, thereby leaving us in a vulnerable state once again.  The county managed to replace the missing sign after only seven weeks this time, as opposed to 9 months last time, so I suppose things are improving!  But the point remains – a county road means you are stuck dealing with (sometimes) inept, or uncaring, or overburdened county officials to get anything accomplished.  Sometimes you can’t get anything accomplished at all, as the next example illustrates.

THE UGLY

The photograph above shows what remains of a drainage ditch that used to exist along the northern edge of the road, as it descends a hill toward our buildings.  I say “used to exist” because, as you can plainly see, it isn’t there anymore!  The road crews in this county aren’t trained to do anything other than windrow the surface of the road off to each side when operating the road grader.  Any existing drainage ditches soon disappear under these circumstances, ours included.

The red ellipse in this picture shows the location of a (now buried) inlet to a drainage culvert that is installed under the roadway at the bottom of the hill.  Because the culvert has been covered up by the road graders as they windrow the road surface, it can no longer serve it’s intended purpose – to carry the water flow underneath the roadway to a creek located at the base of the hill.

The red arrow indicates the location and one-time flow of the now useless drainage culvert buried beneath the roadbed.  The yellow arrow indicates (as does the erosion evident in the photo) the present water flow pattern, given that the drainage ditch and culvert are now non-operational.

Unfortunately, the new flow pattern now channels the water directly into our barn and paddock area, as the photograph above shows.  Besides the erosion and resulting rough roadway that this situation creates, any repairs I attempt to make to the road are immediately washed away with the next rainfall, as you can see in the following photograph. 

The chances of an under-funded county government repairing the drainage system for this road and maintaining it properly in the future, given that it only serves one family, are slim-to-none.  There is no point in my re-establishing the drainage ditch and culvert system, since the county road crew will invariably fill it in once again.

So, as in all things in life, there are trade offs.  In this case, having a county maintained road means no monetary outlay on my part, the trade off being the substandard water flow maintenance that is provided by the county.  If the drainage problem continues to deteriorate, than perhaps I could petition the county to abandon their current road easement (a request they probably would be glad to grant), but then I would have to be prepared to absorb all future road maintenance costs myself.

Hmmm….. decisions, decisions, decisions.

You might understandably mistake our house for a S.E.T.I. affiliated site, based on the number of antennae mounted to the roof.  Unfortunately, when an old roof needs replacement the existing satellite dishes require remounting and realigning in order to work properly.  And thus we found ourselves suddenly disconnected from the outside world when our roofer called to say his crew would arrive the following day to begin our much needed re roofing project.  After the roof was completed, we patiently waited for the satellite technician to make a service call to put us back in touch with the world.  So here we are now,  snug as a bug in a rug with our new roof, and once again in communication with the denizens of cyberspace.

There hasn’t been very much interesting activity going on around here these past couple of months (at least nothing that I would blog about), mainly because I have used the winter as an excuse to vegetate around the house rather than perform any useful work.  Now that the temperatures are starting to rise I cannot use the weather as a slothful crutch, so expect some new postings about various projects and activities I am engaged in around the property.

For now though, I have to go and check out the source of smoke emanating from the north boundary of our ranch.  It looks, much to my dismay, as if coping with fire is going to be a permanent aspect of living out here in the country.

PS – Thanks for all the concern that some readers of this blog have expressed over my absence from the blogosphere – it is sincerely appreciated!

The storm system that recently passed through this area dropped about 5 inches of rainfall before the cold Canadian air mass dropped down from the north, bringing with it sub-freezing temperatures and a paltry 1″ of snow.  However, the interplay of the moisture and temperature caused icy crystals and frozen water droplets to form on trees and grasses around the ranch.

Sensing a golden photo opportunity was at hand, I grabbed the camera and headed outside to take a walk in the frigid morning hours.  For about a one hour duration, the sun and the ice conspired to bring a surreal, almost magical quality to the scenery surrounding me.

Heading along one of the main pathways on the property, I came to the area we call Ralph’s pasture (due to cousin Ralph’s fondness for this scenic locale), and hiked along it’s trails to shoot some pictures.

The trees were all covered with frozen water droplets, which shimmered in the sunlight.  The frozen water on the stems would crack and shatter in the soft breeze, creating a lovely high-pitched noise (not unlike a crystal wind chime) that only added to the allure of this magical morning.

Even the fescue grass in this clearing, which I have left un-cut for the benefit of the wildlife this winter, harbored it’s share of icy beauty, shimmering and singing out it’s melody as it swayed in the gentle breeze.

The fall color change ended a month ago, but the picturesque beauty of the area remains, only this time it takes on a different appearance.