Last Friday I was working on my niece Kat’s quilt. I had just finished a block, and looked out the window, and saw that the field to our west seemed wet. But, I hadn’t noticed it raining. I thought that was odd, and then I realized that there was standing water in between our house and the neighbors’ house. That seemed so strange that I actually went outdoors to look more closely. I went over to Jan’s house. I said, “there’s something not right outdoors, I need you to come look.”
WELL. The water was rising so quickly that in the interval between when I’d looked, and when Jan got outdoors, the water had already crept into our chicken yard. We ran next door to see if the neighbors had left their water on someplace, and quickly discovered that water was pouring out from the irrigation ditch. We rang their doorbell - no one was home. The water was pouring out, seemingly, gallons every second. Luckily, Jan had our neighbor’s work number, and was able to get her on the phone.
That began a cascade of conversations that I didn’t really understand. In the end, after a lot of questioning, I learned that two of our neighbors share an irrigation system. The system has gates. Our neighbors need to confirm with each other what configuration the gates are in before either of them turns on the irrigation water. This has always worked. Until last Friday. I don’t know how they managed to drop the ball, but one of them turned on the system without consulting the other, and then left home. Our property got irrigated.
Irrigation is an ancient technique. We know that Egyptians irrigated as far back as 6,000 BCE. In what is now Sudan, there was an advanced irrigation system involving a water wheel around 3,000 BCE. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon (one of the seven ancient wonders of the world) were irrigated, although how is lost to time. Irrigation has been used in Arizona since 1,200 BCE.
By the time Jan and I got BACK from next door, our chicken yard was completely underwater, and the water was heading toward our houses. Jan handed me a broom and said “don’t let the water get in the house”. WHAT?!?!?!?!?!
Long story short, I spent the next hour and a half trying to sweep the water that was pouring through our breezeway (between our two houses) out onto our driveway. But, you know, it was impossible. The water climbed two inches over our thresholds. Neighbors began coming over with brooms. Soon there were several women helping sweep the water away from our houses. It was back-breaking. Their husbands brought plows and back-hoes. One man continued our work by PLOWING the water from our driveway to the road. It reminded me of the time Harold Washington plowed Lake Michigan off of Lake Shore Drive in order to become Chicago’s mayor.
FINALLY were able to reach the guy who had turned on the water - and he turned the water back off. He also dug a channel to divert the water from our property.
Our hay guy called during the nightmare. We were down to only six bales of hay, and we were desperate for more. He’d harvested and baled his hay, and it was in his barn, but the water flooded all the way up to our hay barn. The hay barn is on a foundation, so that the hay that’s already in the barn is safe and dry. But there was no way to get a load of hay to the barn when he called. The road was completely underwater. We had to tell him that he couldn’t deliver hay - we were dealing with a flood.
When I first moved here I bought a pair of rain boots from the Tractor Supply. At the time, I thought that actually purchasing something from a tractor supply place was the most exotic thing in the world. The boots cost $16, and I think they paid for themselves on Friday. It’s never great to stand in six inches of water for hours, but if you have to do it, those boots are definitely your friends!!!!
Once our neighbor turned the water off, things turned around pretty quickly. We got the water back out of our porches - it got past the porches to go inside either of our houses. Whew!!! But, the chicken yard was still completely under water - the chickens couldn’t figure out how to get to their coop!!!
Without being able to get to their coop, our chickens could not be made safe overnight. We shut them in at sunset to protect them from skunks and other predators. We thought we might lose the entire flock. But, the neighbors came over and built a boardwalk for them!!! The chickens walked the planks to get to their coop!!! Which was so great!!! Of course, on Saturday morning, they refused to come back out. Jan had to carry several of them out, and then shoo the rest.
The most amazing thing about this entire incident was cultural. Not only did all our neighbors come to help, but the two people who were responsible talked about it and then let Jan know that they would make any damage right. There was no thought of insurance, lawyers, or consulting any other sort of authority. Just an acceptance that the people who made a mistake had to correct the mistake. That’s a truly beautiful thing.
