In praise of sheet flow: Yes, it can be a pain, but I wouldn’t trade it for pavement and retention ponds – News-Press

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Sheet flow sunrise(Photo: Amy Bennett Williams/The News-Press)

Chronic bright-sider that I am, I was delighted to accept the challenge: You have a blue roof tarpaulin, a 16-foot piece of cattle fence and a handful of zip ties. As Tropical Storm Sally pelts you, construct an ersatz livestock rain shelter. You must incorporate the big live oak on the last piece of high ground in the pasture, remembering that if the tarp isnt set up properly, itll just collect rain and collapse under its own weight. You have 10 minutes. Go!

Sheet flow surprise: Fish in the pasture(Photo: Amy Bennett Williams/The News-Press)

Im pleased to report that I made it with a few seconds to spare. No, I hadnt accounted for the angry squads of tree ants who resented the disturbance and took it out on my dcolletage, but at least the critters would have a place to stay dry, now that the floodwaters have swallowed their pole barn.

The horses don't really mind rain, but the goats can't stand it, glaring sullenly and shaking like dogs if they're caught in it.

Sheet flow in back means goats up front, which Barren doesn't mind in the least.(Photo: Amy Bennett Williams/The News-Press)

Remember this?:In which a one-eared, gender-fluid goat joins our family

I pulled on my boots and sloshed out to check. Yep, water streaming in from the wildlands to the south, covering the west part of the pasture.

This is why developers carve pavement channels leading to pre-dug retention ponds to keep water where they want it, to tame the unruly flow that would cover the built landscape. It's so much easier if water stays in its place and away from ours. But as I stood, knee-deep and soaked, I had to smile. The reedy voices of the tiny tree frogs were already filling the air from oak limbs bristling with resurrection ferns.

Ah, sheet flow. Out here in our Alva woods, it happens every year or so. When theres more rain than the ground can absorb, the water rises, collecting into a shallow, slow-moving lake that makes its way to Bedman Creek, the Caloosahatchee and ultimately the Gulf of Mexico. Its a fine and perfectly natural thing. All that standing water helps recharge the aquifer from which our shallow, hand-dug well draws our water, while providing a place for frogs and toads to court and breed. (Mosquitoes too, truth be told, but hey, thats what repellent is for.

Lake Williams, formerly known as our pasture(Photo: Amy Bennett Williams/The News-Press)

After all, it was we humans who decided to settle in the middle of this sometimes wet place, so when it transforms from scrub to pond, adjustments must be made. For the most part, its merely a sloppy inconvenience, but in deep-water years, it can get pretty dramatic, so we keep a collection of knee-high Wellington boots in the shed. Until things dry back out and we put them away again, I can count on mud-smeared floors, soggy carpets and daily dog baths.

Seven years ago, when Scout (black and white) was still alive and I was still taller than Nash.(Photo: Amy Bennett Williams/The News-Press)

But sheetflow brings wonders too.

It makes pups out of our old dogs, who galumph through it, forgetting their sore hips, while it turns our young web-footed Catahoula mix dog Dell into a bayou maniac. Nighttime frog chorus rising over the oaks is the loveliestlullaby, and the shimmering sunrises that follow are a gift. One summer, the receding floodbeached an amphiuma an eel-like amphibian - in our driveway. Last year, it delivered a walking catfish.

The kids have grown up knowing the landscape can change overnight, so theyd better be ready to adapt.

And that sometimes, its OK to step into deep water and just give thanks.

Sheet flow sunset(Photo: Amy Bennett Williams/The News-Press)

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In praise of sheet flow: Yes, it can be a pain, but I wouldn't trade it for pavement and retention ponds - News-Press