2022 was an extremely dry year with little rainfall. 2023 made up for what we did not receive in 2022. It seemed like every week or weekend we had at least a couple days of rain. This wet pattern seems to be continuing into the winter of 2023 - 2024. We have received small amounts of snow thus far but when it is not cold enough we keep getting the rain. The river banks are full and flowing fast.
With being such a moist year in 2023 many people did not need to run their irrigation systems that often. Some people never turned them on at all. That being said, if you opened the water source to your system it still needed to be winterized even if the system was not actively run. Make sure to check well pumps or backflow preventers for any leaks at the start of the season. (below left is a mouse who found shelter in an irrigation valve box. Below right is a pump that froze and cracked).
Irrigation valve boxes provide a nice spot for the mice to nest. We recently found, to our surprise, that it is not only mice that like the protection of the valve box but the snakes like it also. Where there are mice there will be snakes.
Pictured (below left look closely) is the valve box with a snake coiled in it.
Pictured (below right) is the upset snake having been removed from its cozy valve box home. It was not easy trying to remove the snake from such a small tight area. Two long sticks used like chop sticks were used to remove the snake. Neither we nor the snake were harmed.
