"Knee Deep"----and what's the first thing to come to mind? With me it's that great rendition by Pete Seeger that continues "in the Big Muddy, and the big fool says to go on."

Seems to me like we're in an ever bigger Big Muddy nowadays.

Reading the news makes me think about a book I read the first or second year I returned to college. It's about the Vietnam War and how the U.S. got sucked in deeper and deeper. That book was the first time I'd seen the "f" word in print. When Kennedy heard about the Bay of Pigs fiasco he said "f***ed again."

But that's not what was knee deep today. It was the water on the road after a little old afternoon shower which, in other parts of the country, might be called a cloudburst. A lot of water came down in a relatively short amount of time. Right about time to head for home. The road in front of my building had water up to the bottom of the doors of smaller cars. Once the rain had stopped I rolled my slacks up above my knees, then headed VERY CAUTIOUSLY to my car. The deepest water came to about three inches below my knees. I sort of felt my way for the "irregularities" in the road surface, and I made it just fine. I'd forgotten just how quickly the Tulane campus area roads flood. Many times when I was a graduate student there I waded through similar depth water to get from one class to another.

And, of course, it was only a small area that got the rain. Less than a mile from the campus the roads weren't even damp, and as I headed east I quickly left the few remaining clouds behind.

Tomorrow is supposed to have scattered thunderstorms also. But I won't be in New Orleans with the interstate to travel.