In the Dominican Republic years ago, Paula and I slid down a series of “twenty-seven puddles” on a guided tour through the stone formations that a stream had created in the bedrock. A series of “puddles” or ponds down the mountainside: you slide down smooth rock and running water into the next puddle, and into the next, and it was great fun.

We have a few puddles forming on the east side of the woods, where the trees start to climb the hill to the open meadow or grassy area. The largest “puddle” in the sinkholes is about 40-by-70 feet wide, and the hole filled from the bottom in three days of rain and melting snow. Yesterday, the sinkhole was full and flowing into the lower hole next to it.

Today, the puddle has drained by half. In two days, if there is no rain, there won’t be a trace of the water. My prediction.