Life on the pond

Research indicates that water has an impact on all five senses at the same time, immersing our psyche in a rest and digest response. It triggers a parasympathetic nervous response that lowers your heart rate and your blood pressure, stimulates your digestion and makes your body relax. If that all sounds too high falutin, just remember slowly wading into the pond and feeling that cool water sink into your pores.

Not far to the south of my house is an irrigation pond that calls to the locals when the temperature goes above 70 degrees. A rope hangs from a giant cottonwood on the north bank and...