Frogs and Follies From August Long Weekend

Mom, Sister C and Jay have covered the dike to protect the sandbags from UV and Jay finished the bridge.

The road west of the house is now closed.
This is the first of five places between the house and the school where water runs over the road.



More clay dikes around the property that I hadn't noticed when we were out sandbagging the house.

And in terms of more silliness, why would anyone use plastic parts on a farm implement? The top bracket was rotten and the whole wheel assembly became bent when it broke. Dad had to do a field repair to get the sprayer home.
Once home he had the right equipment (tractor, winch, crowbar, towing chains, hydro pole and a 160 pound bi-pedal counterweight) he was able to attach a new part and straighten the wheel assembly.

One of the few bright sides of this whole flood is the resurgence of the frog population. When I was little, the local frogs were picked almost to nothing when university supply companies paid local people to supply them with frogs. I haven't seen this many of the little guys for over 35 years. If you turn up the volume, you can hear the plop, plop, plop-plop-plop, of frogs jumping from the road into the ditch, Unfortunatley the sounds of my boots on the gravel is much louder than the frogs.

With A Little Help

from family and neighbours and friends.
N1 hauls sandbags that weigh almost as much as he does.
Much help is needed to build the bridge.
The front end loader is great for pushing in posts.
And we're done!

Sandbags and Stuff

Several truckloads of sandbags arrived Thursday and Friday so things were ready to roll when we showed up Saturday.
The water across the road is even closer.
Trucks are still hauling gravel to build up the road further west.
Dikes on the prairie,
and in PeaStraws keeep the lake from getting any closer.
As it is, the water is already up to the road.
At the end of the day, The Geek and I had build the dike around the house three layers high.
and a rather soothing lake montage, except the lake on the right is pasture and on the right is hayfield.

Still Getting Higher

The levels on Lake Manitoba contine to rise.

The Little Island, a family landmark, is living up to its name.
McRae Lake is up to, and even on the other side of the road. At least the drain has now been closed so it cannot fill any more from that way.
Down the road a couple of miles the lake, normally over a kilometer away, is right up against the newly constructed dike. In the background you can see a back hoe and caterpiller building the dikes higher.
In Vogar as well, Lake Manitoba, usually a kilometer away, is right up to the road.
The Dog Lake Drain on the left, and Lake Manitoba on the right.
Stockpiled sandbags by the fish shed in Vogar.
I still hope it is as high as it is going to get!

HIgher Than Normal

The Portage Diversion is starting to raise the levels on Lake Manitoba.
Last weekend I went with Dad to one of the neighbours to pick up some cattle. The water on either side of the road is covering a couple of his pastures.
The school bus in the distance is usually meters from the shore.
I hope it doesn't get much higher than this. People around here are already starting to run out of pasture.