Drainage Swale

There is something like this between each of the properties on the upper side of our street. This one is a few houses down from us at the end of the road where we went for our daily check on the creek. I thought it was quite pretty and a nice change from raging brown waters. Usually these swales are dry, but right now they are all running as much as the main creek was in September. For comparison purposes, if you are interested, see the extra in this entry.

We awakened to pouring rain again, well actually we were awakened by the telephone ringing at 6am,  and 6:40, and 7:30.... We keep the land line basically as a place for people to leave messages, but whoever is doing this never leaves a message. It seems a pretty cowardly way to try to do business. We have unplugged the phone...unlike cell phones there is no way to put it on silent...but now that our cell phone reception is much better, we're seriously considering getting rid of the landline. We had an interesting conversation over coffee about various responses people have made to this harassment ranging from picking up the phone and saying F---you and hanging up, to my brother's approach which is to launch into a long conversation in semi-comprehensible Spanish. But that was back in the day when there was an actual person on the other end of the line.

They say we have sold our souls, or at least our privacy, to the likes of invisible women like Siri and Alexa and whoever lurks under your dashboard telling you which way to turn, who never reveal anything about themselves but know absolutely everything about us. The other day I turned on my phone and realized that I must have inadvertently activated Siri who had been dutifully writing out the conversation I had been having with John....

But I digress. There is a new log jam forming in the creek,  but there is some poetic justice to what is happening. Our friends Bruce and Cindy, having exhausted every public agency they could think of to help clear the log jam that almost flooded their house last year, finally paid out of pocket to have it cleared. The woman who owns the property across the creek is notoriously difficult and not only refused to help defray the cost, but wouldn't allow any equipment on her side of the creek. As a result, the new log jam is forming behind the half of the old one that Bruce and Cindy's crew was unable to reach, and the creek, now quite a raging torrent, has divided. The left half has diverted itself around the jam and on to the difficult woman's property. The right half which was cleared remains in its course, well below Bruce and Cindy's house. The power of water is impressive.