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?

The Big Melt Down

Sunday morning I had to wear Yak Traks to walk up to get Saturday's mail.
The snow had melted all night and the fog misted down ... so the driveway was a combination of ice and water.

I had to run to the nearest gas station/convienience store before breakfast. I thought the Subaru could handle the driveway. Icy but not pure glare ice.

The gravel roads were somewhat of a nightmare, soft in some spots, icy in others, and in one spot a culvert was plugged and icy chunks of water was beginning to run over the road.

By the time I got home our township had rescued the day and had spread gravel on the worst spots and down the steepest part of our driveway. I parked the Subaru and did a short happy dance.

Since water was running I thought I'd do a quick hike down to the creek and see if any run off was occurring yet.

The fog was intense even down in the creek bottom. But the air temperature had changed so rapidly in 36 hours from -32 on Thursday morning to 42 degrees on Saturday and Sunday.

I figured that one of the dry runs could bring water off the ridge. So I walked the length of our creek starting from the west and heading towards the east. I could hear the run off before I saw it.

And as I climbed closer, I could hear the sound of the water change from above me in the dry run.

I quickly backed up.

Somewhere an ice jam had given way and released dirt, clay, and ice with water all at once.

I backed off to the other side of the creek and watched it roar.

It soon subsided yet the water still ran. I looked upstream and didn't see any of the tell tale white bubbles or discolored water heading my way.

So I set up to take a few shots before I had to get back home and check on Rich.

The top shot is looking upstream 

and the bottom is looking 

downstream from the same spot.

I wish I'd had time to stay for a while, but I grabbed some photos and headed home.

The weather calls for rain again today with ice jams and localized flooding in small streams.
This truly is my kind of weather.
Okay, it isn't pleasant, but it sure makes the creek very interesting.

Moving right along

Sunshine thought it would be fun to take a little jaunt. After all it has been December since we last got out for any time together.

On the ridge things looked pretty good. It was a bit muddy but we went before the ground got too soggy.

My clever little red headed mule wasn't fazed by the icy snow mobile trail. She moved alongside the trail where the ground was good and solid.

When we go to the normal creek crossing area we just sat a bit and watched the water roar on by. Sunshine was happy to just watch and then after a bit we returned home.

My day didn't end there. I had watering to take care, Dixie to play with ... and then I couldn't resist the urge to go back to our creek bottom.
I could hear the waters tumbling and crashing from the house.

I was already muddy. I gathered up my back pack and set off. Rich was sleeping and I had supper in the crock pot.

This is a shot of my neighbor's pasture. This water comes from the area west of us and runs down towards the creek. There is a Dixie head in the right side of the photo.

This is the nice quiet little pond that marks the end of my property and the fence-line that should mark my neighbor's land.

Further downstream I stopped for a quick look around and then headed back home. I was wet and very muddy.

I had to take my pants off on the porch and leave them to dry. My sweatshirt and vest had mud splatters on them also.

I think that meant I had an awesome day.

The venison roast tasted quite wonderful. I think it is one of the best ones I've made.

Note to self though. Plant more green beans, carrots, and corn in the garden next year.

In This Moment.....

....we felt invincible ...
Dixie and I.

Maybe it was the thundering of snow melt rushing through the dry run below us.

Maybe it was the golden sunlight at our backs.

Perhaps it was our shadows from the late winter sun on the slope in front of us.

I held on to it, the feeling of power, the sounds.
The moment.

And I felt something stir within.
And it was very powerful.