Free Flowing - Beaver Battle Part 2

Yesterday afternoon a Spartanburg County Road Maintenance crew came out and removed the Beaver Dam from the culvert.  Here are a couple of before/after shots of our little stream.

Before (Same photo as posted yesterday)

After the Beaver Dam inside the culvert was cleared out

Before (notice the tree in the middle of the pond)

After (the tree is back on dry land)

Dam Beavers!

We have a small stream that flows along the edge of our property.  Except after heavy rains, the water is rarely over a few inches deep.  The stream flows under our street through a culvert.  About a month ago I noticed that the water level was much higher due to what I thought was a build up of debris at the entrance to the culvert.  So I busted up the debris pile which brought the water level back down to normal.

A few days later, I noticed that the debris pile was back and the water level was up again.  So I busted it up again.

When we returned from the our week away for the holidays, we found that our little stream had turned into a small pond.  The water wasn't flowing through the culvert any more and was backing up onto our property.  The location of the previous debris pile was now completely under water.

There is normally just a few inches of water flowing through the bottom of the culvert

The tree in the middle of the pond is normally above ground alongside the banks of the stream 

This required some further investigation!  I couldn't see inside the culvert from my yard, so I got with my neighbor across the street to investigate from his side of the road.  Inside the culvert was completely blocked up with debris.

Blocked up Culvert

Also along his part of his creek we spotted several tree stumps which were obviously downed by beavers!  Now normally, I have no problem with Beavers!  I think they are pretty amazing critters, but when they decide to flood my property, something has to be done!

Some recent Beaver Activity

 I wasn't about to go crawling inside the culvert, so we contacted our Homeowners Association and the County Road Commission.  They should be out later today to bust up the dam inside the culvert, but I am afraid the Beavers will quickly rebuild!

Another Beaver Dam on my neighbors property

The battle against the Beavers has begun!

Busch Gardens Christmastown

Williamsburg, VA

Wednesday, December 30th, 2011

During our visit to Virginia to visit my family for the Holidays, our whole gang took a trip down to Williamsburg for the Annual Busch Gardens Christmastown Celebration.  We had a great time!  Here are a some photos from our visit.

My Niece and Nephew Marielle and Liam

My Brother Bill and his family

Me and Liam

Me and my wife Amy

Busch Gardens Christmastown

Busch Gardens Christmastown

Busch Gardens Christmastown

Amy, Liam, and Me

Amy enjoying a Pretzel

My sister Mary with Marielle and an Angry Bird Pig

Busch Gardens Christmastown

My complete set of photos from Christmas 2011 is posted here:
http://family.webshots.com/album/582115777AXtnei

Christmas Photos - Part 2

Christmas 2011

Since this year we spent Christmas with Amy's family, we didn't make it up to Virginia to visit my family until after Christmas.  However, there was still plenty of festivities going on.  We spent time at my parents house, my brothers house and my sisters house.  Here are a few photos from our visit:

My niece Marielle and my wife Amy

My nephew Liam

My Mom, Marielle, Liam, and Katie

My nieces Marielle and Katie

Puff

Marielle and Conner Jammin'

The whole family also made a trip down to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg.  That will be tomorrows post!

Christmas Photos - Part 1

Christmas 2011

Rutherfordton, NC

This year we spent Christmas at my wife's parents house.  Here we are on Christmas Eve with Amy's side of the family.

After opening up all the presents on Christmas morning, we headed over to Amy's Grandmas house and added a few more family members for this next photo:

From there, we headed on back home for a day before heading up to visit my side of the family for the a few days.

The Hollywild Festival of Lights

Spartanburg County, SC

Saturday, December 17th, 2011

The Hollywild Festival of Lights is an annual tradition here in Spartanburg County, SC.  Amy and I went several years ago and had a good time, so we decided to go back again this year!

WARNING!  NEVER GO TO THE HOLLYWILD FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS ON THE SATURDAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS!

We made the mistake of going last night and it was WAY TOO CROWDED!  However, we made the best of it and still had a good time. 

We were fortunate to get there right as they opened at 6:00pm and only had to wait about a half hour to get in.  As we were leaving, the line of cars waiting to get in was over a mile long!  The Hollywild Festival of Lights is something that should be done on a week night or much earlier in the Holiday Season!



Here are a few photos from last night.

Christmas Lights

We put up our Christmas Lights this weekend.

Enough to show some Christmas sprit without going overboard!