Wyoming: Too Little or Too Much

Laramie River North of Wheatland, WY. Most of the time an athlete can jump it. From I-25 where this picture was taken it flows into a reservoir about six miles downstream.

No Spring pasture for the rancher who owns that land.

Miscellaneous Colorado Observations II

Foothills flooding is beyond serious. Authorities are talking in terms of 100 year and 500 year flooding. Starting at Coal Creek canyon, just West of Arvada/Golden and extending North to Lyons, all the streams are over their banks. Boulder County is especially hard hit. We are not out of the woods, yet. The above picture is looking NNW where Longs Peak, the highest 14,000' peak in Colorado sits. Looking East, lots of moisture, and the clouds at about 1,000' AGL are moving North. That is not our usual weather pattern.

Outside the flood areas, there are many flooded basements. People neglect their roof gutters, or have none, and the ground is becoming saturated. Few people in Colorado buy flood insurance.

The South Platte is still running high. West of Monument, CO, this river drains all of the Front Range. After a huge flood in 1965, two big dams were built in the drainages above Denver, and dikes were built along the river below Denver.

Unusual doings this morning, an Amtrack train on the Union Pacific rails to Cheyenne. Passengers were aboard. The only scheduled service is the California Zephyr, which runs on the BNSF trackage.
This picture was taken around 10 a.m. The Zephyr goes Westbound around 6 a.m. and Eastbound around 7 p.m.

On the other hand, the neighbor's chickens were busy putting their feathers into place.

Once again, the Denver Post has given space to as vile an attack on 2nd Amendment supporters as you are likely to read. MSNBC has linked it.
 http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_24081847/columns

The article says he is a businessman. Bullshit, he is a professor at the University of Denver School of Business. He inherited his business, that he has someone else run and has had two jobs in the private sector. One was for a firm run by a relative.

And this just in.
https://www.facebook.com/BoulderCounty/posts/10151878339068545

Mississippi Floods

Living in the arid West, floods rarely affect us. These Vicksburg photos were taken last September and three days ago. As I understand, the crest of the current flood is still upriver.

Business takes me to Florida and Alabama several times a year. My favorite way to bypass St. Louis is to head down I-55 to Sikeston, MO then back road to Paducah, KY. Saves about 40 minutes and a lot of aggravation. After watching the levees being blown on TV, decided this wasn't my best option. Terrible decision to be made; farm land and small towns flooded to save Cairo, IL, one of the least attractive places I've seen. Somewhat like the headline, "Tornado hits Aurora (CO), does $5,000,000 in improvements". Might have a different opinion if I lived there.

Those big rivers always impress me. Give me my mountains. Tis a privlage to live in Colorado.