Rainbow Friday

Awoke before sunrise and upon stepping outside was greeted by a spectacular double rainbow with Portal Peak and the Chiricahua mountains in the background.  Although overcast, there was a patch of blue sky on the eastern horizon allowing light from the rising sun to refract through the light misty rain creating this gift as a way to start the morning and celebrate the arrival of guests at the Painted Pony Resort.  The monsoon totals are 5.65" and it is not over yet.

Double rainbow in the San Simon valley

Monsoon Rejuvenation

Monsoon season in late summer is one of rejuvenation.  The monsoon brings water to the high desert of New Mexico and the southwest restoring the grasslands in the valley, the forests in the mountains, and recharging the aquifer.  The down side to the monsoon season is road work.  Heavy down pours can damage local roads, especially where the road crosses a drainage, so ditches require cleaning and road surfaces must be graded to remove washboards and maintain the distribution of surface gravel.  This was a week of road work after several heavy down pours rearranged the road surface.  Side and wing ditches were cleaned and the road leading to the Painted Pony Resort graded.  While all the road work takes several days it was accompanied by an incredible rainbow yesterday evening.  Views like the full double rainbow below make all the extra work worthwhile and of course there was rain most of the night.

Double rainbow from the Painted Pony Resort outside of Rodeo New Mexico