Fluming (it's a real word)

I'm craving crunchy leaves and combat boots but since it's still high 90 degree weather, I better pull back on the reins. So what's a girl to do? Keep doing summer shenanigans even though the majority of my friends and family are now in school mode? Meh, maybe. Perhaps it's time to hit up the pool alone and read a book, and in the process I can reminisce about the summer memories when times were slow and the livin' easy.

A reoccurring summer memory for me is lazy days spent at the flume. What is a flume, you ask? Well, it's about to get country up in here. The flume is a staple of summers spent in my hometown, in the lovely state of Idaho. It's where the canal goes across the road, and it's sketchy to say the least. The water is filthy and sometimes devil children stop in  the middle and gather moss from the water, then throw it over the flume wall on passing cars. When I was a teenager, there were boards above the flume so you could carefully walk back to go down again. It was quite the balancing act and if you fell, you would either hit metal bars and then fall back into the flume water, or I suppose you could fall off the flume altogether and take the thirty feet drop to the road. Since those days the boards started to go missing, nails grew rusty, so nowadays the kids get out of the canal, walk through a field and cross the road. Less exciting but much safer. The higher the canal water is, the more fun fluming is. That's because the water is faster so it pulls you through the flume at a quicker speed.

I have such fond memories of the flume. There were summers where Jace and I would rush to finish our work in the yard so we could spend the afternoon there. I would meet up with friends there, or cute boys. One summer night, my friends and I jumped in fully clothed. On another occasion, I had a moss/mud fight with a group of people and I swear I cleaned mud out of my ears for a month.

I'm glad I fit in some fluming with the family for the summer of 2013. If you want to experience fluming, let me know. I'll take you before fall really hits us.