Homesteading: A Woman's Journey

Unexpected Blessings

It is amazing to me how the Lord works.  Ever since last December when we had the winter storm, the lower part of our property where our driveway is located has been under water to some extent.  After the ice storm, I was unable to use the driveway for about 6 weeks due to the ice, then later the water & mud.  We don't have a 4-wheel drive vehicle, so once were were able to get the car out thanks to some neighbors who pulled us out where the car was stuck in the mud, the car was parked along the street. 

The problem stems from the fact that the road dammed off the creek that ran across from the neighboring property across the road and onto our property.  The county has had a small pipe under the road to divert the water, but it was not sufficient.  Water would dam up on the east side of the road and spill over causing alot of erosion to the dirt road and then flooding our driveway and property.

Today, I woke up to a surprise.  The county had a small crew here in front of our driveway.  They dug out the old pipe, which was horribly clogged with dirt and other debrise.  It was replaced with a pipe twice the diameter of the old one.  They then re-graded the road, adding 2 truck loads of gravel.  When they replaced the pipe, they ended up totally flooding our driveway and property on the lower end. One of the workers and I talked about it.  His boss felt bad about the flooding and offered to have them dig out a trench with the backhoe going from the pipe to the creekbed in the woods.  He also laid an extra thick layer of gravel on the end of our driveway to make it easier to get the car out.  He purposely made the gravel thick enough that I can go out with a shovel and rake to spread some of it down further into the drive where we always seem to have deep puddles of water or mud during the wet seasons.

What a blessing!  We had thought about doing this ourselves and was quoted a price of $4,000.00 to have the trench dug and some gravel put down.  In a matter of about 20 minutes, the work was done at no expense to us.  Amazing to me since the contractor who gave us the price quote said the work would take 2-3 days. 

I am so thrilled to have this work done.  Since Joe is no longer bring the rig home on his days off, we have changed our plans for that area.  Since it has a good amount of water most of the year, we are going to plant berries, melons, and maybe some grapevines in that area.  It gets alot of sunlight and as I already said, it also has alot of water.  Having the trench dug out is putting us ahead of schedule for getting that area prepared.  Now, I just have to wait until it has a chance to dry out enough to have someone come in and help till the ground so that I can get it ready for planting.

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04:30, Wednesday, April 11, 2007 .. Posted by crewchief

Oh that is awesome! Congratulations!! I'm so glad for you. Sounds like the county guys were pretty decent about the whole thing. That is great. :)

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04:48, Wednesday, April 11, 2007 .. Posted by Kitty

What a blessing you have gotten. I too was blessed recently with a finacial favor. My dh had knee surgery in March and the bills started coming in fast. Then last week we found out that he has to go to phisical therapy 3-5 times per week for 5-6 weeks. I knew there was no way we would be able to afford that. Well after the nurse checking in to it for me, she found out that we met all our deductables and out of pocket expenses and the therapy is going to be free. Thank you God, He is a good God.
Kitty

Hello

07:36, Wednesday, April 11, 2007 .. Posted by Anonymous

I have so enjoyed reading your blog. My dh is home at night and week end but woks 4 longs days a week. I know how you feel. It does get lonely. I wish I had some liked women around me. I have put your blog in my favorites. If you want to visit stop by sometimes.
www.athomewithelizabeth.blogspot.com
inmystudio@sbcglobal.net
Blessings,
Elizabeth

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09:41, Wednesday, April 11, 2007 .. Posted by Rhen

That really is a great blessing. God is so good!!
All for His glory,
~Rhen