Water water everywhere...

Lets talk about water.

Water is on my mind today.  It’s been raining for a couple of days now, in the dutiful, focused way that it rains in Arkansas.  Lots of water, coming straight down as if it had a deadline to meet. I’m astonished by how quickly it comes down, and then how quickly it drains away.  The soil here is so rocky and porous that the water just vanishes, seeping down into all those layers of limestone, I suppose. I imagine swollen underground rivers rushing through the dark.

At CB, located as we are at the bottom of a ravine, a little water turns into a lot of water, and a lot of water turns into a river, rushing through the site and filling the lower pond. This morning I walked over to the north bridge to watch the water pouring away downstream on the north end of the property, and to see it coming over the weir under the bridge.  It makes a dull roar, and falls about five feet.  This water isn’t pretty:  it’s coming down through the south pond above it, carrying topsoil, mulch, and construction debris.  It’s muddy and has junk floating in it.  But it’s cool, nevertheless, to see the lower pond full and get a taste of what the museum will look like in real life when everything is finished.

Last night the water as accompanied by serious lightning and thunder.—enough to scare Grayson and all three dogs into my bed. It was quite a night.  Thunder Booming, Grayson stuck to me like tape with his fingers in his ears, and the dogs climbing all over both of us in their attempts to find someplace they perceived as “safe.” Kobi finally chose to squeeze down under the covers between us. Roxy spent about half an hour with her elbows up on the bed next to my face, her own face shoved as far as she could get it under my neck. Flower, usually the one who tries to sleep on my head in a storm, was unusually calm, choosing to merely drape herself over our feet and pant hard enough to vibrate the whole bed.

After struggling with the horde for awhile—Kobi changing her position every few minutes and occasionally burrowing under the blanket to dig at the sheet like she was trying to get to China, and Roxy jumping up on the bed and stepping on everyone and starting a growlfest with Flower, and Grayson hollering “Ow!  My Nuts!’ a few times, we both got tickled and dissolved into giggles.  All of this at 4 a.m. 

The thunder finally let up around 5 or so, and we all went back to sleep.  It was all fun and games until the alarm went off at 6.  We were a pair of ass-draggers then, I assure you.

More thunder this morning.  And more rain. It makes me wonder how much snow we’ll get this winter!