Down and Dirty On Easter

Many know we have live water from springs.  This is pumped into the house for our convenience (I have carried many a buckets from this spring).  Our water is far better and sweeter tasting that any city water I've had.  The rock circle is where the pump sits suspended in clear spring water.  My grandpa and Dad made this years ago.  

The bad part about all this is we have to clean and flush the spring at least twice a year according to conditions.  Well we missed last year (Hubby's and Marcy's illness).  Our water remained clear and sweet but this day of work was long over due. 

This is not a one man job.  So we invited family with the lure of Marcy's cooking and they went to work.

First you make a plan.  The culvert for over flow was removed to flush out the area removing moss and two years of natural deposits in the bottom of the holding pond.

Then you jump in and start moving the mud.  The more mud moving out the better.  The blanket moss goes out with the current.

Basically it is like making wine.  You squish the mud and work it down stream with your feet.  Andrew kept us hydrated.

Second grandson Jake ran to get whatever we needed, sometimes driving the Ranger or running as fast as he could go.  Andrew and Jake played some foot ball

and then they deserted us.

Shoveling muck is fun.  Now maybe we won't have to clean it again till next spring...hopefully!

We scrubbed everything, dug muck and pushed water.  We've done this since childhood but it was all done by hand then.  We would dig grass from this branch all the way to the creek.  It was an all day job for four generations.

 We rescued critters

and moved them to a safer place.  Our plan was to bleach the main spring to kill the blanket moss but not the live things.  The bleach will do its job and it will dissipate before it reaches the pond or creek.

Boots were no good.  

All was work was done barefooted.

Melissa, my oldest daughter,

captured a mother/daughter portrait.

The work continues and the water level lowered.  Melissa said she never saw any pictures on my blog of her.  I wonder if she will be proud of this one!  Bev, my sister, is working that mud so it can move on out.

Marcy, my oldest sister, came over to tell us she had cooked a feast.  Toni, my nephew, did work although I have few pictures of it.

We chlorinated while Hubby dammed the creek.  We ate a mouth watering belly filling delicious dinner at Marcy's and returned to the spring.

Busting the dam.

Replacing the culvert with Toni looking like a Highway Department employee we are nearing completion.

Now we are back in the pure water business again.

As the world celebrated the Resurrection

we resurrected our water source.