Well ya'll, the drought is officially over here in the 'burg. I won't even go into the big water that is the Mississipi and Obion rivers covering Dyer County farmland. Instead, I will focus on the little bitty Forked Deer that winds in and around south Dyersburg and surrounds the farm. Back in the day when I was a kid we got flooded pretty regular to the point that we'd move to town and live with relatives until the water got off the road enough for the old red Chevy wagon to pass through. That probably explains why there was a hole rusted plum through the floor in the back seat. I remember sitting back there watching the gravel pass under my feet thinking it was just the coolest thing since sliced bread. I've always been "easily amused".

When I was a teenager, the Corp came in and did some dredging and channel work. My brother was their constant companion down on the riverbank, watching the progress as they dug through the mud. The floods don't come nearly as often now here on the farm, but if it rains much the water will be over the main road to civilization. Let's hope the weather forecasters are WRONG about that Wednesday/Thursday forecast for heavy rain. I wandered around with the camera on the way to a meeting at the sawmill this afternoon and took a few shots of the current state of the Forked Deer. The normal flow of the river through downtown is snug within the banks the are next to the railroad tracks and under the first of the double bridges when you're headed south like toward the Dairy Queen :)


Yikes! This is the view from the parking lot of the kudzu bar. A few months from now all that water will be replaced with the crawling devil weed.

This here is an egret enjoying some time up close and personal with the photographer. And this? This is the field road to nowhere. When Hoss came to visit a couple of years ago we got stuck in the mud about a mile past where you see the waterline. Me with a beer and him with a whiskey going to check out a fishing hole. As the story goes, I left him there to die! Actually, I just walked the mile and half back home to call a wrecker to pull our dumb asses out. About the time we got close to the main road Butterbean got sprayed by a skunk. Hoss was trying to haul her up in the cab of the wrecker with us and she stunk to high heaven. I made her run because I'm just mean like that. Anyways, Hoss survived that brush with death and even managed to walk a fair piece before we arrived to pick him up. Ain't life grand?

He says he's gonna be a dung beetle in his next life, but I'll think about him every time I see an egret.

And so it goes.