Chatting With the Water Expert

I took a short break from my paperless work yesterday to chat with The Water Expert. The weekly builder's meeting was over, and I thought he might have a few nuggets of new information about what's happening around Morrison Ranch. Some of his nuggets provided encouragment for progress, and some not so much.

If you've ever walked around the lake, you may have noticed a swail in the landscaping just past the sidewalk. I don't know if that's the correct spelling, but a swail is the opposite of a berm; in other words, it's a dip. We lovingly call this The Sixth Man Memorial Retention Swail, as he designed it. But it tends to hold water after a rain or excess irrigation, and that doesn't look quite the way the Sixth Man had in mind. So we are in the process of planting a 4 inch pipe with holes in it all around the swail that will collect the water and eventually dump it back into the lake. That will greatly improve the feel of a walk around the lake.

The disappointing news is that there is a huge slowdown in the production of concrete since Hurricane Katrina decimated the Gulf Coast. It's hard to get too worked up about a slowdown on our construction in comparison to the devastation that those folks have endured, and I'm not. But if you've been wondering, as I have, where the curbs and gutters are in Highland Groves, that would be the answer to that question: delayed.

As for the lakes at Highland Groves, The Water Expert and his crew are making sure everything is perfectly ready before they get the "wet" water. I'm just an accountant, and I was unfamiliar with the term "wet" water - I thought ALL water was fairly wet - so he explained to me that this means the water is actually, physically available to come through the pipes, not just available "on paper." He has come up with a rather innovative way and permission to get the lake filled even though the town infrastructure isn't quite ready for that, and so that is progressing nicely - but is still a month away.

I know that everyone in every type of career experiences delays in realizing their plans. Building communities is no different, even if sometimes it feels like our delays are magnified. I guess it's because we know what we want to see, and how hard could it be, really, to just do it?

Thanks for sitting on my front porch and empathizing with me when things seem to be happening at a snail's pace, as well as when things are really humming. And, I might add, things are really humming in the office as my daughter and I crank through the initial process of moving the paper to the computer. I'm sure you can feel the energy as you drive by the office!