That’ll Slow ‘em Down!

 

If you read my last post you know I was griping about the speed demon motorists racing down the county road beside our neighborhood.

Well today I got even, thanks to Mother Nature.

(These photos I took from my bedroom balcony using my camera’s zoom)

We had a doozy of a summer monsoon today. The biggest monsoon storm we’ve had since living here the past 3 years. It caused flash flooding of roads,

(The main road through our neighborhood, taken from my bedroom balcony)

Flooded arenas, yards and fields,

(Photo of our chicken coop beside our house) 

Flooded our culverts,

(See that silvery thing, almost in the center of the picture. It’s sticking up through the water. That’s the top piece of metal pipe that carries overflow water out of our neighborhood)

Caused fast flowing rivers to rush down our hills,

(This is our little dirt road that goes up to our barn)

And lasted for over two hours.

This isn’t typical for most New Mexico summer storms. They usually only last 20 minutes to an hour and then move on, leaving behind cooler temperatures, fresh sage scented air, and sunny skies.

This was truly a gully washer!

I love watching storms. It can be so thrilling with all the thunder, lightning and pounding rain. But our land, plants and animals would much rather have a slow, calm, and steady rain. When the rain falls too hard and fast, the earth can't even soak it up. It just runs off as quick as it falls.

(Apache and Bella insisted on standing out in the rain under a tree the entire time. My neighbor friend, Val’s horses were much smarter and ran into her barn to escape the pelting rain. The mailbox is part of my CTR Obstacle Course.)

This type of powerful rain washes away the soil.

Filling culverts, rivers and ponds full of sediment.

(Our Pond…..poor fish almost got washed away. Photo was taken from my bedroom balcony. The metal is for shade. Yes, the weeds have kind of taken over this summer. It’s difficult to keep up with ‘em)

Small animals and snakes are washed out or drowned inside their homes when water gushes into their holes.

(This was taken from the loft balcony. The photo is of our little grassy backyard where I sometimes hand-graze Apache)

 

I really have a hard time going to the barn after a heavy monsoon storm like this, too. Our steep hill can be treacherous slipping and sliding in the greasy, slimy clay mix soil.

I can use my trekking poles to help, but I’m considering buying some of those spiked crampons that ice climbing mountaineers use. The spikes can be strapped to your shoes to help give you better grip through slippery ice as well as mud.

(My feet sloshing around in a flooded area beside our house. That’s mud splattered on my legs, not hair. lol!)

Anyway, my kidlets and I were quite entertained to see how well the flooded county road slowed down even the speediest drivers. Several times we’d see a driver barreling down the road, and have to come to a complete stop as he eyed the water covered road ahead of him.

A flooded road makes a fine natural speed bump, don’t you agree?