Connie in Ouray

 Well, isn't this the most interesting spring, hard freeze over the weekend, a couple of inches of snow - a whopping 86 inches of snow for the season.   I've now gone through a lot of fish food, and there are some really big fish in the pond.  It should be a fun fishing summer for the neighborhood.

 It's possible we'll get this lovely weather pattern starting in the fall.  According to what I've read, the Pacific Ocean is expected to have temperatures 2.4-2.6 degrees above normal, which puts it in the range of a Super El Nino.  This would mean higher than average precipitation for the southwest quadrant of the state - US!  Keep your fingers crossed. Mike and I hiked up to the overlook over the weekend, and the pasqueflowers are out, as are the itty-bitty yellow flowers.  The cactus is greening up, too.  It was muddy on the trail, and there were patches of snow, but no signs of bears yet.

 We had the loveliest day of rain on Wednesday, all day, slow, soaking rain, and then we've gotten three inches of snow over the last two nights.  Additionally, we had a hard freeze last night and another is forecast for tonight.  My little flowers aren't happy, but I'm ecstatic for the moisture. spiked squill before the storm the Ampitheater post-storm

 The snow is all but gone, and the pond is fully without ice.  I've started feeding the fish, and I'm fairly certain we are not going to have to buy fish for the upcoming season.  There are so many fish!  It's too warm, and it's too dry, and I'm too sad about all of it.

 Sadly, the last dump of snow, which put us at 60% of our normal, is mostly gone, and the mud is here...again.  Since most of MFL is dry, Pothole Mike is filling up drainage areas and potholes with gravel he finds.  He has also been filling potholes on Camp Bird Road, because he can.  He is obsessed with potholes.  Seriously obsessed. I think most of you know a ton of work is being done on figuring out our water system.   In the meantime, I recommend having water jugs in storage just in case. Mike and I were up at Ironton on Tuesday, and it is done for unless we get a huge snowfall. When I get back from Las Vegas on the 23rd, it will be time to feed the fish.  

 It's been two weeks since we had any snow, and boom, nine inches Thursday night into Friday.  The forecast now shows no precipitation for the foreseeable future.  We have experienced our fifth mud season on Mineral Farms Lane.  Total snow for the year:  78.5 inches, about four feet below average.