Connie in Ouray

 The tourists are gone, and the ice climbers aren't here yet.  The middle-of-the-street pedestrian signs are down.  It's been so great to get a parking space in front of the post office.  It's that time of year when we can all take a deep breath. A personal note:   Mike and I were married in 1981, and in 1983, we brought our first pets into our home, a foster situation, a mother cat and five one-week-old kittens.  We have always had a cat or a dog or both since that time, 43 years, until Dempsey died in April.  It's been six months, and we decided it was time.  On Monday, we welcomed a bonded pair of girl kitties from Second Chance.  In addition to being two of them, they are seven and nine years old, pretty much unadoptable.  Their names were silly, so we are calling them Laverne and Shirley.  They will always be indoor cats, a strong belief of ours. Shirley Laverne

 Since Friday, we've had two inches of rain and three-plus inches of snow.  It's the really heavy kind with lots of moisture, so it packs down quickly.  We've already had a roof avalanche.  We have a brief respite tomorrow, a wet Wednesday, and then a nice dry spell.  

 Football game: I checked the rain gauge, which was empty Friday morning, and the total as of five p.m. is one and a quarter inches...and it's raining.  Durango, Pagosa Springs, and South Fork are flooding, evacuations in place, businesses closed.  When it rains...

 Since October 15th, we've gotten 5 1/4 inches of rain.  If that had been snow - if only - we'd have four feet on the ground.  It's a 10-to-1 ratio.  We have a break now until Friday, with chances of moisture through the weekend and into Monday. I was mentioning to Mike on the way home from Montrose that last winter, we had three-plus feet less snow than normal, and that is about how low the pond is.  We have noticed that there is less beach in front of JP's house, so that's a sign, small though it is. 

 We received another quarter inch of rain during the night, and we're gearing up for another round starting soon and lasting into tomorrow, flood watch until Sunday noon.  Red Mountain Pass is open, one lane alternating, automated stop light.   I walked down MFL this morning - beautiful! The rock below the Whites' house is how we've been monitoring water levels.  Despite all the rain, I'm not  seeing much of a difference unfortunately.

 We have wanted, desperately needed moisture, but we weren't careful enough about asking for it.  A week ago, we got one and 3/4 inches of rain.  These last 36 hours, we've received two and a half inches of rain, and it has caused the usual problems, mudslides, flooding, and roads closed.  Mineral Farms Lane seems to have escaped the worst of it, but it's looking like Red Mountain Pass will be closed for a while.  There was major road damage on the Silverton side, and from my lack of experience, it doesn't seem to be an easy fix. If it had been a bit colder - if only! - we would have three and a half feet of snow.  I am so ready to snowshoe, but those pesky bears need to hibernate first. Some pictures to make you jealous if you're not here.

 Just one day, one day I'd like it to be all good news, but we're not there yet.  Bad news:  as of today, Monday, July 6, just under 28,000 acres burned.  Good news:  3% containment!  Yay, containment.  Bad news:  expected full containment date is 10/31/26, which coincides with a high probability of measurable snowfall in the high country.   Good news:  the winds have finally calmed down, which allowed the 800+ firefighters to get that 3% containment.  The bad news:  no winds means the smoke has settled in Ouray, and it's awful.  My house is shut up, no windows or doors open, and I'm wearing a mask.   Some photos from the last time I posted: Looking southwest from Sutton Trail Saturday Thursday night concert in Ridgway. Life must go on? From Ridgway, these just keep popping up Intersection of CR-23 and 550, looking east

18,000 acres burned, zero containment, no lives nor structures lost. A southern portion of Montrose County is now on pre-evacuation notice as the fire continues to move northeast.  Zone 34 is directly east of Colona, pretty far away, and includes Cimarron State Wildlife Area, which is about 23 miles east of Montrose off of Highway 50. As I write this, I'm hearing planes in the air.  Yay!!  As of noon today, we are under a red flag warning for gusty winds until eight p.m.  We cannot catch a break.  Good news:  rain in the forecast for next week.  Bad news:  accompanied by thunderstorms, which means...you can guess, lightning. From Sutton Mine Trail yesterday:

 It's been a hard day as I've come to the realization that some wonderful hiking trails are gone.  I'm thrilled that no lives nor structures have been lost.  I'm less than thrilled with my anxiety level every time I see a whiff of smoke.  Maybe PTSD from the 2012, 2013 forest fires in Colorado Springs. Some photos from today: my panic tonight - this view from Camp Bird Road appeared to be a new flare-up Looking north, a clear delineation between clear sky and smoke from us all the way  to Grand Junction Leaving Montrose, all that smoke was my first  clear realization those hiking trails were gone Firefighters are heroes!  Can you imagine climbing this to get to the hotspot with all that equipment?  Picture is at Whispering Pines Bridge

  from our deck Helicopter!!

 I'm posting everything I know through email posts.

 I have never really suffered from seasonal allergies, but this year is biting me.  Grass pollen is high, trees moderate, so I think the grass must be getting to me.  My doctor advised me to throw everything at it, Claritin, Flonase, Astepro, and I'm keeping the house closed up.  The wind is not helping a bit. Bear activity in the neighborhood seems to be on the rise.  We had two or three of them wandering around our house the other night, and I chalked that up to the outdoor meat grilling we had done.  Aaron and Marchelle have had two bear encounters at their house, both scary.  Bear aware. And we all know know the water issues we're facing on Mineral Farms Lane.  So many have been involved in trying to solve this issue without costing us three quarters of a million dollars, but our options are few.   Mike has been spreading pheromone packets around town with the help of the Ouray Trail Group.  Supposedly, when the pine beetles are...

 I've had a cold the past 10 days, but I finally got out Saturday, and town was jammed with people.  I know, I know, it's Memorial Day weekend, but I'm not prepared for tourists yet.  We want them, but they are so.much.trouble! Mike and I hiked up to the overlook early afternoon.  I'm trying to build my endurance after that cold - it seems to get harder as I get older - and the wildflowers are blooming.  We saw aspen daisies, sedum, larkspur, ragwort and sandwort, pussy toes.  The pasqueflowers are all spent.  There are a lot of dandelions, which my dad called "the children's flower."  Since then, I haven't been able to look at them any other way.

 Two inches of accumulation this morning brings us to a whopping 94 inches for the season.   We have had our two hummingbird feeders out for the past three weeks or so, and Mike is having to refill the feeders almost daily.  We've seen about seven at one time.   Marchelle sent me a picture of a bear above the movie set mine a few days ago.  She said it was medium size, but it looked huge to me.  That could be because Sequoia and Mango were with here.  Bear aware - tis the season!

I'm in Colorado Springs, taking a flight to Syracuse, New York tomorrow.  For some reason, flying out of Montrose was prohibitive, $1300 round trip and arrival in Syrace at 11:30 at night.  Something weird going on there. I did want to report that we got 4.5 inches of snow Wednesday morning.  It was a nasty drive to Ridgway at 10 a.m., but the roads, except the turn from Camp Bird Road to Mineral Farms, were clear.  That turn was pretty dicey for me as we took the snow tires off a month ago.  We are now up to a whopping 92 inches!  Mike was asking if this was the latest measurable snow I've recorded since we moved to Ouray five and a half years ago, and not even close.  The latest was in 2022, when we got 2.5 inches of snow on May 21st.   The possible Super El Nino is still on track to happen, and it appears to be getting even stronger.  Time will tell.

Our very special boy Dempsey died last Wednesday.  We had been noticing a rapid decline these past few months, but the end was still such a shock.  He just...died.  He was 13 and a half, 94 in human years, a good old age for a big dog and a wonderful life with us for 10 years.   We are both grieving so hard. Dempsey at the overlook two weeks ago

 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.