An Encouraging Sunday

Without this:

 You can't have this:

Have a Happy Sunday!

All Hail Summer!

Yesterday was a "weather" day at The Nickel and Dime Ranch, with crazy rain and hail.

While this was happening, I was having lunch with M and M in Santa Fe, on the way home from Albuquerque and the "didn't happen" Friday flight to California for my brother's retirement bash.

I ended up not going because Friday was a "weather day" in Dallas, disrupting flights, resulting in a nine hour wait for an airplane that wasn't going to take me where I wanted to go after all. At 2:30 am, faced with the prospect of waiting another eleven hours at the next stop offered to me by a harried, exhausted Southwest Airlines ticket agent, I gave up.

Sorry I missed your party, bro. All I can say is retirement is awesome and now you can work at whatever you want, whenever you want. Congratulations on surviving 32 years of adolescents.

I'd say, "Come visit," but looking at these photos, you might have second thoughts.

Ms. Pearl certainly had second thoughts, not even wanting to hang out on the covered porch while this was going on. Thunder, lightning and crazy noise on the tin roof were not her thing.

This is why my tomatoes are growing inside a greenhouse.

By the time I was home, all this was gone and today is sunny with nary a cloud in the sky. Still, there's a 50/50 chance for more rain today.

I think I'll go water the tomatoes.

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.

Summer At The Nickel and Dime Ranch

Happy 4th of July and Fiestas Weekend!

We had some crazy hail and drenching rain yesterday. The day started out without a cloud in the sky, the temperature a nice 82 degrees. I was in Las Vegas and saw clouds gathering over our place and called Tom, but he wasn't answering. Now I know why.

Ms. Pearl did not like it one bit. It was crazy and insane!

The hail did a number on the outside garden. It looks kind of like someone took a golf club and did some swinging.

The green beans were the worst, but we will just have to see if they recover. I have veggies in the Growing Dome, so all is not lost. 

The flower garden looks like it did last week when I took this pic.

Just another summer day in Northern New Mexico.

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.

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.

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.

New Mexico Monsoon Days

It's been raining almost every day here. Mornings are blue sky sunny, the clouds building up in the distance. In the afternoon, the rain marches from the mountains and down the valley, thunder and lightning providing accompaniment while I watch, quilt wrapped, from the wicker chair on the porch.