March 17, 2022: “A River Runs Through It” or “We’re in for it now!”

There’s been a couple of days of stunning t-shirt weather, and nearly all the snow was gone. The full moon was amazing, Alan got a lot of work done on the well, and I started building a fence around a “regeneration” site.

Last night, we had a weather forecast for a “small storm; less than 1″ of snow” . We woke up to this:

We knew that the creek would be rising rapidly, and thought about packing up and going camping for a while to avoid the mess. Instead, after waffling a bit, we decided to tough it out and see what nature brings to us. I mean, that’s why we decided to stay here through the winter: to see what happens in this rough and tumble canyon. This is what we have this afternoon:

Where yesterday was a dry arroyo, today a true “creek” is crossing our driveway, about a foot deep at the ford and growing by the minute. Down by the highway, it is apparently several feet deep; impassable for now, overflowing the culverts. Overnight, it should slow and freeze, so we’re going to run into town early and load up on groceries and generator gas to last a couple weeks.

Our neighbors have been wonderful, calling to check up on us, let us know what’s happening downstream or offer to buy anything we need. Not sure how they’d get it to us, but it’s the thought that counts. We’ve talked to the Rio Arriba County road crew, who are very familiar with this yearly event and will eventually come in and do what they can to improve the road conditions.

While all of this is understandably somewhat anxiety-producing for us, we also feel pretty excited and happy. We’re safe and warm, and surrounded by unbelievable beauty, and both Alan and I take great solace in seeing Mother Nature have her way.

In the meantime, we are baking cookies and enjoying Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s TV show: “Servant of the People” on Netflix.

We wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick’s Day, and a warm welcome to Spring!