As bad as it gets, Half a decade

I arrived home last night to a water nightmare.  It looked like I remember the day after a hurricane, there was that much standing water.  What is insane is this is from just random ferocious daily thunderstorms, not a tropical system.  When I walked out back to the chickens there was hardly any ground to be found that was not submerged.   The water behind the coop was so deep that the submersible pump was completely submerged.  I would estimate that at certain spots there was a foot of standing water.

Even Chicken Island was submerged, the first time that has happened since I elevated a 20 x 30 square back there.  It was bad, really bad.  My first concern was the birds as they literally had nowhere to stand where their feet were not in water which is no good for them.  I opened up the the gate to their yard giving them access to the rest of the property and higher ground.  Cupcake, one of the older hens immediately took advantage of the open door while the “babies” took a little bit longer to understand they were allowed outside their fenced confines.

When I pulled in the driveway I was greeted by a walking catfish who was literally walking up towards the house.  We have had them on the property several times.  I scooped this guy into a bucket and dumped him in the canal before a bird could swoop down and grab it.  I remember when I first saw fish in the middle of the yard years ago I was dumbfounded.  Now it gets a shoulder shrug, just another weird Florida thing.

This morning we again opened the gate to the chicken area.  The birds didn’t take long to start moving to higher, drier ground.  The pump seems to be dropping the water level in the their area but there is a long way to go.  The problem is the drainage ditch I am pumping to is already filled to the brim so I am just moving the flood from one section of the property to another.

Today marks the five year anniversary of my mom passing away.  I had to double check the year because it seemed impossible that five years had already passed since that tragic and emotionally crushing day of my life.

The speed that time passes as you grow older feels exponential in it’s acceleration.  I feel like if there was anything good that came of her sudden and premature death it was that it realigned my focus on doing things in life that I want to do, to enjoy the time that I have because nobody knows when that time will come to an end, abrupt or otherwise.  Love you Mom.