the significance of water

More signs that the season is changing, that the planet is continuing its path around the sun. I saw some snow on the prairie in a pasture the other day, the sun has moved enough so that it shines through my east facing window and into my face through a break in the foliage of the photinia as it rises in the morning while I sit at my desk reading and writing requiring  me to wear my ball cap until it gets higher, and the season of beautiful sunsets is starting, witness the one last night.

I was musing about the significance of water in dreams. I wouldn’t say that it is a frequent element in my dreams but I have had some memorable dreams throughout my life in which water was featured. When I was around 8 or 10, I woke up one morning convinced I could breathe underwater and it took awhile to shake that certainty that the dream I had had of swimming underwater without needing air had left me with. Another one I remember from my early 20s married to my first husband involved finding him with another woman and I left walking down a road with him following me in a golf cart trying to talk me into coming back. I ignored him until the road disappeared into a body of water and I couldn’t go any further. I waded around in the water before deciding to go back but when I woke I knew that it was over and I divorced him about 6 months later. Another dream involving water probably in my 30s I was at a beach watching as all along the shoreline were artists facing the water painting on easels when a huge wave came and washed over us all sending everyone tumbling and I was immersed in the water which didn’t recede. There was more to that dream but that’s the part that I remember. And now this most recent one. Certainly there have been more involving bodies of water but these are the ones that have stuck with me.

Curious, I asked the All Knowing Oracle what water in dreams represents. Apparently it’s a common theme and can represent any number of things.

“Dreams about water are symbolic of your emotions during your waking life. They're said to be linked to the deepest recesses of your subconscious mind and your intuition. Water is also associated with fertility, creativity, emotional well-being, renewal, purity, and new endeavors.”

Another list of possible connections.

• Emotions: Water can represent your emotions, and how you feel about life. 
• Subconscious: Water can symbolize the unconscious mind, and the depths of your psyche. 
• Life: Water can symbolize the source of life, and the wellspring of growth and vitality. 
• Fertility: Water can be associated with fertility, creativity, and new endeavors. 
• Purity: Water can symbolize purity and cleanliness. 
• Flow: Water can represent change, flexibility, and rejuvenation. 
• Birth: According to Freud, water in dreams can be closely linked to birth. 
• Overwhelming emotions: Tidal waves or flooding can symbolize overwhelming emotions or a sense of being overwhelmed. 
• Personal growth: Dreaming about waves of water could symbolize a desire for personal growth. 
• Need for connection: Dreaming about waves of water could symbolize a need to connect with nature. 
  

I don’t know what was going on in my 8 - 10 year old life but I think I can discount emotions, life, purity, birth, and connection but change, feeling overwhelmed, and this last one, fertility as in new endeavors maybe relates to the transition I’m going through probably giving up glass as an artistic medium and working in watercolors and colored pencils instead. Although the rest of the dream is a big what the hell was that all about or maybe the challenge involved.

Anyway, interesting stuff.

flood stage

I went down to Riverside Park to check out the river in flood Wednesday afternoon. Riverside Park is pretty high up from the river with long fairly steep banks and switchback walkways down to a fishing deck. But unfortunately no good canoe ramp. I wasn't the only one. There were quite a few of the townspeople coming and going doing the same thing as me.

I took a few pictures and my first video ever which I have managed to embed in this post (I think. I followed all the instructions and it appears to be here but I won't know for sure til I hit publish. edit I guess you need Adobe Flash plug-in to see the video. It shows up fine on my screen but Marc can't see it on his). The pictures don't really convey the immensity of the amount of water here, and more to come, partially because you don't have a before picture to compare it to but also because, as I found after being a river guide for a few years in a majestic canyon, pictures of power often fall flat. At least they do when I take them.

Anyway... Here's some photos of the high water and my video which I made so you could see how fast the water is moving.

Water is powerful stuff. A person can drown in a foot of water if the force of the moving water is strong enough. I saw lots of examples of the power of water during my years as a river guide and not only it's effects on the physical world.

When I realized I hadn't seen the last, sweep boat in too long, I stopped and waited. When I saw a bailer and a water bottle float past me I started back upstream to find one of the most capable among us had gotten his boat wrapped around a boulder in two feet of water and he and his paddling partner had not been able to free it even after they unloaded it.

It's a great metaphor for life I think. The stone age cultures certainly thought so.

what passes for excitement around here

Last week, the tank that holds the water that the pump pumps from the well over at the shop failed. Meaning that some seal at the bottom of the upright tank gave way and was spewing water out into the yard.

The shop is on city water, having converted over at the same time as our house did (before we bought it) when the city was putting in water pipes for hydrants of which there is one across the street from our driveway. There might be one more house on city water on the street but everyone else relies on their well. The well and the pump and the water tank were still there and, as far as we knew, functional, so we turned the pump back on thinking we would use the water for the garden and it has held for a year.

We have no idea how long it was spewing water, couldn't have been more than a day or two, but now the pump is off again. It's an old well and all kinds of things go wrong or deteriorate or erode so I'm not sure we will do anything about it. We'll see.

Anyway, I was working in the shop and Marc walked back there to check it out now that the standing water had soaked in. Next thing he was back bent over, pale, hand on heart; just call the ambulance now, he says. He had a close encounter with a 'brightly' colored snake about 20” long, slithered over his sandal clad foot. First snake sighting of the year! When I quizzed him about it he said he and it were going in opposite directions as fast as they could so he didn't get a good look. It was probably a coral snake, very venomous (but little bitty mouths) and very shy, they would rather run away. They feed during the day as opposed to other snakes that mostly hunt at night. He liked to have had a heart attack.

Needless to say he never made it back to the tank for a look.

oh the joy of home ownership and...yup, the selfie

I woke up yesterday morning to find that the rug in the little bathroom was wet. As was the floor around the toilet.

great

Turned off the water to the toilet, took the rug outside, got a towel and wiped up all the water which kept seeping up from beneath the linoleum tiles and from the bottom of the wall. Eventually got it all dry and stuffed another towel around the baseboard and went about my business waiting to see if more water appeared since I wasn't sure if it was really the toilet leaking or we had a leaky pipe in the wall.

and then I promptly forgot about it

Fast forward to evening when I checked on the towel which was wetter. Not a good sign.

I worried about that all night envisioning having to tear out the wall to get to the leaky pipe. Just what we need. I finally got up a little after six and checked on the little bathroom. The towel was soaking wet and there was water standing on the floor and I could hear a drip drip drip. Checked the toilet and both the bowl and the tank were full.

shit crap damn fuck

Went and got towel number three and while I was wiping up the water I noticed that the base of the toilet had water on it which struck me as an anomaly if the leak was in the wall. Then I noticed that there was a trail of water from the handle on the tank downwards and that was the dripping I heard. Looked at the water level in the tank again and it was up to the handle so I removed enough water from the tank for it to be at it's proper height. No more dripping water noise.

well, that's encouraging

I've been checking on it about every hour or so, wiping up the water that is still seeping up from under the tiles. I went in a minute ago and the towel was wet and water was starting to accumulate on the floor.

shit crap damn fuck

Looked at the handle and once again, water was dripping out. Remember, I turned the water to the toilet off yesterday morning and now the water level has increased back up to the handle.

OK, maybe not so bad

So now I have emptied the toilet bowl and tank, I'm on my fourth towel, and I'm waiting to see if the tank fills up because either I didn't crank the valve off hard enough or the valve is faulty and for sure the innards are faulty since the water level is not supposed to get so high it leaks out the handle.

Of course, it still could be a leaky pipe in the wall.

frozen

Last night was supposed to be our coldest night so far. They were predicting 25˚ but that's what it was when I got up this morning so I'm thinking it got even colder. Went out this morning to replenish the bird feeders and to see if there were any good pictures.

Polypro long johns, fleece pants, fleece socks, leather moccasins, camisole, flannel shirt, sweatshirt, fleece pullover, fleece fingerless gloves (fingers, just no tips), and new crochet hat from Ms Dana Bug.

OK. Fingerless gloves are a bad idea in 25˚ weather. By the time I came in, the exposed ends of my fingers were red as a holly berry and hurt like hell. Had to run the hot water to warm them up.

We got the garden covered Sunday.

Nothing to photograph but a carpet of leaves and frozen stuff.

the natural water filter for the water lily pond which had a crust of ice on it – frozen

parrot feather on the left, swordleaf on the right – frozen

elephant ear (oops, should have covered that) – frozen

birdbath – frozen solid

night blooming jasmine – frozen

I know, what a whiner, right? Not even any snow, just a little frozen water. Many of you are having to endure days of -25˚ and worse.

It's actually not so bad out there now. This morning was the end of it for us and it will begin to warm up quickly. The sun is shining and already all the ice has melted.

something fishy going on

As you may remember, we finally got the big pond set up and moved Big Mama out to the country house last October. For those of you who are newer readers, Big Mama is our 20 year old red ear slider turtle and her new pond is a 600 gallon plastic stock tank.

When we moved Big Mama we also moved the pond filter. It hadn't been cleaned out in a few years so we gave it a good cleaning in the process, which kills or otherwise gets rid of the bacteria that eats the scum it filters out of the pond. It also has a foam pad and a charcoal pad the water first seeps through.

Anyway...

I situated the pond in a spot that gets sun most of the day in the winter and morning sun in the summer. We moved Big Mama and her attendant goldfish groupies into a pond of clean clear water and a couple of weeks later added four large goldfish and a handful of minnows that needed a new home.

As the weeks went by, however, the water got murkier and murkier until you couldn't see anything at all. We would see the turtle slip into the water from her sunning spot and then nothing til her head popped up somewhere. And the fish not at all.

The pump was taking a long time to regrow the bacteria and the two other filters were only catching the big stuff. I think that by the time it finally started working again, the pond was too far gone. We were waiting for spring to clean the pond out and start over.

Long about the beginning of March I happened to notice that the water seemed a little clearer. And every couple of days a little clearer still. And the foam and charcoal filters were beginning to collect more and more stuff. To the point that they were totally saturated every three days or so.

And now, the water is perfectly clear.

I can't decide if the filter finally got the better of the algae or if those first two weeks in February when the nighttime temperatures were in the 20s finally killed it all. Probably both.

Anyway...

Now that the water is clear and we can see the fish and the turtle, it adds a whole new layer of enjoyment to it. I'm no longer surprised by the turtle for one thing.

She has eyed my dangling fingers one too many times for my comfort.

Because I feed her by hand.

She really loves snails but I don't get the big ones out here that infest the city. And fruit. Bananas, peaches, grapes, watermelon. She really likes watermelon. When I give her watermelon, she'll take it over to the other side of the pond to eat it. When I feed her, the fish all swarm underneath her for the crumbs.

They are a thing unto themselves, the fish. They have formed a little school with the four big ones and the ten or so small ones. One of the large ones is swelling with eggs. They have learned the system, who feeds them. When I walk by, now that we can see each other, they swim toward me.

The minnows, they got their own thing going.

Yesterday, I was giving Big Mama some banana, holding another piece just under the water level while she consumed the one I had just given her. The pregnant big goldfish swam right up and tugged on it in my hand.

Cool.

the source

The world is focused on oil these days and rightly so since we are quickly depleting the planet's resources. Conserving power, turning off lights and unplugging those little electricity thieves when they are not actually in use is admirable but how many of us are trying to conserve water? How many of us even think of clean water as being a finite resource?

Oil, gas, electricity...all very convenient to have but humans have lived long without them. Clean potable water though is another finite resource and it is one that we absolutely cannot live without...literally. 

Our lakes and rivers are polluted, we have dead zones in our oceans not to mention all the trash and garbage that floats around in them, so much water is being removed from our rivers by irrigation and damming that some of them don't even reach their end destination anymore, drying up before they reach the ocean. Our aquifers are shrinking and springs that have been eternal are disappearing. Wells are drying up. Even the rain is polluted at times.

And speaking of rain, it's illegal in some states to collect it for your own personal use because the ranchers and farmers think it all belongs to them, even if you have your own personal food garden.

In our current geo-political climate, the countries with the oil are the ones with the power. It won't be too long before the countries with fresh water will be the ones with the power. There has been many a battle waged over a water source throughout history and very likely many more will be fought in the future if we don't turn our attention to preserving our clean water sources and ending wastefulness.  People are already living without access to clean water and rationing is becoming more and more common.

Clean water is essential. We are so used to being able to turn on that faucet here in this country and having all the water we want that we give no thought to where it comes from. Hundreds of gallons a day are wasted on golf courses in the desert while drought stricken areas watch as their reservoirs shrink daily. Evaporative cooling systems spray water outside shops and outdoor seating areas of restaurants in arid parts of the country even when no one is there. Automatic sprinkler systems go on even in the rain.

The water we use is, of course, sent to sewage treatment facilities in cities and towns where it undergoes processes that remove the solids, the grit and dirt, the bacteria. It is finally chlorinated and then released into our rivers and oceans. If you live in the country or unincorporated areas likely you have a septic system which filters out the solids and sends the liquid through pipes to be dispersed underground. Some urban areas are starting to use the reclaimed water for irrigation and landscaping purposes which makes way more sense than releasing it unused into our waterways and oceans. Reusing the wastewater for non-potable applications saves our clean fresh water for more important uses...our consumption. However, most of our uses of water are not for actual consumption. We bathe ourselves, we wash our clothes, our dishes, we water our yards and gardens. A lot of it simply goes down the drain unused.

I've always tried to be conservative in my water use, turning it off while I brush my teeth, wash a sink full of dishes and then turn on the water to rinse them all at the same time using a low flow. Leaky faucets get fixed promptly and I hand water the garden and flower beds instead of using sprinklers. I never waste water on grass. Now that we have moved out of the city, I have been installing water collectors to catch the rainfall and I am laying soaker hoses in the gardens. Lately, I have been keeping a bucket in the kitchen to catch the water that runs while I am waiting for it to get hot to fill the sink, to catch the water I use when I wash my hands or rinse off the vegetables and then I use it to water the flower beds or pots.

Small things, simple things, easy things to do. But if everyone did those small things just think how much water we could save, conserve. It will make a crucial difference not too far in the future.