Autumn Rains and New Life

Out to the Woods (NW Gate by Ponds) this evening at 7 after 83/100 inch life-giving rain today.. very gentle and slow for hours then more and heavier; so, little run-off.. the Woods and the surrounding land need so much more; but this is the start. Many trees did not survive the heat and drought of this summer. Now it is over.
Walking across the Woods the rich smells are of freshly fallen and wet leaves beginning to decay. At the Elm Bridge the Wash is flowing slowly but full.. no spillage across the levee. The curled drooping leaves of Symphoricarpos, Lonicera and green ash are extending themselves again. The leaf tissue is old but now has vital water it has lacked. Three deer leap and stop along the Northern Loop heading eastward. No water in the ponds but they are damp and will soon begin to refill. Thursday evening before the rains I took a second 4x4 cedar post to the Woods.. this one to the center of the East Pond. On posts in both the East and West Pond we now have staff water gauges (donation from Bob Nairn) attached so that changes in water depth can be measured. Each gauge has a range of 3 feet demarcated in tenths of a foot from zero at the pond bottom. As I departed the Woods Friday, Heather Ketchum's special forensic class was gathered at the NW Gate conducting a mock 'crime scene' investigation with dead bloated pigs and 6 crime scenes. She introduced me to Kent Buehler, forensic archaeologist at OU. I mentioned the grave like depression at the south end of the W Dune Trail in the SW corner of the Woods. He said he would have a look.