The crew came back today to continue working on the driveway extension and to extend the drainpipe underground from our back yard out to the front ditch. They also dug another French drain from the low spot in our backyard to the newly installed sump pump. If our house wasn’t anchored to a basement foundation, it would float away with all the water that runs underneath us. It drains from the street above and behind the house (appropriately name Dranesville Road). No sooner had they finished than a good old-fashioned mid-Atlantic monsoon blew in, dumping buckets and turning the backyard into a lake and the front yard into a lake with the adjoining sidewalk playing the part of river. They hadn’t quite finished contouring the yard to guide the water away, hence the river, which has always flowed to the lake outside the greenhouse. The water will pool there for a few days until the clay below has room for it. Yep, we’re operating a mosquito farm here.  

The frogs are singing tonight. They love the rain, and I hope they’re feasting on the bountiful mosquito larvae all this water is growing. Then suddenly, the frogs stop singing for a minute or two; is a predator swinging through, our foxy friend? I saw the neighborhood vixen pass through twice yesterday, nose to the ground and possibly searching for any stray dead squirrels or chipmunks. Our yard does occasionally produce a few small mammal carcasses. For grins, Hubby placed a squirrel statue (thanks, Mom!) in our bird bath. I watched a catbird take a long soak, then hang out with the stone rodent for a several minutes.

Ankle much better, although I’m still walking deliberately and with focus not to step on anything uneven. I keep having nightmares I’ll twist it again just when it’s getting better. Unfortunately, my left eye started playing up again a few days ago. My tear duct gets blocked from time to time, causing weepy eye, and then a sty grows in the corner and gets all red and itchy. Well, at least I don’t have Covid. Speaking of which, my employer is supplying a free at-home testing contraption that gives you instant results. Mine arrived today, and even though I’m pretty sure we’re all C-free in this house—vaccinated and that—I’ll take it for a test drive tomorrow. It looks like an i-Thingy. Who invents these things, and how do they work?