Last year, we started down the path of creating a number of ponds around the property to catch some of the water we were losing from all the hills. Farm Excavating did a great job with the dozer work and proved to be a rare analytical artist in the realm of earth moving. We were all very fortunate that he got the bulldozer out when he did, because the next morning the entire pond filled up in about an hour during one of the most torrential rains I’ve ever seen. Work took about a week in total, with a small pond on the upper hill that drained down into the largest. We attempted to put another one in at the end of the downhill run, but it proved to be a bit more than we bargained for, however that’s not the story we’re here to tell. This is a story about the spillway and the beating it took during one of the “ten year” floods in our region and how we got it back in shape with the use of a little muscle, some rock, and our golf cart.
After about a day or two, the water stopped rushing through the spillway. It had cut a pretty deep swath into the side wall and needed to be repaired. Fortunately, there was a row of pins at the top of the sidewall and their deep tap roots might have been what saved all the dirt from just washing into the spillway and clogging it up. But, we wanted to stop the erosion in its tracks where it was and prevent that from happening in the future.
Our first step was ordering rip rap. We needed material that we could move and stack, but something that was large enough to stay in place once we got it there and the water was running over it. The fella that delivered the load was a master of his rig and was able to get the load all the way to the bottom of the spillway. This saved me the trouble of having to haul it into the valley where the pond was located. Golf carts might be great for saving your back, but hauling rocks is still hauling rocks and having all the material right at the site made a world of difference in the amount of time it took. Aside from that, the pile itself was already filling a large portion of the erosion cut at the end of the spillway, so that made a little less work too.
Once the load was dropped, it was time to prep the sidewall. We used a mesh netting for the under layer to help prevent to much sediment from washing through the large rocks we would later stack up on top of it. This was great for flattening any small roots that had made their way out and pointed them in the right direction, sending them back into the earth. Once the mesh was in place, it was time for the hard part. Charlie was a great help in loading up the back of the cart. He had a great time climbing the rock mound and throwing them down with his best Incredible Hulk voice. Occasionally, he’d move enough of them to create a blank space an there would be a minor avalanche that would reveal the wayward lizard or snake that had was already trying to make this hill their home in the few days that it had been sitting there. So, be aware the it is a pile of rocks, that they can move, and that it might be quickly inhabited by the local critters.
Once we had our mesh netting in place, we started the arduous process of loading up the back of the cart and hauling it up the spillway. Be sure to wear gloves when you’re doing this. I thought the skin on my hands was tough enough to handle the limestone (and it was), but the real danger comes in the crunches and pinches. We don’t have a bucket on the back of our cart (yet), so we ended up having to stack them in a pyramid to get the max load. This resulted in a few of them moving on their own, sometimes deciding that a ring finger or thumb would make the best landing pad. Just put on the gloves and save yourself the grief.
Hauling and stacking in the summer months of Tennessee can be a bit…… draining. It’s not the 90 plus degree weather that gets you. It’s the humidity. Fortunately, we had a lot of shade and our golf cart came equipped with four cup holders to hold various refreshments. If we didn’t have any shade available, a golf cart is a great way to sit comfortably in the shade and take a load off (Between the draining comment and the take a load off comment, I can hear y’all groaning for my PUNishment. It’s problem I’m aware of, but I’m not really working on it at all). Careful stacking of the retaining rubble took most of the time. We wanted to be sure there was enough of it in place should another “ten year” rain come through in the next year or so. Mirroring our last bout of perfect timing, once we had stacked all the rip rap, we had a heavy rain come through the next day, top off our pond, and start rushing down the spillway. I’m happy to say that we had not a single rock out of place other than a little settling, which was to be expected. Charlie was out there for some of it, climbing along the edge to assess the work and found the trench filled, the erosion abated, and the water flowing freely without taking the work with it. Now, if we can figure out how to turn the spillway into a seasonal water slide………
