Spring Civil Engineering

I might have invited disaster on us all, because I finally got around to packing away all my winter gear. If the temperature suddenly plunges to -40°, I will gladly hand myself over to the angry mob.

After yesterday morning, though, it definitely felt like spring was in full force. Snow was melting so fast that while I was poking around for gear that I might have lost in the snow (like my axe, which I forgot to paint orange...), I heard what sounded like a large stream. I went on over to investigate, and it was a stream, going into the pond. There hadn't been a little river there before!

Also, it's the time of civil engineering projects around the home. I needed to grain the small ocean building around my house, before it got deep enough to flood me, so I dug a few slit trenches to drain everything off. (Edit to add: pretty much all the runoff from the hills flows directly to me. And I'm in a wetlands to begin with. Thus the water.) Everything's frozen this morning, but it looks like before it froze, I got it to a mere half a foot at its deepest. The trench also filled in with gravel and silt, so if we have much more melt off, I'll need to go re-dig it. Someplaces don't need shovels, but they need backloaders...

It's also to that time of year you're required to take your studs off, and that's exactly why this post isn't longer or more interesting. I've got an early appointment at the shop to swap my winter tires for my summer. I know most people put this off until after the deadline to switch, but I don't want to risk the fine...