Thursday, August 25, 2016

The Creek Bottom after a Flash flood

I looked out the window as soon as daylight broke and used the binoculars to read the rain gauge.
3.25 inches of rain on the dot.

And water was running like crazy everywhere. My smart phone gave me an alert that flash flooding was occuring in my area. 
Be still my heart! 

Our house is not situated in an area that would be in danger from a flash flood. Our driveway suffers washouts, the creek gets cleansed of all those nasty weeds, and some places do wash in the pastures...but our house? We were not in danger of rising creeks or flash floods.

However. I love a good gully washer. Or should I say I love the aftermath of a good gully-washer/flash flood.

Alas. My poor heart. I had tomatoes to can. My feet however where itchy to go out and see what the gushing waters looked like.

I finished canning the tomatoes, and then proceeded to work on clear coating the Wainscott chair rail wood in the dining area.

Then it was time. I donned my 'woods' pants, 'woods' shirt, camera bag, rubber chore boots...and of course Morris and went to explore. I had promised Rich that it would be a short walk.

Oh what torture that was.

Earlier this year, the creek was not visible due to the amount of Jewel Weed and other weeds that choked the creek bottom.

A few flash floods and gully washers have set things back to normal. 
And I can gleefully look for cool rocks.


And I can find the odd balls rocks. The ones I believe are iron concretions and come in some very strange shapes.

The water was cold that came down the creek from above. Briefly, the sun came out and there was a thin layer of fog on top of the creek water.

It was eerie but amazing at the same time. Cold air and warm air met. Fog in a thin layer oozed across and towards myself and Morris.


Morris and I only hiked a small portion of the creek. 



We hiked enough to know that I wanted to follow the creek down the valley to where it meets up with Black Bottom Creek.

I looked at my watch. Time to get back home. I had work to do inside the house and the sun had come out. It would be a hot and sticky walk home.

I dipped my hands and my baseball cap in the 'new' pond and cooled off before heading up the ridge road towards home.

Morris trotted ahead of me, eager to get home and out of the heat also.

However I was stopped dead in my tracks by some incredible jelly fungi that glistened in the sunlight.

I sure want to get back into the woods and explore the valley.

Alas. Today is Crab Apple Jelly Making Day with the Neighbor.

I promised to show her how to make jelly. Both our households love jelly and homemade jelly.

Tomorrow looks to be promising though.
Fog in the morning and nice temperatures.

Perhaps I can convince my darling hubby to let me off clear coat duty for a couple of hours to explore the valley.

How I love to explore!

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