I just listened to #579 Permaculture as a Solution.
I was not in a good mood this morning because my dog Roscoe escaped, and I was so worried that he would be hit in the road. It was 6 a.m. so there was not much traffic and I followed him on his adventure. There weren't many people out at that time of day in this rural Alabama town.
Roscoe led me through peoples' back yards, It had been raining most of the night, so there were puddles, and I got a chance to see how people were dealing with water run-off. And keeping their drive ways from washing down into the street. One guy had started to pave his driveway with brick rubble. The wet slippery clay that he was fighting was still visible. For 2 hours I followed this dog through people's back yards. I saw their gardens and trees and sheds and fences. Wet weather drainages were flowing with rain water. Roscoe's view of the town.
After about 2 hours I finally got a leash on Roscoe when he stopped to drink out of a muddy puddle and we headed back home. Then I listened to episode #579. The lecture gave me a lot better attitude about Roscoe's adventure. After all we both got some exercise that we needed. And I got to see my town at 6 am from the view of sleeping inhabitants backyards. I got to see their gardens and the problems they were dealing with to contain and control water, erosion, and use up brick rubble from our collapsing 19th century buildings.
I am not quite so mad at Roscoe as I was a few hours ago, when I saw no prospect of catching him and feared the worst -- that he would run in front of a truck. And that would be the end. But instead it was just an adventure -- a little trip that my dog wanted to take out of his ordinary routine. And a chance for me to re-evaluate my place from the perspective of living in this little Southern town.
