January 8

Over the last two days, we've been inundated with rain - 6.44 inches in 48 hours. Needless to say, our sump pump worked overtime last night. The rain stopped by this morning, but the ground was so saturated that the sump pump still had work to do.

I have no idea why our sump pump is connected to our bathtub drain, but it is. (The joys of living in an old house, full of idiosyncrasies.) Each time the sump pump cycles on, a small amount of water flows up into our tub, then drains back out. I think the dirt deposit comes from the first spurt of water, as I'm sure the pump accumulates dirt over the course of the year. Each subsequent water flow shapes and carves the dirt into interesting shapes and patterns. I think it is neat to see our little landforms develop and change with each cycle of the sump pump.

For the record, Marc couldn't believe that I was taking pictures of the dirt in our tub today. But, when he saw the final product, he was actually surprised at how neat it looked.