A walk along the river; our first rain

I had a busy day planned.  Susan and I agreed to meet at 10:15am to walk from the Hereford Bridge south to the old log jam on the river, the pile of dead trees that for several years prevented steady river flow.  We wanted to see if that was still there after the Williams Fire from 3 April.

This meant I had to walk Gretchen beforehand for a few miles, so that she wouldn't be tied up all day and getting restless.  I was out the door with her at 6:15am and we walked west on Hereford Road and then north on Thorneydale Lane, a private dirt road that dead ends.  It wasn't a very scenic walk, but it was a new route to break the boredom.  Gretchen did well on leash.  I'm sensing she is slowly, very slowly, learning to relax more.

I took the other two current front yard dogs, Fritz and Gretel, with me on the river walk.  Those two dogs play so well together, and even Susan commented that she enjoys watching them have fun.  They ran off at times, but always came back, with Fritz coming back first all the time.

As expected, much of the pokey debris that once lined the banks is gone, making walking along the river's edge easier.  Lush, green herbaceous plants are coming back, though, creating a bright green carpet along the ground.

A few old cottonwoods, however, didn't make it.  One cottonwood along the Spring Creek wash was mostly burned, its lower branches charred but leaving parts of the canopy intact.  A few other trees remain like that.  Cottonwoods are soft wood trees that grow fast and burn fast, and are popular with birds of prey.  How many stories could these trees tell of all that has happened along the banks of the San Pedro River?!

We walked all the way down to the old beaver dam, explored the banks there,then walked up along the western banks, past the Boucher mansion.  Susan spotted a couple up ahead, so we leashed up Fritz and walked the rest of the way along the dirt road back to our cars.  We walked 2.55 miles in 1:36 hours.  Before the fire this always took over two hours because of heavy brush.

It was now high noon and 85F.  Gretel and Fritz were tired and I was hungry.  I stopped at the Dollar General store to get them some canned food.  I then drove into town to have lunch at Rodolfo's, forgetting that it was also Mother's Day and packed with overdressed church people.  I had a taco salad.

Clouds were now forming over the mountains.  The morning weather report forecasted a 22 percent chance of rain in the early afternoon.  With no clouds in the sky, I blew that prediction off, but now it was looking likely we were having rain.  

By early evening the clouds were looking menacing.  I was walking Gretchen at 6:30pm when I saw lightning over the Huachucas.  Then I heard thunder. I put all three dogs inside the RV as it began to rain by 7pm.  A few minutes later heavy drops fell. The wind picked up.  Soon thereafter we had a steady two-hour rain fall.  What a great way to end the weekend.  The wet ground and high humidity means we have a much lower chance of local wildfires for the next few days.