On damage, and growth

It's raining today.

Just a simple, steady rain. More than mere mist, less than a deluge. Hard enough that Charlie came home from our walk wet and raced around the house until I could towel him off.

I snapped this picture while we were out. It captures a section of sidewalk immediately below a section of damaged eaves trough.

The rain hits in this section particularly hard, and waters the wall enough to encourage moss growth in this spot alone.

It hits so hard that it's worn the smooth, top layer of cement from the courser stuff beneath. This wouldn't have surprised me if it occurred over the course of years. But that's not the case. This is a new sidewalk. It was poured in May, around the time when I posted about saving an inchworm.

The erosion illustrates how much damage can be done in less than 3 months. Not by scraping or pounding or sanding, just by the regular fall of rain, concentrated in a single place.

Erosion below. Growth of life above.