I think there's moss growing on me

[altivo]

It has been raining continuously since Friday evening. Not torrential rains, but continuous ones. Everything is drowning and soggy. The mud outside is so deep and thick that it tries to suck calf-length rubber boots right off my feet, with sounds worthy of a B grade monster movie. The sump pump under my study here has been going off every 35 seconds for several hours. Only the ducks are happy with this. Well, and the neighbors' chickens but that's only because they're too stupid to know better. She's letting them run loose again, so I expect the fox to show up any day now.

I feel as if I'm trapped in that old Ray Bradbury story, "Death by Rain," about the explorers or scientists on the planet Venus, where it never stops raining, looking for that shelter called "the sun dome" where they can get dry and warm...

Took Gary's mom to hear him sing in a local composer's premier of "Americana" this afternoon. It's a cycle of 19th century American hymn tunes, some arranged in jazzy fashion and some done more or less normally. Musically it was quite interesting, and he also included two interludes with instrumentals performed by Gary and his friends who make up the Kishwaukee Ramblers. They did Shaker tunes and other folk tunes of the post-Civil war era.

I knew all the tunes, every one of them. Interestingly, I found I was pretty much repelled by the lyrics, which were all typical 19th century church stuff. Long ago in a galaxy far far away, when I actually used to go to church, it was probably more for the music than anything else. But when I say music, I mean literally the music, not the words.

And that's the weekend. Sigh.

Comments

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

I would swap the rain for the biting winds we're getting right now. Roll on April.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Wind is what we need here now. The soil in this region is so dense that all this water would take a month to settle into it. A dry wind will go a long way toward getting rid of the mud.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

Big clumps of mud, eh? We used to get that kind of soil in East Yorkshire (where I used to live.) The stuff had the same density as clay.

At least it's not snowing anymore though, eh?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I actually don't mind snow that much, though if this water had all been snow we'd have had a couple of feet this weekend, enough to break last year's total record amount for the season.

The soil here is not quite clay, but you're on the right track. They call it "silty clay" because it is made up of particles that settle out of water. Very fine, slippery stuff when wet. At the surface, it's not as dense as clay, though. It's more like quicksand when really loaded with water as it is right now. Fortunately, the ground is still frozen six or eight inches below the surface and won't thaw out for a couple of weeks yet. Somewhere deep beneath this accretion of river and pond slime there is gravel deposited by the glaciers of the last ice age. That's a layer anywhere from 50 to 200 feet deep, with the finer gravel on top and coarser stuff under it. Like a sponge, it is constantly saturated with water. I think that ground water flow in here from more or less a northerly direction, where the elevations are higher, rather than seeping down from the surface much.

[flamekist.livejournal.com]

We had that kind of rain about two weeks ago. It was a long, slow, soaking rain. Perfect for our already drying-out soil, but not so great for our crawlspace. The stuff percolates down until it hits the bedrock (less than a foot under the topsoil), then slides downhill until it resurfaces in our crawlspace at a rate that creates a small trickling waterfall. The sump pump usually takes care of it but occasionally needs a slight thumping to kick in.

Fortunately, the local geography is hilly enough to prevent any real flooding from happening. For us at least. There's no way I'd want a house on the other end of the subdivision near the river.

*offers to dry off the soggy horse*
Best of luck getting dried out! ;)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

The sun is shining today and things are starting to dry. Unfortunately the weather forecast has thunderstorms again tomorrow.

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

I understand the thing with the music. I've found something similar as while I like the gospel style with its great vocal effects, I don't care for the lyrics of gospel music.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Gospel is too florid for me, but the purist 19th century style of fasola is too dry and unmusical. Still, the original melodies of the Shakers and the shape note books are often quite beautiful when set in a more romantic style.

[cozycabbage.livejournal.com]

I'm like that for pretty much any song. If the lyrics work their way into my comprehensifier, it ruins the music for me.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Oh, lots of music has good lyrics in my opinion, though most of what qualifies for me is not current popular stuff.

[soanos.livejournal.com]

Around 0C here. Haven't looked outside lately but I assume the snow is still there...

I like music for music, too. Not the lyrics. But sometimes lyrics ruin a perfectly good song. :\

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

*Trundles in with a few dehumidifiers.*
Pony with soggy paffers :D Is it still cold enough to use a fire? Great for taking moisture out of the air.

I kind of like the ol 30's 40's soul church type songs done to a modern backing :)