Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Hey, it's raining. Alot. Cats and dogs. It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring. And no, it's not raining men, thank God.

Our back yard is a pool. It has rained so much our 60 gallon fish pond has floated away. Really. I had pumped out the pond to clean out the leaves and these creepy little worms that thrive in there. They look like a drowned worm, but THEY ARE ALIVE! When the heavy rains came the water infiltrated between the pond's plastic liner and the soil. Displacement. Instant bouyancy. It's still in it's place, it's justn floating above the ground level and listing to starboard.

There rainwater flows from the backyard to the back of the house, channels itself to the north and finds the driveway. Along the section before the drive is a fine sediment. Clay I think. During the foundry builds I dropped quite a bit of the clay and sand mixture. Raindrops pummel the sand as the clay floats away and catches on any impedimets along it's path. The reddish mud looks out of place.

The driveway collects into a makeshift pond at the edge of the street where the road grader has left a ridge. I go out and use the heel of my boot to open up a tiny canal, but the sticks that have fallen during the winter storms create minature beaver dams that bind up the whole works.

I remember as a kid I loved this kind of weather. We played in the mud and water working the rivulets like a 10 year old civil engineer. Creating dams from toothpick sized sticks and pebbles we would watch as the water pressure eventually broke through our construction projects. The idea was to make it last long, but not too long.

I have heard diesel engines straining somewhere on Fir street. Today, since I was already wet anyways, I walked into a backyard on Ebony street and saw the source of the commotion. A tractor trailer pumper was at the sewerage treatment plant and apparently pumping. I have heard this off and on for over a month. When I saw Beth Davis, the publisher of the Neighborhood News, she said it was "just maintainance." I'm sceptical. Warren Zevon said it all with, "Dad, send lawyers, guns and money. The shit has hit the fan."