Ancestors?

I am pretty sure this little guy's family has lived on the mountain much longer than mine.......

misleading photo......

I would love to title this photo DOG IN THE DESERT..........

But in actuality, it is just my dog Teddy, standing in the front yard where we have cleared about 45 years worth of brush and I haven't replanted with grass seed yet.

The Path of Water

I really REALLY want to be writing about something other than rain. Unfortunately, that is all I have at the moment. More water than I need, and more water than this place can contain, but I am hesitant to complain, because I know with true conviction that Arkansas summers can be brutal and in a matter of months, I will find myself longing for it with fond memories. So, with this knowledge, I am trying to concentrate on the beauty and mystery of it all.......and just be extra cautious where I step and drive.

Back in the day, the Little River Band came out with a beautiful song that I always felt was just for me, even though obviously I knew it wasn't. The title was "Cool Change" and it was about an Aquirus (like me) and the importance water played in his life. "I was born in the sign of water, and its there that I feel my best...........". I completely "got it" when I lived on the Gulf Coast and found I could stare at the ocean for endless amounts of time and never lose my fascination with it. The sense of peace and calm it brought were very therapeutic.

Maybe that is what I am trying to recapture with my little pond project here....who knows? I suppose I don't get upset about the mess that this is right now because I look at it and see, not what it is right now, but what it will be one day soon. And that mental image takes be back to the days sitting by the water on the beach.

So indulge me through these little challenges that make the story more interesting. I PROMISE......a thing of beauty will be at the end of the story.

Early Monday morning, this was the stream flowing out of the hole that was put into the side of the pond to prevent it from overflowing. As water will always do, it took the path of least resistance.....down the bank into the ditches that run along the sides of my narrow steep driveway.

And as the morning progressed, so did the water. The ditches soon overflowed and water and debris flowed down the mountain and it spilled out over the road.

Had the stream's path not chosen to cross the middle of our road, I might have had more appreciation of this natural occurrence. But even despite this, there is a certain elegance about it all.

The sun is out this morning and I am about to take my morning exploration walk to see what has changed overnight. As I told my sister yesterday, there is nothing wrong here than can't be fixed with a bull dozer and some sunshine.

Wish the rest of life were so simple!

More of the Same........

Wish I had something new to report, but once again, it is a cold, rainy, stormy Sunday afternoon on the mountain.

The floor of the pond was not finished when the torrential rains came two weeks ago, which definitely complicated things. Last week, because of the possibility of an overflow eroding the new, very steep outer bank, Sammy had to come with the dozer during a brief break in the rain to knock a hole in one of the smaller banks to give the water a place to drain off. So, right now, this unprecedented weather has provided us with a large muddy containment area with banks so slippery that staying upright while walking them is quite the challenge. So far, so good!