When is a ditch a stream?

The end of the road is at hand.  Tomorrow we will be done with the farm clean up and ready to hand it over to the "new" owner.  But in answer to the above question: it depends on who you ask.  Here is what we've had to put up with since we've been back from our motorcycle trip.

Let me start from the very beginning.  On the farm's property there is a ditch that was hand dug in 1906 as a runoff for the farms uphill from us.  Over the years the ditch (which has water in it only 3 months a year) started to erode the bank so that it was undermining the tree next to the house.  In July the county decided to put in a new culvert to "help" the flow and make the "ditch" fish friendly.  Fish?  What fish?  Anyway, they installed this HUGE culvert, so large that a six-foot person could walk through it without bending over, and thought they (the county) were great.  Fast forward to September, right before we left, and the Ditch District wanted to improve the ditch to make the flow better and make the ditch look better.  For the last 50 years Karl's aunt and uncle never allowed the district to come on their property.  After talking to the district Karl and his aunt decided that what they were proposing looked and sounded good.  But to go around the permit process, which would have taken 3 YEARS, they waited until we left the property so that we weren't there and wouldn't get involved.  Karl came back in December and saw what a great job they did and was happy with the result.

Now fast forward to 2010.  His aunt has agreed to put the farm up for sale.  It was on the market for 2 weeks and we had a perspective buyer.  We think everything is going great and suddenly a wrench is thrown into the works.  Now remember, this ditch has been here for over 100 years and nothing was ever done or said about it.  Suddenly SOMEONE notices that the ditch has been greatly improved, but not according to the county, Army Corps of Engineers, Conversation Corp or Washington Fish and Game's specification.  All of a sudden everyone was involved!  Their contention is that the rock that is lining the ditch's banks isn't "fish" friendly and would endanger new species.  Again - fish?  What fish?  "Supposedly" Fish and Game found "evidence" of fish and now the ditch has become a stream!    Now, on top of everything else the buyer's real estate agent is giving them all sorts of wrong advice.  She is finally FIRED!  Can you imagine how bad you must be if you get fired from real estate?  Now Karl is becoming very angry about the whole thing and is ready to tell all agencies involved to take the "offending" rocks  out then "get the hell off my land"!  I had to stay in the motorhome while he was having the meeting with all the agencies because I would have gotten myself in a whole lot of trouble with my mouth.  Finally we went to the county ourselves and got the true answers from all involved then went back and let our real estate agent know so that he could give the information to the buyer.  Then, in an unheard of move, our agent suggested that Karl talk to the buyer directly so that he could give the answers he got and who he talked to at the county.  BTW - even the county people think this Fish and Game District is going way overboard in calling certain things as a stream.  In the meantime an agent from the Conservation agency brought out their own engineer to test the rocks on the banks and even they said that it was done very well and would hold up.  Plus it would cause more damage removing them.

As of today Fish and Game, Conversation Agency, Whatcom County and ACorE are all in agreement that if the rocks are removed and they are allowed to plant native foliage along the bank they will approve the sale.  FINALLY!!!!!

Tomorrow will be the last run of things out of the house and then everything will be done.  After three years we will be free of the farm, Aunt Myrne is happily settled in her assisted living and this mess called Whatcom County in Washington State run by flaming liberals will be out of our hands forever!

LET'S PARTY!!!!!!

So the answer to the question is:  if Fish and Game gets involved, no matter what it looks like, if it has "evidence" of fish it becomes a stream, whether there is running water or not.

Reflections

Flight miles = 5800, motorcycle miles = 3700, car miles = 800, number of states visited = 12, number of days this all took place = 37.

That has been our travels.  So far.  What I didn't include were the number of hours of sleep which weren't enough.  It has been a very busy month with traveling to get from one place to another due to commitments.  I also didn't include the number of days we spent in our own houses which were probably less than 10.  At this point I really don't care to see another hotel room for a very long time.

What I have discovered on this journey has to do with the terrain and foliage and how long I have been away from or exposed to it.  I grew up in Upstate New York which to many doesn't mean a whole lot.  Most people hear the words New York and they think of the city.  Upstate is where you find farmlands, dairy cows and a very laid back way of life.  And lots of trees, i.e. greenery everywhere.  I lived there for 18 years and didn't know any other kind of landscape.  Then I moved to Southern California.  Not as lush, not as green.  I really missed my green stuff for a long time.  When I would fly back home I would notice that even the air smelled different (and I don't mean smog).  It has a very different smell because of all the types of trees and the odor they give off.  It's a very musky, but great smell.  But I learned to like California and it's differences.  

After a few years we moved up to Northern California (Bay area) and there was a new terrain to learn to be happy with.  Did I miss the New York green?  Sure - especially during the summer when California becomes brown and dry.  Then a few years later we moved up farther north and ended up in the foothills of Sacramento.  Again a different terrain.  It's amazing how different California is as you move up the state.  Anyways, I thought I had found the closest thing to home when we built a house in the foothills area - farm house, land, and some trees.  But as fate would have it we were doing more and more things down in the valley so we waited until Brian was in his senior year then with his approval we moved down to the valley to be closer to our church and friends.  We let him make the final decision because he would have to commute the final year of school.

After Walt passed away and I began a new relationship with Karl we started looking for a house that would accommodate the motorhome.  As it was it had to be stored about 25 miles away and that was a pain when you had to get ready for a trip.  So the search began and we ended up buying in Albuquerque.

At the beginning of this month I flew back to my mom's who still lives at home where I grew up.  My sister, her daughter and granddaughter were also there.  We wold often take drives around the area to see how is has changed - not much, believe me.  When my mom asked if we saw any difference the only thing my sister said was that everything was overgrown.  I never noticed, but she was right.  Except that now, in my mind, the whole "green thing" that I used to love was overgrown.  I was missing the brown, open spaces of the west.  On our motorcycle trip that included all of the western states I loved seeing the desert and the open skies.  And I really missed that while I was in New York.

Now we are back in Washington state and I am back to the "green thing" again.  I guess my tastes have changed since I was a child.  Now I hear Brian wishing to find a place like where he grew up.  It's me I'm hearing all over again.  I have a wandering spirit - my mom will be the first to tell you that - but I always want to come home to the desert that I have grown to love in New Mexico.