I wrote the last post about this ten days ago. This project is taking a lot longer than I’d hoped. The last field work was October 31 when Michael put up the borders. It wasn’t until November 6 that the irrigation part of the project started.

This is a photo taken in May when we were starting to irrigate. This is just outside of our fence line. The water is starting to flow down the ditch after SID (Solano Irrigation District) personnel opened a valve. The red wheel controls the position of the gate that lets water into a pipe at the base of that concrete structure.

The water goes through the pipe into the concrete standpipe in the northwest corner of the pasture. There is an opening that faces south and water flows into our ditch. We are replacing the ditch system on our property with a pipeline. We can’t pump because there is no power back here. Therefore the whole system has to work with gravity feed. Engineers from Pacific Southwest Irrigation proposed this system, approved by NRCS.The first step was to replace this standpipe and pipeline

I was surprised at the finesse with which the excavator operator could work around the existing structure. It was important to not damage the concrete structure that has the red wheel control. They had to dig up the existing pipe that went into an opening at the base of that structure. In this view the top of that standpipe to be removed has already been knocked off.

A lot of dirt had to be moved and this pile was a lot bigger by the time they finished.

Some handwork (with a shovel) was necessary to break away the mortar.

They also used a handheld jack hammer to break more away without damaging the concrete box. The excavator loosened the old pipe without damage to the remaining structure.

Eventually they were able to remove the old pipe and the rest of the standpipe.

In the meantime Dan made a frame and poured concrete to extend the walkway behind the barn. The concrete chunks under the new concrete are the leftover parts of that foundation that we hauled out of the pasture after the initial work to remove it.

This is the new pipe.

It was lifted into position and then cut to fit.

The crew dug a pit and made a concrete pad at the bottom.

The next day they installed two concrete box structures with the pipe that connects the SID structure to this one. The view is to the west. That tree is right at the corner of the property.

The view east. This was last Friday. Another crew will be here this Thursday or Friday to work on the rest of the pipeline. We wlll be gone, but that is another story. I need to get my friends to take photos.