Preparing for irrigation

Yesterday and today I have been getting ready for irrigation.   It is very dry and the hayfield and pastures need water.   I thought I would have done some of the prep work earlier this year, but no, that didn't get done.

First off, I need to get rid of much as I could of the waterweed that grows near the intake.  Otherwise it will clog the intake screen.

https://extension.psu.edu/elodea-common-waterweed

Last evening when I went down the bank into the water, I went by my wooden platform that goes under the intake pipe.  What is now under the platform is a nest of wasps.   They came swarming out and attacked me as I was slowly going down the river bank.  I got stung four times before I successfully and safely fell into the water.  I was stung in my leg, my arm, my side, and my face just under my eye.   The face stung hurt the most and swelled up the most.  The swelling affected the bottom corner of the vision in my left eye as I could see the swelling.  A day later and that is now gone.

I had a rake and knocked the nest into the water and sank it.  I tossed what water I could up to the bottom of the platform to drive off the remaining wasps flying around looking for their nest.   Then it was on to raking to get rid of the waterweed.  By now the sun had set and I couldn't see in the water.  So the effort was by feel, with breaks to toss water back towards the platform to drive off the returning wasps.

Today I checked and I had gotten rid of most of the waterweed.  90%.  What remained was off to the side.  Even with no wasps around I didn't want to go back into the water to get rid of the rest of the waterweed.  It should be fine.

Then I needed to reattach all of the intake pipe.  Over Winter I pull part of the intake pipe out of the river so the ice that forms doesn't break the pipe.  I thought I had a metal object to help support the long intake pipe.  Some people had used a few of these metal objects as fence posts.   Last night when raking the waterweed I discovered the metal object laying at the bottom of the river.  Today I pounded the object into the ground to support the intake pipe.  This time the object should stay in the ground.

Here you can see the metal object holding up the intake pipe.  And the wooden platform that allows me to stand so I can connect the part of the intake pipe that leads into the river.

Another thing I thought I would have gotten done earlier this Spring was to fix the mainline pipe that runs across the south pasture.  For the last three or four years one of the pipe connections has a leak.  It is annoying.  Because it is work to get to that pipe I kept putting it off each year.  No longer.

These are all steel mainline pipes and I had to unhook 12 of them.  These pipes have not been unhooked in many, many years.

This pipe was buried in the ground so I can safely drive through the gate without crushing the pipe.

These two pipes would not come apart.  Eventually I was able unconnect the second pipe, and then with effort slightly move the two 21 foot long pipes (42 feet).   I had two of these double pipe connections to deal with.

I thought the leak may be because the gasket broke or came apart or disintegrated.  But no, the gasket was fine.  The steel pipe had an indentation in it.  Why this area did not leak the first so many years I used these pipes is a mystery.   I got a chizel and thought maybe I could bend the indentation out.   But no, the steel is very, very strong.   Then I remembered I had an extra steel pipe.  I got that pipe and replaced this pipe.   Hopefully that solves the leak.

Once I put the 12 pipes back together I was able to finally start assembling the mainline pipe across the hayfield.  Starting back in April I had talked with Myron about replacing the steel pipes that go across the hayfield with aluminum pipes.  Myron had to find some aluminum pipes from his used pipes pile.  When I checked in May he hadn't found pipes yet.  But he also had gotten some aluminum pipes from someone who had replaced or quit irrigating.  He hadn't picked them up yet.  June came, Myron was going to get the pipes the next week.   I think I saw the pipes at Myron's place later but then I got busy and distracted then had to cut my hay.   Rather than delaying the start of my irrigation anymore, I carried the steel pipes today across the hayfield.  The pipes got heavier and heavier the later I carried them and the further I had to go.

I got all of the mainline pipes set by the end of the day.  Tomorrow the goal is to set the three sprinkler line of pipes and then start irrigating.   We'll see if that happens tomorrow.