Building Permit and Meltdowns

We finally have a building permit. Two weeks later than our direst projections...now the big question is; can we beat the snow date? DH Matt is having conniptions, both from exposure to a pessimistic friend (the effect is similar to toxic pesticides, the friend's nickname is "killjoy") he's hired for the project or from delays. Two days wait for an inspector for the trenches for supply lines (water, propane, perhaps more). One would think the world was ending. Wait, it might be ;).

I'm okay with the delays; we have had a serious water crisis from our barely-there well. I know that my small garden has production issues from lack of water. There simply isn't enough water and water pressure to meet water needs for everything in the garden . Our larger garden was greatly stunted because we were eking the water out to the plants. DH used the building delay and diverted water from a creek on the upper part of our property (half a mile of pipe and trenching) and now we finally have enough water for both the garden and the orchard. Ironically we are sitting right above a water reservoir...it does not work to pump water up a hill. If it were possible with our energy resources, we would still have to litigate water rights. Always a dicey thing in the West.

Water, water in the garden! Enough water that we can actually (carefully) water the driveway to cut down on six inches of dust rising with each step. Water, so that our drip water irrigation system can have enough pressure to work the way it's supposed to. We get about 47 inches of rain and snow in the winter, but it doesn't hang around in our dry summer weather.

People in the West are always and forever fighting over water. Our neighbors right above us have holding ponds for some of the water. I suspect that if this were examined it would be found to be illegal. But, people in glass houses don't throw rocks. We all exist in a precarious truce regarding land easements to pass through each other's property and the sharing of water. This works because our parcels are so large. If the neighbors right above us were to run cattle on their land, the water would be fouled and all bets would be off. I suspect, however, that cattle have been tried in the past and failed. This land is terrific for growing trees, such as Cedar and Sugar Pine, perhaps a bit of Douglas Fir. It's not good land for hay, or fields. Remove the trees and the rich soil slides down the foothills to rest in the lake. Plug too many wells into a limited aquifer and no one has water.

Local friends whom we've shown our land to marvel about how flat it is. I have to give an inner belly laugh over that one. By local standards our land is, indeed, flat. Over our total 160 acres we have only a 500' variation in elevation. And we miss the dreaded 4000' marker; our highest elevation is 3500'. That extra 500' to the 4000' mark would bring potentially 12' snow ...repeat, that is twelve feet, not inches. My gardens are, by our standards, flat. I think my large garden only dips 6' from one side to the other. Visitors who are used to living in a valley, however, marvel about the curving undulations of the land and the lack of long sight lines.

It's so beautiful out there...I try to drive out and garden every day. It's an hour round trip just for the driving, so this isn't always possible. The weather might be hot in town, but it's always cooler on our land. The air blows across the lake and cools before it reaches us. I love the sound of the wind sighing through the tops of the trees, it reminds me of the sound of ocean surf. We'll have some tough times living out there. The winter drive will be rough; we may have six feet of snow for half of the year. There won't be any impulse trips to the grocery store. I pick up a handful of the rich, loamy soil and let it slide through my fingers. I listen to the wind, and follow the fight of a soaring hawk. DH Matt and I have worked for years to own this land. This is worth any delay and any amount of work.