First, a disclaimer: we know that plenty of people along the Line 6B route have it far worse than we do. We’ve said this numerous times. And this blog and our efforts to get Enbridge to shape up have never been about us or our personal situation. We tell stories about what’s happening in our backyard because it’s what’s closest to us (obviously); our difficulties are merely meant to stand for greater difficulties that so many others along this route have experienced.

Second, a second disclaimer: we are also aware that Enbridge is not in control of the weather. It’s true that they have the power to control creeks and rivers and that the product that runs through their pipe can eat islands (right, Josh Mogerman?), but we’re pretty sure they can’t control when and how much it rains.

And lately, it has rained a lot. Which brings us to the point of all of this: it evidently isn’t enough for Enbridge to destroy almost all of our trees and most of our perennial garden. It looks like they want to take what’s left before they leave as well. You see, after they installed the pipe (the first time) and began to restore our property, spreading new topsoil and all, they left a very large, empty slope. And with nothing planted in that enormous plot of dirt, that meant there is nothing to keep all of the water from rainfalls from running straight down into what’s left of our garden. And that’s not good. In other words, they may not be able to control the rain, but they should be able to control erosion and runoff.

It gets worse. As we’ve told you recently, Enbridge had to come back and tear up that plot of land all over again. They have re-installed and re-buried a long section of pipe. But they have not yet cleaned up, which means that right now, our topsoil is in one big pile, leaving only a large swath of subsoil. So now, when it rains– and it’s been raining a lot– all of that rainwater, mixed with lots of dirty subsoil, is draining right down into what’s left of our garden.

The result of all of this: well, plants are dying. Here’s what the last bit of our garden looks like today:

And here’s a close-up of some dying plants, which were doing just fine this spring:

Now, in this particular spot, heavy rains have caused puddles like this in the past; it’s a low spot in the yard. However, we can tell you that we’ve never had quite this much standing water and, even more certainly, that standing water has NEVER been nasty and brown.

Here’s a shot from behind, which shows the rivulets of runoff draining into our plants.

And perhaps worst of all, here is our cherry tree, which we planted a few years ago. Up until a month or so ago, it has been thriving. Now it is all but dead, from drowning.

And so it goes, one thing after another. Brace yourselves, phase 2 landowners. They’re coming your way.