been opened up like somebody had taken a blade to it. A wide basin stretched across nearly two acres of land that had been mixed hardwood and grass when I left nine days earlier. Water had already gathered in the bottom, brown-blue and still, reflecting the sky like it had every right to be there. The banks had been shaped. Straw had been thrown over the edges. A pipe ran from the direction of my spring, diverting the water that had fed our creek for longer than I had been
My Neighbors Dug A Two-Acre Lake On My Land While I Was Out Of State—Then Told Me Their Contractor Said It Was Theirs, And That Was The Day I Learned How Expensive Arrogance Can Be