We headed to the creek again today. For one reason or another I had my Little One with me, so we opted to stay close to the hill and play on the 'beach'. (a 15 foot strip of sand that is 5 foot wide at the max-and quite rocky in general)
I have no idea why anyone would find a beach relaxing!
I spent the entire time trying to keep Little One from eating sand! Well that and helping Dude dig a channel so his moat would fill. Without endangering the 'boiling Sand' spot. And splashing all the kids, or watching them have 'water battles'.
Boiling Sand is really fun to look at. It literally looks like boiling sand, though it feels like ICE! you can lose a large fist sized rock in the boiling section.and the water coming out to trickle and join the rest of the creek is VERY clear.
It is in some way caused by pressure differences between the cool underground water and the above ground area. (from what I have read they tend to appear during floods-though this is just on the bank of the creek). I am not sure which area is supposed to be high pressure, and which low. Nor am I clear on what sand pile, rock collection, or fallen tree is putting which portion of pressure where to make our sand boil. So I try to have the kids give it a wide berth. Or at least some room. Can you say a 'small berth'?
What is a 'berth' anyway? Ah something to do with a ship. And Sir Walter Scott coined a LOT of phrases! I have heard of him, an author. Have I read any of his work? According to Wiki - doubtful. Though Ivanhoe sounds familiar AHA! Locksley, AKA Robin Hood, is introduced here! I bet I have heard of Sir Walter Scott regarding the history of Robin Hood. Well that settles that.
Now why was Jules Verne listed under 'see also' for Sir Walter Scott? I still don't know, but he wrote Opera!
Why do you suppose Disney picked 'Nemo' as a good name for a clown fish? And now, after reading quite a bit about a different Nemo I should really like to read Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and maybe also The Mysterious Island.
And I have now spent far to long reading up on HG Wells, Steampunk, and Dumas. (can you say that name without a schoolboy giggle?)
So this little post was meant to be all about the engineering, and physics involved in digging a channel. Maybe a note about how I have decided to insist on swimsuits for all future trips to the creek. Or something about the small 'pea' clams we found, and the bright neon green spider.
And yet like the meandering creek, I just couldn't settle down to one topic. (meander comes from the name of a Greek river)
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