I've been busy of late clearing out a pond that was originally dug by a man who passed away a few decades ago. On what is now my land, a gentleman called 'Country' had done agriculture and dug the pictured pond for irrigating his crops. So aside from all the troublesome issues associated with the land I inherited, I got a wonderful pond.

I know it doesn't look it, but it is a wonderful pond. The overgrowth of bush and guava patches are being removed little by little - the pond is not small.

It's the top priority for me right now for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, it's water which I can put to use for irrigation during dry season. Next, it's a foothold into the aquaculture I want to start. And third... it's a really nice spot where I'll build a small structure to rest during the day.

After days of sweat and a small amount of blood, the pond is about 1/3 done. The rest of the bush I need to clear out, then have an excavator come in and clean out the pond. There is the issue of the Caimans swimming in the water, but they are more afraid of humans than we are of them. Eventually I'll have to encourage them to leave, but simply clearing the area of their hidinig spots is likely to do that.

I suppose we all need a goal. To describe where I see this pond in 5 years is very difficult - hopefully in that time I'll be able to show it instead. A restful place, peaceful, relaxing... and practical.

Water down a parched throat 
     splashes
The cool taste 
     lingers
The cracked lips 
     do not sting -
It is not water, 
     it is sand
The mirage of 
     thirst
The quest for the clay grail 
     to 
Hold water.

It did not come here 
    thirsty
It did not come here
    filled
It did not come here
    empty
It did not come here
    dusty.

And sand down a parched throat
    grates
The gritty feel
    scars
The cracked lips
    Do not sting
It is not love,
     but substitute
The mirage of 
     love
The quest for the clay heart
     to
Hold water.

So I'm up late - probably as late as usual - but I spent a good portion of the evening running the pump so that it can fill the water tanks. In the richest country of the Caribbean, where I am sitting here writing and doing work with synthetic worlds ('virtual' worlds), where I do web programming and other things... here, I have to wait and see when water is provided on the main and make sure that the tanks are filled because... one never knows with certainty when one will have water on the mainline again.

A country where oil is pumped out of the ground, sold to Europe. A country where men, like those pictured, wander around like lost children to open and close valves on pipes placed under roads in the 1950s. The roads have been paved for every election that I can remember. After every repaving of the roads, the Water and Sewage Authority (WASA) comes by and excavates the new road so that they can replace pieces of the water pipes. Whether the water is potable is always a question. But we have water, unlike so many places in the world that do not. The desalination plant in South Trinidad produces 80% of the water for San Fernando, Trinidad - or so I am told.

Oil is pumped out of the ground in pipes. { Read more }

I read somewhere, long ago - I think it was in Scientific American - that they had found that the drop of water that hits the surface does not mix with the water it hits, instead bouncing because of the surface tension. There were photographs, and I believe it was a blue drop of water bouncing off of red water - something that most people wouldn't find interesting, but something that is when it is considered. The drop that creates the ripple does not get absorbed until if falls back again - when the ripple has already started across the surface.

Change bounces on the surface tension of the status quo. Rippled might cause the surface area to increase and also the angle of incidence of the drop to the surface to change until the drop is absorbed. A secret life of a water drop. For a drop to have an effect, it does not have to become a part of the system... it must only bounce. And by bouncing, the status quo is changed enough for the change to be absorbed. This isn't something that I have studied in a laboratory, but I imagine that it is true after watching many drops of water closely over the period of my life. { Read more }