It has been raining for days. It is raining now and it is supposed to be raining this afternoon. Still, I am going down to the farms today. We have a landowner dinner on the Freeman place. I am suppose to talk about the plans on the farm and lead a field tour. If it is raining like it has been, it will not be pleasant.
In any other case, the rain would keep me at home. There is little joy in working on the farms in heavy rain and there are real hazards of getting stuck in the mud. The one advantage I can think of is that I can observe the watercourses. I can see the evidence of high water, but I have never actually seen the flow. I really love to watch the living water. Of course, I need to be careful not to get too close.
My streams are so familiar that I have come to think of them in almost anthropomorphic terms, as friends, but the evidence of high water flows indicates that they could be very dangerous. As much as I love my landscape, I do not want to become part of it.
I have one “stupid water story”. I have probably enhance it in my memory, but what I remember is that I wanted to cross Genito Creek and figured that I could balance on a fallen long to make the crossing. I was mistaken. I fell into the stream and the current pushed me under the log. I got out of it quickly and w/o incident, although my memory is trying hard to make it a more dramatic escape. I did ruin my phone and was uncomfortably soaked walking back to the car. It did make me think about worst case scenarios, however.
As I said, I have become very comfortable with my landscape. When I first got the place, I used to be circumspect and careful. That was probably a good idea. Hanging around in the woods and using sharp tools to pull down heavy trees and rocks is not as safe as writing about it on the computer.
Of course, if you have to go anyway, I suppose it is good to go out in a way that creates an interesting story.