Dear Ferret Folks-

I've had a few very kind inquiries show up in my inbox over the last 24
hours, basically saying "are you guys Ok with all the N.E. flooding in
the news?" Yes, we are fine basically because we live in the boonies.
Yes, the swampy boonies, but there is enough natural forest and healthy
stream systems to keep things from becoming completely fubar. We live
maybe fifteen feet above the surface of a nearby pond, but not near one
of the big mill rivers.

The key is the word "mill." New England used to have an immense
milling industry, initially all water driven. Our biggest rivers are
extensively dammed and channeled into systems that make perfect sense
for industry, but make *no* sense in terms of actual drainage. We've
had a once in a hundred year rainfall that co-incides perfectly with
the annual spring high-water from the melting of the snow pack. The
result has been a painful disaster for the big mill cities like
Cranston, Rhode Island. Cities on the edges of artificially created
reservoirs are also in terrible shape. Clinton, Massachusetts, beneath
its towering dam is impassable. You literally can't get there from
here!

The biggest problems that *I* personally am running into are streams
and rivers that have been dammed and engineered by beavers. No, I am
*not* kidding! Industrial mill dams tend to be over a century old, and
privately owned. They are expensive to maintain, so people don't much
bother. *Those* are crumbling. The New England beaver population (a
staggeringly successful re-introduction) is expanding every year. I
can't tell you how many flat beaver kits I have seen lately who didn't
make it across the road, being young and lacking automotive experience.
*Their* dams, however, are holding. The beaver go out *every day* and
work on them. High water doesn't slow them down. Nothing slows them
down. And they don't give a dam (pun intended) how their water works
affect people. You should see what they have done to Rt. 140 in
Westminister, Mass. WOW! I have to ford that mess to drive to my
sister's house on a near daily basis.

Thank you for your concern, however. Things here are *much* better
since we found the secret dam that my nephew built across the culvert
at the end of our driveway. It was very effective. He wasn't punished,
but told NOT to do that again! Half the front yard went under water.
Sometimes you just have to laugh, and teach them better.

Alexandra in MA

[Posted in FML 6655]