Too bad you hadn't lived here in farmland, wwh. There are dams to observe in abundance. I, too, remember my seventh grade teacher in English who congratulated Jimmy Utley on having an 'ironic sense of humor,' and I wondered at the time what in Sam's hill she'd meant by it and what was it Jimmy had said that had won her commendation.

Interesting information, of troy, as usual.

I've done a bit more sleuthing on the topic and came across this fascinating entry because of its fascinating term that comes to us from those who would have made us colonists, and did :

"Serpentine walls line the ten gardens between the pavilions of the inner lawn and the outer ranges of the academic village of the University of Virginia. The serpentine walls were designed by Jefferson after English "crinkle-crankle walls," which provide strength, efficiency of materials, and beauty."

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jeffrep.html