In Northern New Mexico Rain Makes Everyone Happy

Around here no one complains of rain, even if it sometimes adds a little destruction to folks' lives. Last September the flooding was described as one of the 100 year variety, yet when people mentioned what was damaged at their places, they almost always prefaced what they were about to say with "I'm not complaining, but...." There is a lot of thanking God for the rain, which is good because everyone should be thankful for a gift.

And that's what rain in Northern New Mexico is: a gift, especially after the 3 years or so of vicious drought ranchers and farmers have endured. With that drought came skinny cattle, no grass, having to buy hay from other states, sending cattle to other regions of the  U.S., blowing dust, water restrictions, and lack of income. Now the drought maps have reclassified our area as moderately drought-stricken, because the drought isn't over until we see a big old snow pack this winter in our mountains.

But that doesn't mean that we can't be happy, even if it is a conditional happiness.

At the Nickel and Dime Ranch the rain means swollen creeks and lots of grass.

An overflowing beaver dam.

A new flower garden kicking into high gear.

Wild pollinators doing their thing. I miss my bees.

And Ms. Pearl, taking a sunbath after a swim in the creek.

It's been a fun family-and-friend-filled summer, but I have to say that the rain has made it truly wonderful. Thanks, thanks, and more thanks.

Springtime in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains

Everyone around here seems deliriously happy with the end of winter weather, if you don't count folks driving the three mile stretch of highway near Buena Vista, NM, where cars slipped and slid through three inches of hailstones just a few days ago. Clouds of steam billowed up from the road, making it hard to see. I wanted to take a photo, but it was just too dangerous.

What I did see the same day were the purple-mountain-majesty-flower-covered hillsides outside Las Vegas, NM. The hills have been this way for several weeks, the rainfall keeping everything fresh and growing. Everyone's wondering, "Just what are those flowers?"

Las Vegas, NM, is a popular film and television location. The tv show Longmire, set in Wyoming, is filmed here. Of course it doesn't look like Wyoming, but it is pretty, isn't it?

I wanted to identify those flowers, but didn't care to hike out to the hills to look, especially since that sky to the east was looking pretty gnarly. Later we learned thirteen tornadoes touched down out there in Lincoln County. They wreaked havoc and destruction and I am glad I don't live on the prairie.

Luckily, I spotted some flower clusters nearby, so here they are.

After some internet searching, I thought they might be purple prairie verbena. A local professor told a friend that's what the flowers were, so I will concur. Look at those cracks in the earth. The earth's been slurping up every bit of rainfall we've had, and we are very grateful.

Closer to home, the valley along Coyote Creek hasn't looked this green for a while.

When we tell people where we live, they almost always say, "Oh, that's God's Country!" I think they are right.

May Day 2014

Last week I was gardening and planting stuff and feeling just like this:

A spring snow, though, has put the outdoor gardening on hiatus for a day or two.

Sunrise Snow May 1, 2014

The snow is already melting (look at the wall in the above pic), but the big question is how is the broccoli I planted four days ago doing? And the apple blossoms? How are they? Is everyone out there okay? My Southern California self emerges, panic at any weather change, News at 11!

It looks like one more cold day and night and then temps will be rising. My optimistic New Mexico self says, "Thanks for the moisture and please, bring us more where that came from!"

Rain Update-Bridges? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Bridges!

Yesterday I went on a fact-finding walk to see how our foot bridges survived after what some people around here are calling a 100 year flooding event.

Here is our south bridge back in 2011. The telephone poles holding up the bridge were secured to railroad ties. The railroad ties were grounded with rebar.

Well, it's gone, washed away to who knows where. Look carefully and you can see the rebar sticking out of the ground in the foreground, all that is left.

A couple years ago Tom and Zack used rebar to secure (so they thought) the north bridge to the creek's bank. The banks are pretty steep there and the bridge was about 5 feet above the creek bed which seemed pretty reasonable at the time.

 

Below you can see the hefty telephone poles holding up the bridge. 

 

Well, the bridge wasn't high enough. Who knows where those telephone poles are now?

Ms. Pearl is just happy to surf down the creek.

Bridges have been destroyed, but for many, rebuilding a bridge or two is just fine. 

Today on our dirt road we met neighbor Benjamin in his pickup truck. Like true country folk we stopped our trucks in the middle of the road to see how everyone was doing.

Benjamin mentioned losing a bridge, but it wasn't a big deal.  "But isn't this rain a blessing?" he said, smiling ear to ear.

Colorado was hit much harder than folks in New Mexico, and I hope the list of missing people shrinks as those areas isolated by flooding become accessible once more.

So who's to whine about a footbridge or two compared to others' losses? It could have been much worse and it wasn't.

So we smile from ear to ear,  counting our blessings.

Blessed Rain

For those of you who have regular rainstorms throughout summer, you are probably thinking the title of this post should be "Blasted Rain," and I hear you.

But around here, where people have been praying for rain for years, the past five days have been a blessing.

Remember this photo from back in July? Yep, that's a dry creek bed, even though we had just received a little rain and hoped for more.

 

We went out exploring and here's that same place yesterday. The footbridge touches the opposite side just to the right of the tree.

 

We haven't been out yet today, so who knows if the bridge is still there? I'll let you know.

 

 

Ms. Pearl's Labrador Retriever half has taken over and she's been body surfing down the creek. At first I was worried, but she knows where to get out.

Pearlie wouldn't hold still for a photo. "C'mon, cut the crap! There's water out there!"

Portrait of a Manic Austrolab.

A Summer Walk to the Beaver Pond

It's trying to be monsoon season here at the Nickel and Dime, and in areas nearby they've even had some flash flooding with puddles, actual puddles (!) alongside the roads. Since most of the yearly moisture  comes during this July and August rainy season, everyone has been hoping and praying that the rain will keep falling, but not so much that we get flooded out.

There was rain last week here at the ranch, so the grass is growing a bit and the steers think it's candy. Sadly, our creek isn't running, though, so bring on more rain!

Yesterday Ms. Pearl and I took a walk through The Enchanted Forest to see how the beavers are doing.

Here's our empty creek bed.

If you look closely at the photo below, you might be able to see Ms. Pearl exploring an area just above what Tom calls "Bridget's Bottom." 

 Yeah, there she is! C'mon, you goofball!

Sometimes when we're walking around I can't find her. So I'm calling, a little worried, and she just appears, usually right behind me, looking like, "Didn't you know I was here the whole time?"

You've seen the pine trees all around here, but watch where you're going because these grow here and there on the forest floor:

Prickly Pear Cactus

Nylon Hedgehog Cactus

Don't the spines on this Nylon Hedgehog cactus look like embroidery?

So here we are at the beaver dam. Not much water left, so I wonder what happens to the beavers? Do they pack up their bags and find a better place? Research is necessary.

Come on and rain some more. We want the beavers back!

What is cool, though, is a chance to see how they built the dam. That's a lot of earth moved, don't you think?

You can see that even though I have been providing fresh water in a civilized water trough for the steers, their hoof marks are visible in the mud. Don't drink that stuff, you guys!

So we have green grass, pine trees, pretty cacti, rain, an empty creek bed, missing beavers, and a chance to experience both the beauty and the sadness of nature right in our back yard.

It will sort itself out eventually. It always does.

The Lazy Boyz Want Rain!

The other day T and I were picking up wood in The Enchanted Forest and our usually shy Lazy Boyz came to watch us work.

Actually, they were looking for a handout. We've only fed them hay when the temps have been low or there was too much snow, but they remembered.

The only green and growing grass on the ranch is along the creek, but because we haven't had enough rain (yet), the rest of the place just has last year's leftovers. It's food and they aren't getting skinny, but it's dry and crunchy, not green and juicy.

And dry grass is boring! "Hey, bro!" say the Lazy Boyz. "Give us some hay!"

Seriously, ranchers with big herds of cattle are selling them early because there's not enough grass. We are lucky to have grass left over from last year and to only have a "herd" of two cattle.  To feed hay to a large herd would cost way too much.

That's why the price of your steaks is going up and will continue to go up during this drought. It costs more to feed cattle when there isn't enough grass or hay. Supply and demand and all that.


The typical conversation around here always starts with, "We need rain." And yes, we do, not only to feed the livestock and keep the rivers and creeks flowing, but also to help the firefighters who are working their hearts out to protect people, animals and property in the path of wild fires.

Pray, do a rain dance, or just send up your watery thoughts. The southwest needs rain!

The Lazy Boys: George and Ringo

Meet George and Ringo who have been content to wander around the ranch, eating for a while and then lying down. Then they rest after their hard work, which consists of eating and lying down. There is plenty of grass so they don't need to range far and wide to find food. It's all around them.

But this dried grass is boring! It's like eating shredded wheat cereal!

Lately, though, they've been steers with a purpose: find grass that is green. It's starting to green up, especially along the creek bank, and they are on the job finding all the best morsels.

It's like when we say, "I think I want a salad!" after all those carbs.

Possible rain is forecast for a couple of days and that's just fine. We all want salads in spring.

April Snow

Yesterday afternoon while we were sewing at ThreadBear in Las Vegas, the sky and the air looked gray and moisty, like Newport Beach in the winter. Minus the beach.

"I wish it would do something," a friend said.

"Maybe rain?" someone else said. And then she added, "Hah!"

And then it started snowing. We packed up and hightailed it out of there just in case it was a blizzard or something. It wasn't a blizzard, but at home there was a nice two inches of the wet stuff.

By this afternoon it will have soaked into the earth and the grass trying to grow will say, "Thanks, buddy!"

I like the hopeful vibe of the hammock hanging behind the picnic table.

Community Rights in New Mexico

Community rights is the idea that communities should have more rights than corporations when it comes to determining what happens to a local community's air, water, and land.Well, duh! Wouldn't that always be the case? Nope. In many cases big business deals trump the welfare of a community, polluting and ruining the environment with no recourse for the community members.

These posters have sprung up in our county and the counties nearby. Mora County residents have recently elected county commissioners who are strong believers in the idea of community rights and they are now the majority on the county commission. They are working to enact community ordinances which would restrict or ban gas drilling in Mora County and protect individual and community water rights.

Around here water is precious and even more so since we are still in a drought.

In Mora County, water sustains cattle, the largest agricultural product here and for many, their only paycheck. Most people in the county drink from their own wells and water associations monitor and regulate how much water each member uses from the acequias (water ditches) to irrigate their fields.

Beautiful, clear creeks and rivers flow through the ranches and public lands in Northern New Mexico and residents fear that hydrolic fracturing could either pollute the water from chemicals used during the fracking process or suck up all the water here for drilling projects elsewhere.

Either way, the ranchers and residents of our county would be screwed.

As someone most aptly put it, "We can live without natural gas. We can't live without water!"

Snow, Cold, and the Growing Dome Report for February

This morning when we woke up it was 11 degrees F, and there was some new snow here (just a little) and more in the higher mountains.

We're talking maybe a half inch or so, which is good, but we need more snow! New Mexico needs moisture!

There's just enough snow to see bunny rabbit tracks. 

And getting all artsy fartsy taking a photo of a teeny pine cone in the yard.

Inside the Growing Dome, though, it's warm in the sun. Tom put an Adirondack chair in there for leisurely reading and basking.

These snap peas are loving winter inside the dome.

Let us remember "lettuce," my dad used to say. I give the plants a trim and they grow more leaves in a few weeks.

There's a problem with aphids, so I plucked out and threw away a kale plant teeming with the little fellers. More plants are being aphidized, so I will have to mix up a little soap bath. Let's hope after their bath they will give it up.

Recovering from the stomach crud. Lost a couple pounds, so that's good.

Brrr....It's Cold!

 Brr! It's definitely cold here. How cold is it? It's so cold Ms. Pearl lifted up both front paws from the snow, sitting up even though she had never done it before.

 
It's been cold in many places of the United States, even cold in Southern California. Gotta put away the crop tops and shorts for a while, you guys. Get tough, SoCal people!

Here in Northern New Mexico, temps haven't gone as low as MINUS 33, like what happened a couple February's ago, but this morning was -12F when doggie visitor Reggie went out for a little constitutional. Ms. Pearl wanted to stay "turned in," snug under our bed's down comforter. Smart doggie.

 
It snowed all day yesterday, a light powdery 3 or 4 inches of blessed moisture.  That's our upper pasture with plenty of grass. Our two beef steers are methodically eating, one bite at a time. A USDA fellow dropped by for a cattle survey and complimented us on our grass and said we were managing it well. Well, yeah, we only have two cattle on it!

Our two steers, George and Ringo (why, oh why, do I name these cattle?) are still getting used to Ms. P and her officious behavior. "Stay together! Get in line!" are what half Australian shepherds say to both their livestock and their people.

So here are George and Ringo. They are Limousin-Angus cross breeds.

George

Ringo

They are an experiment: Limousin cattle are larger and longer than Angus, so will produce more beef. We will have a couple more Black Angus soon, so maybe we can have some taste tests. These guys are wearing their shaggy, thick fur coats and have found all the tree sheltered spots for when it gets snowy.

Usually, though, all they do is eat or lie down in the sunshine. What a life.

Looking north toward The Enchanted Forest are the mountains near Angel Fire Resort. (Whoops-Those are the mountains above Guadalupita. Sorry.) I know skiers and resort workers who will be very happy.

The creek is almost completely frozen (this photo is from December)  The steers found an open space to drink, but Tom made the opening bigger.

I think if there wasn't sun most days I might not like the cold weather, but it's amazing what a little sunlight can do for my mental health. Heck, I even consider 40 degree weather warm now, and that's what we are supposed to have starting tomorrow. Yippee!

Leave It To The Beavers

We are lucky to have a creek running right through the ranch. Sometimes it's dry, but usually we have water flowing, one of the few sounds out here in the boonies. Cross our fingers that we get some snow so the water keeps on chooglin'.

Beavers like the creek, too, and on the property next to us they have been busy. The first dam I saw, created from rock, was so tidy I thought humans had done it. And they have soldiered on, making a sizable pool. Those wires you see crossing the water are our fenceline.

Looking toward our neighbors' property, this is where most of the pond is spreading. That's a yak in the background and an adobe building behind the yak.

Beavers used to be considered pests, but they have become popular lately with ranchers and environmentalists because their dams cause water in the streams to soak into the surrounding grounds, in some cases causing the water table to rise. In arid climates like ours, that's a good thing.

This dam isn't stopping the water, so our "herd" of beef cattle, all two of them now, have plenty of creek water to drink.

Ms. Pearl likes the beaver pond, too. She calls it her swimming pool.

Sometimes she gives us her impression of a beaver.

We are happy to have the beavers move in. The water level in the creek has been low and fishing here has been almost nonexistent.

With deeper water, maybe trout will stay a little longer, if they don't mind sharing a pond with beavers, cattle, yaks, and dogs.