Busy Little Bees

I wanted to share a photo of some wonderfully colorful Loner Bees on these flowers, but they disappeared….they seem to really love Indian Blanket (Gaillardia). They also love the native Globe Marshmallows.

Last night we got another 1.5″ of rain. Our new stock/water retention ponds got a couple feet of water. These work to keep the water from sheeting across the meadows and taking all the dirt away. They look ugly now, but in a year or two, they will be covered in sage and grasses and be mostly invisible. They will hold thousands of gallons of water for wildlife, and allow for the land around it to regenerate. There are 3 ponds in this field, and we plan to add 3 more across the road.

We took a lovely hike up Adam’s Fork Trail of the Conejos River (west of Antonito, near Platoro Reservoir). The plan is still to do a CDT hike starting in that area in about 10 days, if the weather cooperates, so we were reconnoitering the area. The above picture is of Alamosa Mountain/Canyon a bit further west. It doesn’t do justice to the brilliant reds and oranges of the rock.

After the hike it was a 3-hour drive home (Platoro Reservoir is a long way from anything), so we stopped for pizza in Pagosa.

After the 5-foot flash flood last week, the county commissioner came out and we met him, along with the County Road Crew supervisor. Apparently the county is asking for emergency funds through FEMA to help repair/upgrade roads and water systems in Rio Arriba County, as the flooding has done tremendous damage. It should be officially declared a state of emergency tomorrow. While the floods are not enough to get on national news, they have devastated some communities, contaminating water supplies, washing out roads and bridges. Our little road is on the list for repairs, which it desperately needs. There’s a culvert we cross that is hanging on by a few inches of dirt.

The rain has made everything so lush…the garden, which I did absolutely nothing to this spring but hoe a little and throw in seeds, is blooming. There’s apples on the apple tree, and tomatoes and peppers in the greenhouse. And hundreds of giant mushrooms springing up everywhere….unfortunately, neither edible nor psychedelic!

Alan is making a lot of headway with the solar. It might be working by this weekend. Installing the inverter was a job. I think it weighed over 200 pounds, We lifted it using a come-along winch with great success and no injuries. The batteries, which also weigh over 100#, will go in the cold storage room that never freezes.

In the evening, when it cools off, we love to have dinner under one of the large pinyons by the house. You can see how incredibly green everything is. 250% above average rain in June and July. Here we are enjoying some Cosada (Costa Rican National dish)