Sorry

I am sorry if I offended anyone with the posts about people not understanding what flashfloods can do. I have watched the news and see that many small towns, as well as El Paso, Texas have had flooding in areas that have never flooded before. This is especailly true of Lagana Pueblo, Acoma Pueblo, Belen, and several small housing develepments that really don't have names. (or none that I know of). I do feel for you.

Think before you Do

I have a neighbor who is out watering trees that are standing in water after all of our rain. Some people need to learn to think before they do.

Flashfloods?

We have been getting rain for a couple of weeks now. It is so wonderful. After years and years of being in a drought our New Mexico land, as well as several other states, are getting the rain it so desperately has needed. So why do I hear so many complaints about it? I have heard of so many home owners who have bought homes way out from the city, on dirt roads and then they are surprised when the sudden downpours and flash floods rip out the dirt roads, tear out their yards and flood their homes that are in an area that doesn't require flood insurance. I agree that I would be upset, too. But it really seems to be a problem of the construction companies that do not look at the history and geography of a land before slapping a house down and selling it to unsuspecting owners. Don't they know that every few years these sudden flash floods have always happened out here on the desert. And after the 10 years, or so, of drought that New Mexico has had it is only worse when the rains do come. Not only which, the home owner may not even get rain, but they sure do get the water from the area where the rain did occur and all that water had to go somewhere, and your new home just happened to be in the way.
I, too, bought a new home on a dirt road a few years ago. But I took a look at the surrounding landscape to make sure that it wouldn't be quite so much of a surprise to me when the rains did come. Yes, we had a flooded field that the horses had to stand in for a few days, and no we han't realized that our driveway would direct water into the garage. But we didn't go complaining to our insurace company, the county, or the construction company that built our home. We just cleaned up the mess. And we have plans to fix the driveway.
Granted we didn't have as big a mess as so many had in our area, and I do feel for them, but I bet that now a lot of people know what can happen when the rains come.

Please Remember

Please, Please Remember that in all this heat you should not leave children, elderly, pets or anyone or anything in a closed up car. I heard on the news this morning that there have already been 14 children that have died because they were left alone in a hot, closed vehicle. That is 14 to many.

Never, Never leave children, elderly, or pets in an unattended vehicle. It is just asking for the child, person, or pet to be stolen, or kidnapped by those that want to harm them. With the number of sex offenders on our streets how can any parent think of leaving a child all alone. It is just encouraging someone to take them.

I do not think I ever left my son, or a child alone in a car for even just a few minutes to run an errand. It is just to dangerous.

So please, don't forgot this warning.

2 inches

Yesterday evening a rain storm sneaked up on us. In an about an hour it dumped an inch and a half or so of rain on us and most of Albuquerque and continued south to flood out several of the small towns along the Rio Grande River. We needed the rain, but slower would have been better. I didn't have time to get the horses out of the field and into their smaller pens with the shelter, not that they got hurt by standing in the rain. In fact they all needed a bath but of course they decided to roll in the mud instead. Finally, when it didn't look like the rain was going to let up Lee and I went for it, put on rain coats, and moved horses into shelters. Good thing we did as we found that there was a lake in our driveway with water coming into the garage because the ditch that was around the side of the garage to divert water had, in the past 2 years since we had got this kind of a down pour, filled in with sand. Lee grabbed a shovel and dug it out but we already had an inch of water in the garage. Nothing was really hurt, and all will dry. And what we had was minor compared to what some people experenced. Several hundred people in the small comunities south of us were evacuated when a couple of dranage ditches, and an irigation ditch broke their banks, as well as several dirt roads were washed out for the second or third time since our monsoon rains have hit.
You ask - is the drought over yet? No, of course not. A drought is never over in the desert. However much we get it is always to much at once, and most of it just runs off, causing flash floods in the arroyos, and dirt roads, and even some of the paved streets in the cities.
Has it helped? Yes, but we need more to get out of the drought that has made the water table so low in so many places in New Mexico, Arizona, Neveda, California, and other southwestern deserts.
But the high heat that the whole US is having doesn't help anyone.

NG site

Go to www.nationalgeographic.com for a great site with lots, and lots of great photos, most of which can be set as wall paper on your computer.

Kasie Cat

Kasie resting after her ordeal.

comments

I got an email requesting that I not post to my blog anymore, as it almost gave his mother heart failure. Sorry, Who Ever You Are, I will continue to post any thing I want that is not not offensive to blogspot.com .
To those who are concerned - Kasie Cat is doing much better. Up and moving all over the house getting herself in everyones way, which is fine, as it means she is better. She is still on medicine, when we can get it down her. And I am keeping a eye out for any stray coyotes. Although I can't do much about them other than turn the dogs out to bark at them, and add some of my loud yells to their barks. Which at least seems to send the little wild dogs off in the other direction.

Any way at least the person left a comment on my email which is more than most of my readers have been doing lately.

Meds

Of course the hardenst part is gettin her medicine down. She is amazing in that she can spit a pill out faster than you can get it in her mouth. And as for liquid medicine - well, lets just say that most of it goes on me. Hopefully I am getting enough down her to do some good.

Kasie

Kasie the cat is doing better after her fight with the coyote. Still not eating as much as I would like but otherwise looking better. She is getting up and wondering around the house some. And more than willing to sit in my lap and be petted.

storm

We were lucky and had some rain this evening. Along with a lightning storm again. Had one of those on Monday evening, too. We need the rain but not the lighning.
Several people have said something about being afraid of the thunder. I told them that if they could hear the thunder there was nothing to be afraid of, as the lighning came first. If they were hit by lighning, it was unlighly they would hear the thunder.

Nature

OK I know that nature is the best thing in the world. Be it wildlife, trees, native plants or even a fancy garden full of highbred flowers. I love nature, plants, and animals as much as any one else. But these coyotes are getting way to brave. The day after my cat was attacked, I looked out my kitchen window at about 5 pm, and there was a coyote, checking out the same area where the cat had been attacked. In all likely hood it was the same coyote. I ran out yelling, with the dogs barking and calmly trotted off. It didn't even act scared.
I don't know what to do about the situation any more than any one else that has had a pet attacked by a coyote. I have seen several coyotes close to my property recently, even in the daytime. Lee has seen several right outside the front gate when he would come in after dark.
We need to do something to teach them that they need to be afraid of man, and our pets, but I am at a loss as to what to do. We can't shoot at them as there are to many houses, people, and other animals. We can't put out poison for the same reasons. Live trapping doesn't seem to be an option. And calling animal control for help is useless. They say there is noting they can do.

Injuries

Yesterday evening when I fed the horses I noticed that my bay mare, Nita, had a big lump on her chest right between her front legs. She didn't mind me feeling it, and didn't act like it hurt but it seemed swollen, like a hematoma. That was all I needed. It has been a hell of a week. Not only did I have surgery the week before, my cat, Kasie, was attacked by a coyote and got to spend two nights at the vets/
I know, and I don't want to hear it, about how I should keep the cats in the house as housecats instead of letting them outside. But did you ever try to keep 4 cats in when it seems there is always someone going in or out? And did you ever try to keep 4 cat litter boxes clean when you refuse to let them out?
So for years I have been very careful about letting the cats out. They are used to the fact that they can only go out when the dogs are with them, or myself, and only in the daytime. Kasie and Murphy had go into the habbit of going with me and the dogs when we would "put the horses to bed" check on the horses - each evening sometime between 10 and 11 pm, when ever I decided it was bedtime. The dogs and the two cats got there last chance to "go potty" at that time. The cats were almost as good as the dogs about coming back in with me. And if they didn't come in I would make sure to check on them every few minutes or even stay out until they would consent to come to me. But on Sunday night I was very tired, so to a few minutes to go in a sit down before going back to look for Kasie. With in 10 minutes I thought I hear a noise I didn't like.
I rushed out with the dogs and my husband. He got to the cat before I did, just in time to see a coyote disappear. Kasie had done the one thing she shouldn't have - she had gone throught the wire fence to the neighbors yard.
Let me say here that coyotes - as smart as they are - don't seem to understand how to go through or over a wire fence - or at least the ones around here don't. I have never had one actually come in the yard as far as I know. We have horse fence wire or field fence wire surounding our commplete properyty. But of course the cats can go through the field fencing with ease.
The cat had come back into our yard and crawled up under the old Duster we have. We couldn't get her out. Finally Lee jacked up the car enough he could scoot under it, pull the cat out and hand her to me. Kasie had bite markes on her head and was having difficullty breathing, so it was off to the vets.
My I say thank you to all vet clinics that have emergancy hours, as there is a dire need for them and more. It was 10:30 on a Sunday evening. There are only 2 such clinics in Albuquerque and we made off for the closest one. The were supper good about getting to work on Kasie, getting her on an IV and morphine. They did an Xray that showed no broken bones but she did have server head trama - as if the coyote had grabbed her by the head and maybe shook her. We left her there for 2 days and brought her home yesterday afternoon.
She still isn't eating very much as there is marks in her mouth from the coyotes teeth but she sure did seem to be glad to get home. For now she will get lots of TLC and may always have to be a house cat.
Back to the mare, Nita, I hosed her down with cold water and I am keeping her seperated from the other horses for a while as it looks like she has been in a nother kicking match with one of the others, probably my other mare, Star.
To say that we have had enough bad luck for now is an understantment.

lots of photos and even some old theme songs on those sites listed below

To Much Time

Recovering from surgery means that you have to much time on your hands, which means that you spend a lot of time watching TV and playing on the internet. My husband bought me several of those $1 DVD's that you find at dollor stores. Of course they are all the old, old, old grade B westerns that we watched when we were kids. Not to give away our age to much, we watched them as first time reruns when there were only 3 TV channels. We weren't quite old enough to be in the group that actually got to watch the first time showings at the Saturaday afternoon theaters. He got me a Lone Ranger (my favorite), a Zorro, a Tex Ritter, some Bonanaza shows and one with Lee Van Cleff and Jack Palance. Watching those old time westerns got me to wondering what happened to all those old time movie heros. Which led to the playing on the internet to find out when those movies where actually made - 1937 though about 1970 for the Bonanaza's, and finding out where the actors where today. Saddly most of them - should I say all the ones I checked on are gone on to the great western studio in the sky.
Naturally I had to look up what had happened to all the heros horses - Silver, Scout, the Bonanaza horses, Trigger, Buttermilk, White Flash, and Champian. I found lots of sites that indicated that there really is a large following for all the old westers - be they movies or TV shows. Here are a few of the links I liked, and they had lots of links listed on them. I couldn't follow up on all of them so some might not be avalible any more, or might not be good ones.
www.iowalink.com/users/kbar/silver.html
www.iowalink.com/users/kbar/index.html
www.b-westerns.com
www.ultimatehorsesite.com
and of course my favorite site where writers still write stories about the same characters
www.womenwritersblock.com

Long Week

It's been a long week. I had to have surgery on Monday for some yucky, gross, sounding stuff that most women seem to have and not worth talking about on the internet. I am home now, and feeling a bit better, but I am sure recovery is going to be a long, slow process. Dogs and cats were sure I had run away and wasn't ever coming back home. Cats were a bit indifferent at first and then decided it really was me after all. Horses were only concerned about if I was going to feed them or not.
Weather is just as yucky as I feel. HOT, some humidity, at least for here it is humid, with no let up in sight.

Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.

Thunderhead Cloud

A thunderhead cloud building up over the Sandia Mountains for a rain shower in Albuquerque, New Mexico as seen from my house west of there.

Sayings

Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take but by the number of moments that take your breath away.


"Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a mystery, Today is a gift. That's why it's called the present. Enjoy this day, for tomorrow is not promised."

Welcome Rain

Well, the summer monsoons are finely here. And they have brought much needed rain to our state. A little bit to much rain in parts of New Mexico. The towns of Almagordo, Tucomcari, parts of Albuquerque, and a few others have had flooding. Tucomari got almost 5 inches last night. We only had about a inch according to our rain gage. But it is a welcome inch. Most of our rain has already disappeared into the parched ground. The ants, and flies are already trying to carry us off, and weeds popping up already, humidity is high - but we're not complaining.