Monday, October 16, 2017

Bestowed Waterfall

Mother Nature works in Mysterious Ways,
or should I say:
You just might get it.


Not mine... "yet" ;-)


My recent build was undoubtedly the biggest project I ever took on by myself. I wanted to cross that finish line and I was determined not to let any obstacle stand in my way. I did a lot of research and planned out every last thing I knew I had a say in, or could learn to tackle myself. At every decision, I would always way in my current set of skills, the approximate time line I had narrowed down, and of course the budget I set for the whole project. Many people had warned me about things "always" going wrong somewhere and blowing the budget, or the timeline. Yes I did make adjustments as I learned about everything that needed to happen, that was expected, but my reaction to those comments was: I got it covered. Some of the concerns were valid, so I did look into those, but the rest just made me grin. I can honestly say I followed my gut for at least 95% of the way. Hey, I had to let a few things slide... I'm still Canadian eh ;-)

With that said, I did keep everything "ahead of schedule, and under budget", like I wanted... until Mother Nature said.. "wait a minute there, you forgot something".



Backstory Time ~


My woodlot is on a very apparent slope, one of the front corners has always been kinda moaty, if that's a word. It's actually the way I first came into my lot after the snow melted, I had purchased it that March. From the beginning, my mind pictured something special there... a little bridge, maybe a small stream... I wasn't sure, but it stayed with me.

Moving on.... I went exploring and figuring things out. One thing led to another. I cleared sections of the land, got my driveway build, and got myself a prefab 12'x16' shed to serve as temporary storage, and my workshop the first year (2015). I attempted to make the house happen by the end of 2016, but ended up having a few too many loose ends to make that happen. I did however clear another huge section, and had my tradesmen all lined up and ready to roll when ready. 


Over the following winter, I took the time I needed to design, and redesign, literally every inch of the house floor plan. I moved through all the steps until everything fell into place.


Then it was time... Last chunk of clearing, excavation, septic, then the well. Everything was going smoothly... then it happened! Thank God I was still "under budget".


It turned out the hillside we were digging in was full of  small springs. That part was kindov expected, but the biggest glitch came from the vein they taped into for the well. It was overflowing at 15 to 20 gallons per minute. Fun times to get that extra few feet of casing welded on there.

We tapped an overflow hole into the casing and piped it out across the yard, all the way to the front. I had to get an additional 130' long downgraded trench dug to accommodate 2 pipes. One for the constant water rush from the well, and another to grab all the little springs along the way. Bye bye under budget.

The thing is, looking back, I knew I had asked for it  -_-


The silver lining...
Now I can build a nice "natural" waterfall right up front...


A few inspiration pics below. My favorite is at the top of the post, with the little blue spruce surrounded by green. Scroll at the bottom for a short video of my overflowing well.









I'll share more on My Waterfall as I start to work on it.
Probably not till next year though


9 comments:

JPD said...

Beautiful. One element you may be missing. Free labor. All your loyal readers have all that spare time next spring and summer. Many of us are close by. Last I looked (google maps), my location in Texas is just a quick drive to Canada.

so, just let us know, one of us is bound to own a shovel.

taminator013 said...

My woodlot is on a very apparent slop, one of the front corners has always been kinda moaty, if that's a word.

I guess if it's moaty there would be an apparent "slop". Maybe the slop comes from all the water running down the slope..............

I love being a spelling nazi................

MissK said...

LMFAO !! ...and I reread the damn thing :P

MissK said...

Free labor would be nice, JPD ...I might have to think about that ;-)

Anonymous said...

INTERESTING!! Please keep us in the loop on this one.---Ray

tsquared said...

I like it. But there is one thing that just doesn't work. Ya'ii have that stuff called snow. I don't mind visiting it but I do not lit it visiting me.

I am trying to go further south. I just interviewed for a position down in Melbourne FL. I have lathered up with oil and jumped out the pan, I don't know if I am going to land in the fire or on my feet.

idahobob said...

When you get it finished, it will be a "Bespoke" water course, eh?

Bob


MissK said...

Loud & Proud, Bob ;-)

Hope it pans out for you Tony, stay warm ;-)

I will Ray, it's gonna be a fun project :-)

Patrick D said...

Was in Spain a number of years back and visited the Monastario De Piedro,(SP?) which had somehow become public, including the buildings being used as a bed and breakfast type arrangement. Anyhow, they had a beautiful mountain stream running through the grounds and over time the monks built a variety of different diversions and structures through which they re-directed the stream. I believe they had over 100 waterfalls on the property. They also had some very large 'cement ponds' (as the Clampets would call 'em), in which they raised trout. Pretty awesome setup, but I'm sure only a mere shadow of what you will be able to do with your own little mountain stream, MissK!