River Watchin'

I've been river watchin' again. The local rivers are flooding (nothing major) and I enjoy nothing more than trekking out to check out the river levels and see what I can see floating by.

When we were growing up we lived right on the river. Whenever it would flood all of us kids would gather on the river and pull up a chair or a cinderblock or a bicycle and just hang around and stare at the river.

Back then there were always interesting things floating by. The best thing ever was the dog that floated by on his doghouse. There was nothing anybody could do for him because he was chained to his house. It was just a matter of time before he drowned, I'm sure. Of course there was plenty of trash and pieces of houses and what seemed to be more washing machines than people should even own. It was always interesting to see what we could see.

Now there isn't that much floating by. Which is a good thing. That means the local efforts to clean up the riverbanks once a year are doing the job. The riverbanks used to look like trash dumps for months after a flood. Now they are just muddy.

It is still nice to watch the river though. I was amazed last night that the river was up higher than the benches that I usually sit on. I went back early this morning thinking the water would be even higher but I was surprised to see the water had receeded a good 4 or 5 feet over night.

Right now it is raining steadily. I will go back this evening and check things out and see what I can see.