A Real Slice of Life: Wear Your Boots!

Very often I write about something that is on my mind, something that concerns me, or something I treasure. This includes my gardens, the state of education in the U.S.,  our environment, insomnia, and other things that occur to me on a regular basis. I ruminate a lot.

But, today, I was inspired by the post of a fellow blogger on the Slice of Life blog forums sponsored by TwoWritingTeachers.org.  While I’ve never met this person, I feel connected to her, as I read her blog faithfully, and try to comment. Today, her blog was on a lesson learned. You can check it out here.  It is short and to the point, yet entertaining. Her post inspired me to write something similar.

So, here it goes….

Today, I drove 1.5 hours to open some locked cave doors for a couple of volunteers who are helping to lead tours of this cave in about ten days. They had requested some practice time in the actual caverns where they would each lead a group of registered participants. I totally understood their request. I like to be prepared, to practice, and to hone my presentation prior to being in front of an audience. So, when they asked for this opportunity, I was glad to provide it.

The drive was nice – along The Great River Road – a trek I’ve written about before on this blog.  Today was not much different except that after reaching a certain point, I had to turn inland away from the currently high water of the Mississippi shores.

The inland drive took me through the hills of Southwestern Wisconsin. The sights were beautiful – rambling fields of verdant farmlands with white silos and red barns. Believe me, the scenes were straight from a picture perfect post card.

Arriving at the caves, I  met the volunteers and we walked up the hill to the entrance of the cave that happens to be through a 1950’s style gift shop. Something made me put on my Bog brand rain boots before we left the parking area.  We’ve been getting a lot of rain lately and even though the caves were reportedly dry on Saturday when a co-worker was there, I wanted to be prepared in case they weren’t today.

Well,  they weren’t. We were surprised by water in the cave – four or five inches of water had flowed up over the walkway, not far from the entrance.  Yes! I was prepared.  I was able to wade through the water and reach the sump pump.  After three adults bumbled through how a sump pump works and why it wasn’t on, I was the brave one who through the switch!

Forty-five minutes later, we were able to walk past the water that had now drained from the path. Unbelievably,  I am still wearing the socks I put on this morning, and they are as dry as a bone – have been all day!