Suburban Marsh

Our house has many cracks in it that appear to grow and shrink over the course of the year.

I believe this to be correlated to the soil saturation. The county soil assessment lists our soil as highly impermeable, with a wildly varying water table of the course of a year.

When we moved in it was impossible to cross the backyard without finding oneself ankle deep in water at some point. The grass was just an illusion of solidity. Mowing, as a matter fact, was really something of a wading exercise until June.

Rain was predicted starting at about 0400. By the time I let the dog out this morning, the marsh had returned.

The dog wants nothing to do with it.

Things such as this intrigue me. We live in an area that 50 years ago was a remote agricultural community, removed from the city by several degrees, but are really now just a pseudo-self governing suburb of that city. The place is filled with city people who generally expect a safe, clean, padded existence, free from the arbitrary forces of nature. but there, right by my barn, is reminder of the true nature of reality.