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Ah, the country life--the armadillos, the mud daubers, the sudden floods.

The army-dillos seem to have traveled on to fresher battle fronts, repelled by cayenne pepper, flashing lights, urine, or sheer boredom with such easy pickin's. The mud daubers are retreating from the front door after inhaling several good whiffs of insecticide. But the flood is another matter.

What flood, you say. The one that started when Fio, with Gretchen Jones-like confidence, opened one of the in-ground sprinkler system controls and turned it on for a short dousing of the north yard. Then she went inside and forgot about it.

Four hours later, she remembered. Husband was already in bed so she grabbed a flashlight and went outside, braved the wet, opened the control again and tried to turn off the water. Unfortunately, the flashlight wasn't much help and, operating mostly by feel, she pulled out something that shouldn't have been pulled out.

The water has been running all night now. As soon as it's light enough to see anything, Fio will try again. Pray for Fiorella.