I wonder where that phrase came from. It’s a term used to describe the speech used in lower income areas of cities and towns. I also wonder who came up with that term. I remember as a graduate student working on my Ph.D., the first class I took was called Literacy. It was the best course I took in my 4 years at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. One of the things we talked about was how language influenced perception, and how a person’s lexicon changed the way thety thought about themselves, and consequently, their academic status. Yes, thought then, and now, embodies itself in language.

Gutter talk is less figurative and more literal here. We have six outbuildings and most have gutters. And we collect the rain water and give it to the animals, and use it in the garden.

A few days ago, Pete put a gutter on the goatel (it on the mountain) – the main reason being to keep the water from dripping down onto the ramp. It wouldn’t have been a problem, but it continually froze. The gutter diverted the water to the far side of the front of the shed.

Pete did not indicate that this water should be saved. But this was the first thing that crossed my mind when I saw the water going drip, drip, drip. I immediately grabbed one of

The goatel

our five-gallon buckets and put it on the ground, under the drip. When full, I put a lid on it, and put it in the goat shed. I am going to fill other containers as they fill up.

This means that now the goats and chickens will be getting roof rather than tap water. This is significant in that we have to run the generator to get tap water. And of course, the generator runs on gas, which is a non-renewable resource. Now we’ll save money and make the planet a better place.

I’m also thinking that perhaps I might run some of this water down to the horses on the sled – that is if I stockpile it in goatel. Right now, I am giving them water from two tanks, one on each side of their enclosure. The tanks are full because it has been raining so much. We have had one freeze so far this fall; it was the other day – and so the valve on the tanks was frozen and I could not get water. But it has since thawed.

All this to say that I do not take water for granted. Some just turn on a tap and therefore give little thought to where their water comes from or that it is well worth conserving. I tend to see it as a precious commodity.

We were not here this summer – I heard it was very hot and we did, upon our return, see that the creeks were dry. I suspect that next summer it will be hot again. I don’t think that we’ll have enough water on hand, that is via our gutter set-up, to exclusively use here on the home front.

Next: 278. 10/8/19: The Importance of Routine