I have been gone for a while, though not actually gone from my home. I had said in the post below that I felt like I was spending too much time on the computer. So, a week and a half of no computer period was what I needed. I must say it was rather hard, at first, but by the end of my time I wasn't thinking about it all the time, and could really care less if I actually got on right away or not.
Well, I am back and with news too!! The Lord has blessed us richly this past week. On Saturday afternoon, we got some rain. For a good 30 minutes, it was just raining sheets and we couldn't even see the barn (which is about 130 feet away). I would like you to try to picture what this might look like. Towards the east, the pasture (known as Arena pasture because the Arena juts into it) has a slight valley. There are gentle slopes close to the house that dip down, and then rise again for even higher slopes father away. This little valley runs all the way across the pasture to the South.
When we get large rains during this season (all of the hurricanes and tropical storms along the coast bring us moisture!) we typically have little 'ponds' in certain places. We kids have named them all. We have Arena pond (very original, don't ya think? ;-) ), which is at the bottom corner of the arena; Tadpole pond (behind the corrals towards the north), Banana creek (this floods the banana curved road behind the old adobe, which is north of our house), Trailer Gully (this is a spot where the waters made a small canyon of sorts right on a road leading into Arena pasture. We got a trailer stuck in it once, thus the name Trailer gully), and many more little ponds that don't stick around long enough to get a name.
So, Tadpole pond, as you can imagine, must have tadpoles. Yes, indeed it does. In fact, right after a rain, you can just step outside and hear all of the frogs croaking to one another. Caleb and I got to run outside when the the rain had let up to a slow drizzle and got to see the frogs. It was amazing to watch their little throats bulge out as they made the neat little rumble noise. Tadpole pond usually get only to above our knees.. this time we had it flooded all across the road and into small Tadpole pond (that is across the road). The pond was obviously very full..
Arena pond was more like a lake. The whole valley was FLOODED all the way down to where it ended. All the water started to run down to the end of the valley Southward. This wouldn't have been a big deal except that it then decided to run across our road.. We have a fence on either side of the road as we have pastures on either side. Well, as the water moved swiftly towards the road, it picked up any debris that might be lying around. This then built up on one of the fences and eventually knocked it over. The fence on the other side was totally uprooted and pulled backwards. The wire was broken, so we had to strings of fence just lying inside the pasture where the current had pushed it..
Now, this is NOT a normal occurrence in New Mexico. Rain does come, but certainly not like this. How many inches? FOUR! Compare this to a usual 1/2 inch a month! Quite a different experience, I must say!
Alright, enough talking, lets get to pictures. Unfortunately my camera doesn't take great pictures, and I can't imagine why Rebecca didn't want me to take her nice Nikon out in the rain... hmm. =D lol!
The flooded Arena Pasture:
Trailer Gully:
There was a little rock in the way of water flow that made the H2o jump over it...
Banana Creek:
TP flowing out into the road and over into little TP and even into the pasture beyond..
Then we have some pics of the frogs. They had come out for mating and were making such a loud racket (though a very neat racket!) I got a few pics when their necks were bulged out...
Aren't frogs amazing?? The fact that they just hibernate under the ground until ENOUGH rains come for them to lay their eggs.. it just fascinates me!! Just another show of our wonderful Creator!!!
Hope you enjoyed the pics.. we certainly did because it meant we got rain! Then, the next day we had even more rain.. a whole other inch!! Praise GOD!! We really need some rain for the grass to get greened up.. even now, after only a day or two after the rain, it is getting green!
Praising God,
Sarah
