Last week the temperature here went up to 18 degrees. All the snow melted. Then the next day it rained heavily, pretty much the whole day. Then the next day it snowed.

I looked out the back window at one point and realized the drainage ditch was completely full of water. Like an inch from overflowing. The opening to the pipe from the sump pump was completely submerged. Now that the snow has melted I can open my back door again so I went to have a look, and the walls I had built up with broken concrete had collapsed and there had been several clay landslides into the ditch.

I should have expected that really. Lesson learned. I have some pea gravel I had intended to dump on the top, now I realize I should have been using it to fill in the gaps between the larger rocks, both to give them support and to try to keep the silt from settling in the cracks. When the soil is dryer I'll dig it out and re-do it properly. Fortunately Facething Marketplace has tons of people giving away left over rocks from their landscaping projects because I'm mostly out.

On the plus side, the drainage ditch did operate entirely as intended in that there was no flooding of the rest of the yard. The basement stayed bone dry and the pump didn't get any backwash.

***

Saw a rat back behind the shed while I was out there. I kind of figure rats are like the coyotes, they're always there, just sometimes we also see them.

Still. He was a big fucker.

***

Left the house today to go to a seed swap that was happening a couple of blocks away. Didn't swap any seeds but I did have a lovely conversation with a man from a local group that runs workshops on things like pollinator gardens and composting. There were also some people there from the Anishnawbe food & medicine garden.

I remember walking past a storefront on my way to the gf's place last week and passing what used to be a big art supply store. It's been divided in half, part of it is now a medspa and the other half is a thrift store.

That kind of encapsulates the current state of the neighbourhood perfectly, we have condos and gentrification and chic designer stores. But we also have the Community Centre with the needle exchange program and the lawyers who will give you advice about your immigration case or your lawsuit against your landlord. The slumlords who own the highrise behind me lost an attempt to shut down a food bank that was started in a couple of empty units by the tenants. There are signs on every light pole supporting the latest rent strike against yet another slum lord.

There's also a goth/industrial club right at the end of my street, and do you think I've managed to drop in there even once? No I have not. Maybe when it warms up and the wastewater numbers are less dire. I know about a half-dozen DJs who hold nights there, so I should get one of those straw holder thingys you can fix to your mask.

Actually, now that I think about it, that would be a good idea for the days I have to go into the office and it's too cold to eat outside.