Lake Pommel
When we first moved to the Pommel house we got terrific run-off from on top of the hill. Once in a rare while, when it rained hard enough, the water pooled in the center of the yard to form an ephemeral shallow lake. So pretty.
Pommel Drive forms a ridge between the plateau that was once DK Ranch and the saddle that is our yard. About 20 yards beyond the end of our yard, the grounds drops off again, this time too steeply for develpment (I hope), into a ravine and a little creek. I think it might have a name: Hog Creek.
When it rains, water from the hill collects in our yard before draining into the canyon, and then into Bull Creek. Spicewood Springs Road crosses and re-crosses Bull Creek, and all the crossing are the sweep-away kind.
By the time Bull Creek reaches the highway that winds through the hills between Lake Travis and Austin, it can be a raging torrent. Four people were killed in a single flood once, years ago. They were from out of state, and didn't know about flash floods that vault up over low bridges and carry off cars or even trucks.
Today there is no Lake Pommel. We've build a garage and a pool, and Craig has persistently nudged the water off to the sides of our property. The flooded yard was pretty in the old days, but the sad fact is, the run-off now carries unsavory road and commercial landscaping chemicals.
I confess to sometimes waging chemical warfare on certain kinds of unwanted vegetation, but at least I check the forecast carefully against the life of the chemical.
Once a wash of run-off killed everything in its path. I couldn't believe it. The water subsided and there was a swath of dead grass and ground cover along the fenceline where the main channel flowed.
Our best guess was that someone had freshly laid down Roundup somewhere up stream right before the rain. So, over the years, we have sent Lake Pommel around the sides of our yard. We get a pretty good wash down the alley at times, but then we send it out to the west, through the back corner of Lydia's yard and on to the canyon.