Our life living off the land in our log cabin, breathing fresh mountain air, and getting back to basics.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Creeks Run Through It...

...our property that is.  They are part of what makes this place what it is.

From the North to the South, following the East sides of our cabin, we have creeks that flow down the mountain about 15 feet below where the cabin sits.  This one flows from SSE, then along the East side of the cabin, joining with the one below and heading North, NNE.  The photo does not do this branch justice, because it's beautiful cascades begin further East (further into the photo), I just couldn't capture it all in one picture.  I am standing on the bridge to take this photo, which I describe below.
The creek below flows from the East, meets with the one above, and jointly they continue to flow North, NNE. This flows inside one of the boundaries of our property, rising up the mountain for several acres.
In basic terms, two sides or our cabin are surrounded by these creeks.  They are not too wide, 1 - 2 feet in most places, some areas as wide as 3 feet or so, depending upon the terrain and rain, with overflow areas of up to 5 - 8 feet.  However, these creeks run despite rain, for they are naturally fed springs from the mountains, and run continuously.  Year's ago, these creeks were the source of water for families living up in these mountians.  That is not the case any longer, but we do get our drinking water from a mountain fed well!

There is a steep decline to them from the cabin, in fact, good protection if there ever was a river flowing instead of the creeks, because we sit far above the danger zone.  These are the stairs down from the cabin, or up from the creek, whichever way you choose to approach it!  You can see the roof of the cabin in what appears to be the middle of the top of the stairs if you look closely.

As you can imagine, we are entertained, day and night, by the mesmerizing sound of the creek's rushing water.  Sometimes they are flowing madly, and sometimes they are calmly passing by.  But either way, we know they are there.  While I love winter and the cold, when the time comes to open the windows, there is nothing more soothing than listening to the creek flow.  At night, when I find myself sleepless, I just listen to the creeks, and let them lullaby me to sleep. 

Below you see the bridge Johny built, which leads to the stairs you see above to your right, and once you cross the bridge from the stairs, if you turn left you will find the second creek described above.  What flows below the bridge is what flows into the creek flowing from the Eeast.  To the right you see what is carved in it, those are our initials, L&J:)

In addition to the beauty of the creeks, nature offers an abundance of treasures, most often unexpected and lovely little surprises. This little beauty sits on the east side of our bridge, delicately gracing the waters edge. 
After the heavy rains we had yesterday, along with the past few storms, the creeks are strong and powerful.  Tonight is warm enough to leave the windows open more than a smidgen, and I have no doubt the creeks will sweetly sing me to sleep, and keep me sleeping. 

As I close this evening, I want to thank you for reading my blog.  I welcome you to invite your friends to read, follow, subscribe to the email updates, and comment...and I welcome your comments too!  I am honored that you all have chosen to share in my journey, and am thrilled that in less than three weeks there is a group of you who are consistently reading and following.  I have over 1250 page views to date, and this seems incredible for me.  So, with heartfelt gratitude, I THANK YOU!!!

3 comments:

Christine said...

Lise I would dearly love to have those pretty little creeks sing me to sleep at night. There's not a sweeter sound I know!

Malcolm and Ciejay Burgess said...

Lisa we don't have a creek running near our home BUT when the rainy season hits and the hard rains come we have a creek of sort that runs right down the middle of our road in front of the house yo see we live at the foot of a small mt. range and water has to flow down hill and thats us lol , but when it stops raining one our later you can never tell it had rained the ground soaks it up that fast and it's hot too.

I'm loving your blog . Malcolm

Lise said...

Mamabug, you are absolutely right!

Malcolm, that sounds facinating! And I am glad you are enjoying the blog, I am really enjoying writing it!