A Burning Question Resolved

I know, in this time of election seasons, fires, droughts, and hurricanes, that many of my Dear Readers have been troubled by one burning question....

"I wonder how the flooded road is doing that Tina blogged about last summer?"

Let me hasten to put an end to your suspense. Last weekend an intrepid crew "boldly set out" on a scientific discovery mission. If by "boldly set out" you mean "were dragged into it kicking and screaming" by their Aunty/Mother.

At least the dogs were excited. They usually get left in the car while we do the fun stuff, but this time we were  going to keep on walking until we reached the crossroad on the other side of the flooding. I couldn't deprive them of a nice run in the country, but they had to stay on leashes until we were out of the water. Finely is a complete idiot where it comes to water; he charges out into it and there's no getting him back if there are any water birds in the vicinity (which there usually are). And it would hurt his feelings if he was the only one on a leash, so they all had to wear one.

Walking across is easy now because the water never comes over our knees. Last summer it was up to our chests in places (to be fair, the two people trying it out were rather short), so I have some hope that another dry summer and the road will be usable. Of course, the fields will be toast, but the road will dry out.

The dogs had a fun time, and I think the kids were starting to unbend a little by this point. Devon was completely into it and got most of his fun from "innocently" running back and forth past his teenage siblings and splashing water all over them. Oh the joys of family togetherness!

In the middle of the "road".

We reached the other side intact and began the trek to meet up with our ride out on County Rd. 5. Things began to go a little downhill in diva land at this point. The road hasn't been driven on in two summers and is a tad choked with weeds. It was hot, it was scratchy, and there were bugs. What I look on as a fine opportunity for making memories some people regard as useless torture.

"Aaaaaaauuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnttttttttttttyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Can't Noah meet us down here?"

"Why do we have to walk the whooooooooooooooooooooooooooolllllllllleeeee way?"

Midway there our toil was lightened by the amusing spectacle of Jackie, the frustrated border collie, meeting cows face-to-face for the first time. She went charging up to them, all poofed out and business-like. She stopped, she looked. She turned around and came back to the road. Evidently, discretion was the better part of valor that day.

When we reached the maintained part of the road, Tiggy stalked ahead with offended dignity. Damon trailed behind in morose silence. That left The Jolly Three, Devon, Caleb, and me to actually enjoy ourselves. Most of our enjoyment consisted in seeing if Devon's shadow really could disappear if he turned himself sideways. He couldn't quite make it happen, but he gave a noble effort.

It was a fun afternoon's outing---the dogs had a great time. Now I have to figure something else to do with the flooded road before it dries up. I've swum over it, walked over it, and ice skated over it.

I think I may try riding my bike through it.