Rain, rain, we've had enough

If you have been to our place or spoke with Marty and I about our weather, you probably know this. The Grove Creek flows through the southern end of our property. Most of the time it is difficult to see it, yet the name of the road we live on is Grove Creek. You've also heard us say that including the snow fall, our annual precipitation is around 15 inches. Something you probably don't know is that the Davidson Creek enters our property near our mail box and there has never been any sign of water in it. Well . . . . . . that has all changed in 2011. The first picture you will see is the Davidson Creek. It flows from the neighbor that borders us on the north west and from Diane's property on the west.
You probably are asking, where did all this water come from. It is not yet the end of May and we have already had our annual amount of precipitation. In the last 10 days we have had over 7 inches of rain. In fact, a lot of Montana has had a lot of rain and there has been a lot of flooding. The flooding has had it's impact on the gravel roads. You can see in the above picture, the water is crossing the road into our field and has washed a significant amount of gravel off the road and onto our property. Less than a mile down the road, the water has washed out the Grove Creek road. We cannot drive into Absarokee as a result. This sign tells it all.

So you ask, where does the Davidson Creek flow to. It flows through our property across several fields going east. If you have driven down the Grove Creek road toward Fishtail, you probably have never seen water in the field north of the house and barn.

this is looking west toward the road to our home. The next picture is looking east toward the other end of our property. You can tell by the grass that it's growing and as soon as we get a couple sunshiny warm days, it will really grow. The good news is we should have a bumper hay crop. The bad news is I haven't been able to mow the lawn. In addition, the water has washed debris into our fences, the force knocking them over and I will have a lot of repairing to do, eventually.

and now to the other end of the property. The Grove Creek. It is usually hard to see from the house and at it's peak has been 2 to 3 feet wide and maybe a couple feet deep. Not so today. The creek runs from the higher elevations on our neighbors property. We noticed the neighbors horses have been in the pasture just south of ours. They normally have access to the field to our west, but not for the last couple days. I know why now. The Grove Creek is so flooded they cannot get back to their barn and other pasture. Our horses have been on the north side of the Grove Creek and the south side of the Davidson, enjoying the fresh green grass.

Summer will be next and this part of Montana should be green, longer than normal.