Day after week after month after month after month … of blue skies does get old.
Kwana’s baby blues, however … never get old! 🙂
The blue we like
8 07 2018Comments : 5 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Rain, where art thou?
7 07 2018
Sweet Dolly Parton, I have two bones to pick with your lovely quote: “The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.”
1) There’s the assumption there that rain is bad or something to be tolerated.
2) Really, you don’t have to have rain to have a rainbow.* Nearly never do we actually get rain with our rainbows in Disappointment Valley.
GIVE US THE RAIN! PLEASE! 🙂
* Somewhere, there must be rain, given the physics of rainbows. But rain doesn’t have to be falling on you. And, really, we would LOVE to have the rain. The rainbow is just sprinkles to the magic.
Comments : 5 Comments »
Categories : Disappointment Valley, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Gold and gold and gold
6 07 2018
Better than saying gold and brown and brown. 🙂
Mother Nature tossed a few drops of wetness at us yesterday. We begged and cajoled and danced for more … but that’s all we got.
For now.
Comments : 2 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Minor fireworks
5 07 2018
One drawback of day after day of hot, dry weather is the tendency to lose track of time and dates.
Happy belated Independence Day!
We certainly celebrate freedom on this blog. 🙂
Comments : 6 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Barely glimpsed
4 07 2018
This is classic Chipeta: Not quite allowing a full view of her pinto prettiness. 🙂
Comments : 4 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Relief in the desert
3 07 2018
Terra and Kestrel drink from an arroyo seep that has been quietly and consistently producing water during these hot, terribly dry days.
Most of the curve of the arroyo is in the shade, and part of it runs into the sunshine. This photo was taken in the late evening, but even during these long summer days, with the sun high overhead, I think this little nook is mostly shaded.
I had been wanting to explore this area for the last several weeks, knowing from previous years that a seep was here, but it wasn’t until I saw Kestrel leading her band that I knew where she was likely headed – and had time to follow them.
Particular note: If the horses had been at all bothered by my presence, I would have left immediately. I spend a lot of time with these mustangs, always quietly and at their direction (paying close attention to their comfort level). This is already a stressful time for them, and under no circumstances would I add to that stress. While I watched from a distance (I have a long lens!), three different bands came to drink. The first band stallion chased away the second momentarily, then the second and third bands drank together. They were still in the arroyo when I slipped away.
Comments : 5 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Water
All trails lead to water
2 07 2018
This photo is probably pretty self-explanatory. 🙂 It’s an obviously well-used trail that leads to a small area of seeps where some bands are drinking in Spring Creek Basin.
Comments : 3 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
On a low note
1 07 2018
A new month … a renewed hope for rain.
The month of June brought just 0.38 inch of rain to lower Disappointment Valley, and that was in just two rain events. Coincidentally, the single greatest amount of moisture in any one day all year (including snow) was 0.38 inch on April 8.
For the year … FOR THE YEAR … starting Jan. 1, we’ve received just 2.61 inches of moisture. (I record moisture (and the lack thereof) daily for Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow (CoCoRaHS), a network of volunteers who record moisture all across the country.)
Even with that wholly depressing, disheartening and disappointing number, it’s hard to articulate just how exceptionally dry it is. Disappointment Valley (the lower part of which cradles Spring Creek Basin) is in southern San Miguel and northern Dolores counties in Southwest Colorado. Montezuma County is the southwestern-most county in Colorado. Dolores County is immediately north of Montezuma, and San Miguel County is immediately north of Dolores County. We’re experiencing a D4-level drought – exceptional – and have been for at least the last several months. The U.S. Drought Monitor doesn’t list a category worse than D4.
The mustangs DO have water. I want to make that clear. One pond still is (barely) sparkling in the incessant sunshine (oh, to have the depression symptoms of Seattle-ites), and I’ve tracked some bands to a few scattered seeps that manage to recharge enough for the horses to drink at least a little over a long period of time (waiting … waiting …).
Everybody looks good (as I hope you see from these photos of the horses, which are posted here within days to a week or so of when they were taken), and other than the stress of struggling through high temperatures, neverending wind and gnats, dust and dry, every day, they’re doing all right. They’re mustangs, after all.
I’d be lying if I said I’m NOT praying every day for monsoons to finally hit us this year. I’m praying like their lives depend on it.
Comments : 4 Comments »
Categories : Rain, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Ridge walker
30 06 2018
It was a pretty nice view … and then Hayden walked into it, and it became spectacular. 🙂
Hot, dry, windy conditions (you know … same ol’, same ol’ … ) have resulted in more – and more visible – activity from the 416 and Burro fires. Air quality near the fires is pretty bad, according to personal accounts and this Durango Herald article.
Many thanks to the many firefighters on the job in our area!
Comments : 5 Comments »
Categories : McKenna Peak, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Temple Butte, Wildfire
Young Blue Eyes
29 06 2018
Words that do NOT go together = “Denver” and “105 degrees.” And yet … yesterday, Denver tied its all-time record for hottest day ever, set in 2012. Ouch.
The temp reached only 101 (that I saw) in Disappointment Valley yesterday.
The good news is that when temps drop to the 90s in the evenings, it feels downright balmy after the furnace has been stoked all day long.
Words that DO go together = Kwana + haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaandsome!
Comments : 3 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 