A roadrunner was hanging out on the west side of Zimmerman Library this afternoon. A juvenile roadrunner came up behind the adult and acted like it was begging for food. Then it laid down on the stone walk behind the adult. It might have been making itself invisable so il paparazzo couldn’t see it. The adult roadrunner rolled a prickly pear fruit near the juvenile, but the juvenile just stayed in the same position.
The adult walked over to the juvenile, nudged it with its foot, and then walked off and disappeared behind a bush. The juvenile stayed in the same position.
We got a downpour for about 30 minutes at 3:00 p.m. this afternoon. Several staff members stood outside under the portal at the office to watch the rain. Thunder was on a constant roll. Lightning struck close by while the rain poured and rivers ran through the parking lot. One staff member noted, “I’ll get home tonight and the weather will report 7/100 inch of rain.” I told her it would be at least a 1/10 of an inch. When I got home, our rain gauge read 0.11 inches of rain.
As I was leaving the office after the rain let up, several rescue vehicles raced down Alameda Blvd with their lights on and sirens blaring. They pulled up to the flood control channel, which you can see here: https://wp.me/p1yQyy-bGb. Water was roaring down the channel when I drove over it on my way home. I heard the news helicopter flying around above us, so I looked up the news channel and someone had been washed away by the current in town, and a body was pulled from the water where the flood control channel flows into the river. I looked up the rainfall for Albuquerque today. The report showed 0.39 inches of rain for the zip code where the person was swept away by the runoff in the channel. What might seem like little rain produces a lot of deadly runoff in our high desert.
Silver, Loki and Glenda waiting for me to give them cheese.