Puzzles Under Ground

I may be starting to sound redundant, but seriously... water is an issue. Today, Ev and I got to the ranch early to check on the cows. We found that the siphon wasn't working again. We moved the cows off the trough and opened up a fence so they could water off Mill Creek. We spent about 4 hours trying to solve the siphon problem.

My motto for ranch work has become "Every journey begins with a single foot step."

As Ev and I ran back and forth between the trough, the pond, the tank, and any other possible point where air may be getting into the line, it became clear that a simple idea - our siphon - can be an incredibly confusing problem. But, we may have found the problem - air is being pulled into the pressurized line from further down the line. The solution: dig a hole where the water line "t's" to go into the pond, cut both ends of the PVC, install a valve on both sides, reconnect the PVC, and fill in the hole. This is what we have to look forward to for tomorrow.

In other news, Julie, Joe's wife, sent me pictures from this weekend. I joined Joe's family for a little sailing trip on Joe's dad's boat from Tinsley Island in Stockton down to Alameda (Oakland). It was a blast and a memorable sailing adventure.