discerning the true nature of mud

i looked at a lot of ersatz puddles, lakes, and other bodies of water where they probably shouldn't be today and was wondering how do they stay like that? shouldn't the water drip down somewhere, and if not, won't it kill off the living things it's submerging. or what if something starts to live in there today, and then in a week the water is gone. that's not fair, now is it?

i made another salt-cured salmon slab on friday, and put fresh dill into it. my first encounter with said food was with my friend tara en route to marfa texas. about 30 minutes before arrival (it's about a 6 hour trip from austin), we were pulled over by ken doll state troopers near a surreal land formation aptly named 'squaw teat'. after no less than an hour of one thing turning magically into another in the bendable plastic minds of these peace officers, our salted salmon with dill was inspected at the back of the lovely yet not pristine SUV of tara. 'deal' is how he pronounced this delicious herb, and perhaps as a mixed metaphor, the officer suggested vaguely that there was 'deal' behind one of our seats. i did want to scratch my head in confusion, but i exhibited restraint, remembering that it could cost me a shot-up limb or two. so, at the end of this explanation lies a lightly toasted bagel with butter, cheese, arugula, and thinly sliced salt-cured salmon with dill. i don't have any idea how it doesn't kill me to eat it, but i suppose that's food preservation magic.