Pipes

That dreaded word! I've talked about them before but I don't think I've ever shown them. This is what keeps the ranch green and the hay growing. Everyday, rain or shine, the pipes have to be moved. The earlier the better because they get too hot to handle. My niece pretty much takes care of them but once in awhile I'm out there changing them. We might have five or six lines going on different fields at one time, some short and some really, really long lines! I do not like doing them by myself (I think I've mentioned that before, yeah I'm pretty sure I have) and usually Grandma (MIL) is out there doing them with me. It's a great chance for us woman folk to chat and work out a bit too! You turn off the hydrant at the start of the line, move it over, hook up a swing pipe, move the first pipe approximately 24 to 27 paces from the last move, connect it, run back and get the next one, you continue doing this down to the end of the line. We have markers at the bottom of the fields to try and keep everything straight. Part of my job is the "liner upper," after we get the pipe moved I stand at the start of each pipe and tell the person holding the riser at the other end to move until it's in line with the marker. Once lined up, it's a push, I then set the hook or knobbie in place, and then a pull. You do this everyday and either come to the end of the field and start over, or hoist them over a fence and start a new field. Depending on what you are doing you might grab the pipe wagon and haul them someplace else.

This is the horse/cow pasture and it's always eaten down, all the other fields have alfalfa growing on them and you end up soaked right up to your waist! This is the view I see from my living room window. And don't think they don't get done when company is here, I've had everyone out there from my Mom to Aunts and Uncles helping, people from the city just love doing this stuff! And it just looks plain funny to see them in rubbers (gum boots)!!

Some days we have two vehicles and we'll leave one parked at the bottom but usually I run (yeah really, well maybe a fast walk) back up to the top of the field, turn the hydrant on, and grab the vehicle we've got at the top. You always keep a bit of water running while you are connecting the pipes just so everything stays put, when you come to the last pipe you put the plug in and then the line has to be turned on full blast when you're done. For the most part it's just as I described but we have the odd field where it's a triangle shape, or wider at the bottom than the top, or the hydrants are mickey moused, when you come across this you improvise and do the best you can :)

You may have noticed, in the top picture, one of the pipes has a hole in it, eventually it will be fixed or replaced and it really doesn't hurt if the hole is small. Here's a short video clip showing how sometimes the pipes end up broken.