A rainy week made the drainage a river. But the following dry week dropped the water level, making little ponds full of tadpoles and minnows. Continuing dry weather started to dry up the little ponds, stranding the little fish and frogs. Snakes and spiders were delighted for an easy meal; But Jacob was distraught, and determined to save the ponds. For a couple of days he would rush out back when he got home from school, and move bucketloads of water from the main flow out to the ponds. Many things died, and we talked a lot. Yes, it's sad to see things die, but what would happen if all the tadpoles made it to maturity? How overrun would we be with frogs? Would they decimate the populations of certain insects? etc. It was a great learning experience, but also a relief when the rain came again. Now, during every rainfall we think "Oh, this will be good for the drainage."