The hopeful birth...........................

 -----------------of a sub-division:  Episode 14

Underdrains.

Included among the many things we never think about are underdrains.  As cities become more sophisticated, so do their regulations on development.  I suspect that some cities experienced troubles with the concrete curbs and gutters along their roadways — trouble likely caused by the effect of water moving, freezing and thawing, under the curbs.  The engineering solution to this is to install tile — underdrains — under the curb.  The tile, connected to the storm water inlets, wicks the water away, thereby minimizing future prospects for damage.  Bet you never gave them a minute of thought before.

Trenching for the underdrain tile

Underdrain installed.  Awaiting curb and gutter

A dirty little secret......................................

     "I try to learn from the past without being inspired by it.  My big question is always, 'What did they try, and why did it work?'  When I hear stories of success and failure, I look for the little things that made a big difference.  What conventional wisdom was shunned? . . . I avoid using a past success as a proxy for the future.  After all, the dirty little secret is that every success was almost a failure.  Timing and uncontrollable circumstances play more of a role than any of us care to admit.

-Scott Belsky, as culled from here

One day soon............................

 When I moved from one house to another

there were many things I had no room 

for.  What does one do?  I rented a storage

space.  And filled it.  Years passed.

Occasionally I went there and looked in,

but nothing happened, not a single

twinge of the heart.

As I grew older the things I cared 

about grew fewer, but were more 

important.  So one day I undid the lock

and called the trash man.  He took

everything.

I felt like a little donkey when

his burden is finally lifted.  Things!

Burn them, burn them! Make a beautiful

fire!  More room in your heart for love,

for trees!  For the birds who own

nothing—the reason they can fly.

Mary Oliver,  Storage