The air, when I lived for a few years in Columbus, Ohio, was always notably drier than down in Athens. My town is part of the greater Ohio Valley, built alongside the Hocking River, that feeds into the Ohio. It’s a moist part of the world, but has been especially rainy for several weeks. Last week we got two days of heavy rains in a row.

Here in my brush heap are a nice collection of fungi and lichens.

And an interesting one from a couple of years ago, that looks like a purple mold growing on a lichen.

The rainwater in this patch of my yard just streams, and builds itself miniature sandy shoals.

And the reason the water streams is because this animal burrow fills up, and appears to run underground from the pear tree to the brush heap.

But, good news. My water tubs are shaped like big shallow bowls, so I never do anything for them in the winter, because when the water freezes it just expands outwards and doesn’t harm the tub. So I usually don’t keep my water plants and have to buy new ones. This year, either for mildness on the part of the weather, or hardiness on the part of the pickerel weed, I have one plant that’s pulled through and is starting to grow again.