It’s All About Response Time

So there I was on the hillside, a term that over-dignifies the erosion gully I was working to turn into safe access to a fantastic beach. My mind was on finishing the ballast for the railroad tie I’d just put in to make what most people would call a step, but which I’d learned to refer to as a “human erosion mitigation device” because the volunteer project had to be about erosion in order to comply with certain regulations. But that’s a different story. My mind was on that ballast because once it was packed in firmly, the step would be safe for use and I wouldn’t have to keep standing there in the sun, smelling the creosote baking out of every tie on the slope . . .