When:  Friday–Mid afternoon – 2/22/2018
Weather: A brief gap in this week’s perpetual rain cycle.  40’s
Observations/Thoughts

If I was like most people, I would have looked out the window and decided not to walk.  The clouds were dark, and the sidewalks were still damp.  With a desire to walk still burning strong, I consulted with a weather website or two.  The next two hours were declared “rain free”.  With meteorology being at best an inexact science, I trusted but left with an umbrella.  The forecast was accurate OR the umbrella warded well.  I was rain-free throughout the whole walk.  It probably does not need to be mentioned, but I literally passed NO other walkers or bike riders or joggers.  The week’s weather conditioned them to not question the clues.  Or, they all have a recreation center membership.

• Saturation: About a quarter of the way in, a vehicle failed to float across the grass.  The ground was saturated and not capable of bearing the weight.  He sunk in once really well, and not as deeply on his other attempts.  The ground attempted to swallow his vehicle but only was able to swallow the first few inches.  If the truck would have stayed still long enough, the ground would have more chance to digest the driver and his ride.  In his defense, Texas doesn’t normally get a week of rain.  In defense of common sense, anybody should know how really, really wet ground will react to a truck driving on it.  Not that it needs to be stated, but common sense is not that common.
• Lost Balls:  On today’s people-less walk, two stray balls were scattered about.  One was a football.  It looks to have gotten caught in the impromptu river (normally just a little creek).   Not sure where it originated from.  As the river devolved, the ball accepted its resting place.  The other ball likely has a similar story.  It was a child’s ball.  The brand was one I believe caters to the 3 and under crowd.  This ball was along the sidewalk.  The story as to how this one arrived at its resting place could be more sinister.   The more sinister option involves a crime scene.  I refuse to even entertain the grisly details of such a possibility. I will choose to guess it was only a playful child throwing the ball from the stroller as his/her mother pushed from behind.  And, let’s say she was jogging–that will help explain her inattentiveness.
• Downhill:  When it is sunny out, no time is spent asking questions about where excessive rainwater goes.  When you are walking in a live “rain zone”, it becomes quite clear how “uphill” and how “downhill” are related to each other.  As I enjoyed the brief interlude between rain showers, I had the opportunity to see where rain would go when saturation had been reached.  It wasn’t the always the obvious.  The trees, houses, and the ditches along the side of the road are good at creating alternate realities of where “up” lives.  The disguises are unmasked when the rainwater has to flow somewhere.  Unless you pass the house of a wizard, the water will always flow down…ALWAYS.