March 30 2003
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We cleaned out some of the silt from the ditch along the power line easement road which lowered the water level in the driveway culvert on the power line a couple of inches.

The second project was to install 40 foot of culvert across the power line road to restore the natural flow.  The water was over a foot higher on that side and was blocked by the power line road and berm for the power line turn.

It was a beautiful sight seeing the water flow after being impounded for so long.

DSCN0089.JPG (1457812 bytes) Cindy hunting for the main channel in the weeds and briars.
DSCN0091.JPG (1351183 bytes) Now that the palmettos have been removed and the dirt removed for the road to the loading ramp the water flows down the property line to the east.
DSCN0092.JPG (1196258 bytes) I was able to get down in the ditch with the tractor and remove some of the silt that had washed in.
DSCN0093.JPG (1386133 bytes) This is using just the loader on the tractor to remove the silt.
DSCN0094.JPG (1186087 bytes) At the end you can see where we removed some of the silt by hand. 
DSCN0095.JPG (1350200 bytes) It is not much wider than a boot, but the water is flowing nicely.
DSCN0096.JPG (1359571 bytes) This is the culvert we installed last weekend.  We spread a load of fill out on Friday to make it passable.
DSCN0097.JPG (1436914 bytes) The ditch heading toward the culvert was cleaned out using the front loader.
DSCN0098.JPG (1396831 bytes) This is the outfall of the culvert.  Water is slowly flowing after a week of draining.
DSCN0099.JPG (1392027 bytes) The level on this side of our driveway was nearly at the top of the boots.  You can see how much it has gone down.
DSCN0100.JPG (1320458 bytes) Here is more fill that Joel brought on Friday for leveling up the drive as needed.
DSCN0101.JPG (1245615 bytes) Joel found us some inexpensive shell sand. It looks pretty nice. It was only $4 more than the clay fill we had him get a load of from up the road

 
DSCN0102.JPG (1170551 bytes) This is the stuff on the drive.
DSCN0103.JPG (1463016 bytes) This is the start of the ditch across the power line road. We were able to remove most of the grass using the tractor
DSCN0104.JPG (1389220 bytes) Here is Cindy making one pass digging the ditch out another 4 - 6 inches.  She made two passes on the complete ditch.  I was digging out the ends and acting as mud pump.  I was easily able to keep up with the water intrusion using a five gallon bucket.
DSCN0105.JPG (1249412 bytes) It is a long way across and waist deep.
DSCN0106.JPG (1443811 bytes) This is the high end.  The water is about 18 inches above the other end.
DSCN0107.JPG (1398287 bytes) The completed ditch. 
DSCN0108.JPG (1314267 bytes) Cindy will dig out the dirt on the low end first.  Hopefully it will help prevent some erosion.
DSCN0109.JPG (1417405 bytes) Going..
DSCN0110.JPG (1328330 bytes) Going..
DSCN0111.JPG (1455858 bytes) Going..
DSCN0112.JPG (1283678 bytes) Gone!  We waited a moment for the water level to stabilize.
DSCN0113.JPG (1437653 bytes) Cindy started to work on the other end.
DSCN0114.JPG (1433867 bytes) It is easy to see the difference in the water levels.
DSCN0115.JPG (1488060 bytes) The first shovel full.  This end is full of roots so the digging is much harder.
DSCN0116.JPG (1500718 bytes) Going..
DSCN0117.JPG (1469058 bytes) Going..
DSCN0118.JPG (1507270 bytes) Going..
DSCN0119.JPG (1497432 bytes) Gone!
DSCN0120.JPG (1479471 bytes) Beautiful!
DSCN0121.JPG (1482639 bytes) I took over enlarging the inlet and removing the weeds to improve the flow.
DSCN0122.JPG (1495782 bytes) The level at the outfall is rising and the water is flowing like mad!
DSCN0123.JPG (1489656 bytes) The water is really moving down the channel we made.
DSCN0124.JPG (1509620 bytes) Here is another view.