Day 648 Instincts

 

Rain, rain and a bit more rain made for an interesting morning commute. I turned around four three times to re-route due to flooding. I watched car after car foolishly try to drive through unknown depths of water, some successfully, others not having the best of luck. I came close to returning home to wait it out but fortunately found a dry road to make my way. I figured the drive home might be better and although it had slightly improved,  I still found myself re-routing once to safely make it. I don't know what's in folks mind when they see such large amounts of water and think they'll be ok to drive through it...seems crazy to me. I saw several cars, dead after driving through flooded roads, others clearly stranded in the middle of the mess. After dinner, Tim and I walked down to the park to take a look at the playground and found families allowing their children to run, swim and play in the rapidly flowing, flooded river, with no regard for safety. The caution tape, apparently not there for them. I had to turn and leave, not wanting to see them carried off with the tide or their tiny bare feet injured on broken glass or other trash that was carried into the river from the roadside. Having cut my foot open on a piece of glass when I was young, severing a tendon and rendering my toe inflexible for life, I've always been overly cautious of potential barefoot hazards. Tim and I walked over to a bridge to look down at the rushing water, commenting how much fun it might be to put the canoe in and ride it down stream, but only if someone would meet us at the end for a ride home. Instead we opted to return home, warm and dry and safe from all the dangers of the day. Sadly, when I went out to feed my girls I found Quarentina had passed away. I knew she was getting close to the end, so I wasn't shocked but still sad to lose my favorite girl. She was the friendliest chicken, always happy to be held, even by my grandchildren. At least she died a peaceful death, not eaten by a fox, mink or attacked by a dog, that's something. Chickens have to be on alert for all kinds of dangers and instinctively know when to take cover and get out of dodge. It appears some humans have lost their instincts to avoid danger, confident they are invincible. I'm glad to still have a few of my sensible instincts left, call me cautious if you will. Some days you see living examples of survival of the fittest, hopefully you find yourself on the surviving side. Not sure who was driving the car seen in the photo, but I hope they took a few minutes to reevaluate their decision making process.