Overflo...

 Charlie is really one heck of a champ. 3 inch front legs, with a low slung powerful chest and then he stretches out to be a long dog.

Yesterday we caught some time to run  hike walk down to our valley. I could tell the snow melt was running off. I could hear it in the run off to the west of us on our west neighbor's land.

There is one thing I try very hard to go enjoy. Mini flash floods [I'm not a fool] and snow melts. The sound is music to my ears. Our creek used to have quite a bit of water in it. But for the last few years, we've had a bit of a drought.

I used to go down to the valley and sit on a rock or log and just listen to the water. It soothes me. 

Last week this area was solid ice with water running slowly underneath the ice. The water from the ridge west of us drains down through their land and into the spot where the creek actually starts at a spring. It gathers water from the hillsides and two large south facing dry runs and heads down the valley and through us.

The brownish colored water is typical of run off. It is dirt, sand, clay, and debris that gets washed off the top of the soil on the ridge. Erosion. It is more fierce in the winter as the land underneath is frozen and cannot soak in.

It was sunny yesterday afternoon and nearly 60 degrees out. The water was icy cold with ice slush in it. That tough little dog made his way back and forth and over rocks to assist me in exploring.

In the shots below, the light color that looks yellowish under the water is ice that is still frozen. 

The white streaks are foam that comes from oxygen in the snow, debris, and dissolving organic matter. It is complicated science but pretty cool stuff. I never understood why there was so many bubbles during a snow melt and run off.

Now I know a little more.

Foamy:

And photographed with a 3 second exposure. 👇

The foam does literally spin in circles in little eddies. I just love to 'catch' it in a longer exposure. It makes so many interesting patterns.

I tried something I hadn't ever done before. I took a very strong ND filter and stuck it on the lens. I literally faced towards the west and set this shot up for a very long exposure. I wanted to highlight the foam streaks.

Charlie and I sat on a log with the water running around us. He was patient with me while I fiddled with the camera and the exposures to try something different. In the shot above, there is a leaf, snow, and stick jam just in front of us.

I like it. It is weird enough to be different and highlight the foam. 

I get geeked out over the foam in the water. Sorry, can't help it.

the log...today.... 👇 nice place to sit right?

The shot below is where I'd taken the video with Morris a few years ago. The water wasn't charging down through the boulders like in years past, but it made for some cute little water falls with bubbles!

This morning, the sunrise was spectacular, when I went out on the porch to watch it, I could hear the water running again on the neighbor's land. 

After getting ol' hubby settled, fed and whatnot. I walked carefully down to the neighbor's valley and took this shot. 

The walls of the creek are steep. I took this shot so you could understand what it looks like. Getting in and out of that bottom can be tricky sometimes. I didn't go down at all this morning as the banks were all ice.

I did eventually find a safe way down a bit later and spent a little more time enjoying the sounds and sights of the creek.

I just can't stay away from water. Give me a river, a creek, or a lake to be near and you can color me happy.

I spent all of my free time at the creek today. Hubby napped, I 'creeked'...not creaked.

Side note. He says he is too sick to see a doctor. And again refused to go. I think that should be my Stress Test, not some machine, right?