But all my skepticism collapsed when we experienced this incident:

Our driveway slopes downward from the street in front our our house to our basement garage, then turns and continues at a slight upgrade to the side street. Water tends to wash down from the streets (we recently got the city to install a berm to reduce this flow) and would flood our home except for ONE storm drain near the corner of our garage. If that drain becomes plugged during a storm – as for example by leaves or by ice during a hailstorm – we get a flooded basement.

One night – well past midnight – we were awakened by a persistent knocking on the roof directly over our bedroom. My wife recognized the pattern of the knock as being one of “our” crows or ravens. Then she heard the sound of a heavy downpour as the persistent knocking continued. Then she realized that she was NOT hearing the sound of water draining into the storm drain in our driveway!

Quickly dressed, grabbed lights, went out into the HEAVY downpour and found the water level already 2″ above the garage door threshold and (from inside) that it was rapidly soaking boxes in the garage and heading for the carpeted bonus bedroom behind that. I waded into the growing lake, pulled the grate from the storm drain, and grabbed a hunk of leaves and grass that was blocking the outflow pipe – then poked a long pole down the pipe to knock loose a further obstruction. Water receded.

Memorable phrase from my youth, from comedian Jackie Vernon: “A wet bird never flies at night.”

DON’T YOU BELIEVE IT!

Greeting from Elsa, amateur birdwatcher from Luleå

Just finished Crow Planet and I was so moved by it. I also am envious of how well you write. Fantastic work and I I have passed it on to my wife. I am looking forward to your next project. BTW, we mentioned your book on our blog at:
http://thelittlehouseonahill.tumblr.com/

Thank you for doing what you do and for doing it so well.

I have been a fan of yours since my mother gave me a copy of Pilgrim. To me it is a perfect book – focused in its subject matter and lovingly written with a message that ripples out into the world. My only disappointment with the book was that it was not one that many of my friends could appreciate.

I got Crow Planet as soon as it was available. I devoured it, read it aloud to people over the phone, gave copies to my friends, recommended it to book clubs …. I insisted that my mother read it, of course.

You might be intrigued to see what is possibly the first mention of your book in a poem – written by mother.
http://saltandstonepoetry.blogspot.com/

Chris