The Watering Hole

Stings, shots, beaks; drink at your own risk.

When we bought the property there was a water leak near the top of the driveway. Oh that's been like that for the past two years, the agent told us. The previous owners did not occupy any of the houses on the property during their two year tenure in charge, so never bothered to have it fixed.

Later my husband (the h) took a look and said it couldn't really be fixed without a major intervention from the city. So the leak stayed, a trickle of water that ran downhill and pooled into a sewer pipe. It has become a de facto watering hole for all manner of creatures, not unlike the Mos Eisley cantina on Tatooine with its mostly congenial customers erupting in occasional shocking violence. There is no freaky band, of course, though I have been known to sing while I wash dishes nearby.

During the peak summer months the flock of feral roosters and hens can be found sitting and standing nearby. Often, when a hen has just hatched a peep of chicks she will bring them to the watering hole as their first outing. Occasionally a little one will get separated from its sibs during the rocky journey and sit there in the middle of the expansive driveway cheeping until I go out, scoop it up and deposit it in the middle of its family.

Goldie leaving the watering hole with her peep(s)

During hot weather wasps hover around constantly; now that it's cool I haven't seen them around, and I"m glad as our shower is nearby and ducking wasps while one is showering naked is a new variety of vulnerability I can do without.

I've seen neighborhood cats stop by for a sip - a black and white one, a white one, a hairless one, a pure black one. Once our dog Jake arrived, that pretty much stopped though. Even Jake has lapped at the leak a time or two, despite his big yellow outdoor water bowl only a hundred feet away. When you're thirsty, you're thirsty, I guess.

Late one night I looked out the second story window and saw a hedgehog trundle across the courtyard in the moonlight and have himself a drink. During the day, tiny birds will drink and bathe there, then flit away. Once, an owl cruised down on silent wings. In the spring it was a pretty place with all the papery white butterflies fluttering around.

I've never seen a rat drink there, but I know they must be. It makes me mad to think they are washing down a chicken dinner with our water; the h has a pellet gun and a line of sight from a living room window to the watering hole and if a rat ever makes the mistake of stopping for a drink while the h happens to be looking out that window, there will be one less chicken-eating felon on the block for sure. The h is an excellent shot.

Another time I sat on the steps resting after planting blue Nile lilies in the front garden and saw a little gecko - the property is full of them - serpentine over to the water and refresh itself. Next thing you know a rooster, standing nearby on one foot shot out its neck and boom, no more gecko.

Some people are coming next week to get the big house ready for running water, a project that should take about a week. We'll install fixtures and the city will turn on the water and likely during all of this activity the leak will be addressed. I guess I'm glad that we won't be paying for water seeping into the ground, but I can't say I'm completely happy about it.