The green season (read: rainy season) is upon us. To a bunch of us living down here in our little slice of paradise, this is our favorite time of the year. Everything is so green and lush; the air is fresher, and the wells and rivers are filling up. That’s the good news. We must also think about the fact that the roadways are slicker; the creeks and rivers are higher, and drainage systems, from the roadside ditches to house gutters need to be cleaned before further problems may occur.
Maybe not the last thing, but surely very near the last thing you want to happen is for your vehicle, be it a car, motorcycle, or an ATV, to start hydroplaning on a wet, slippery road. To abate that, we must make sure that our tires are not bald showing thread, and keep our speed down. And, please, don’t let the looks of that creek or river you are thinking about riding through be deceiving. Being swept away by the swift moving current is a very good probability, and surviving that event, not so much.
Throughout the dry season, our house gutters tend to fill up with all sorts of debris. It is best to give them a good cleaning just before the rainy season starts, else we might have some overflowing water that may bring down the gutters, or create standing water (read: mosquito breeding ground). Overflowing road ditches can have more severe results, with water flowing onto the roadway. Speeding through that seemingly innocuous water, one never knows, there might be a huge pothole underneath, wiping out a vehicle suspension system, or worse; and speeding through the overflowing water, could shoot a spray up onto an upcoming vehicle, the result of which may possibly be deadly.
So, let’s enjoy the rainy season, but we must also be safe out there.
