I ran out to get the mail this afternoon, which would normally take about 15 minutes, but I got distracted by the light, drove up to the north end of Corrales, and got back with the mail about an hour and a half after I left.
We got another 7/8 inch of rain overnight, but there has been heavier rains up north that are causing the Rio Grande to rise. The first photo taken at 6:00 pm on Friday the 13th, shows the river up about 6 feet above where it normally runs this time of year. The following two photos are close to the same view of the Sandias and Rio Grande, but the first one was taken about 5:50 pm on Friday the 13th and the second one was taken in December 2011. I would have like to have had a photo of the river and Sandias from June 2013 when the river was really low, but the bosque was closed, so I wasn’t able to get the river to do photos.
Currently, the river has to rise another 5 feet before it will get into the bosque, and then it would have to rise about 25 to 30 feet before it would go over the levees. I don’t think we have had enough rain for the river to flood our area. I’ll be surprised if it rises enough to get into the bosque, but I’ll check in the morning a see where it is.
Ben Lolli is an actor, comedian, filmmaker, master of odd jobs in exotic places, and all around cool guy. Bruski made a Super Fans of Ben Lolli page and Lita has been calling for photos of Ben. These photos go back to 2009, and give you a hint there is something about Ben. Rosencrantz got in on the crazy Santa act!
While I was out at the river at sunset, the bald eagle flew by high along the opposite bank of the river. As it passed the face of the Sandias, it caught up with a flock of crows. A few crows fell in behind the eagle at first, then the crows’ flight became more chaotic as the eagle flew through them. Five cranes flew close to me at dusk, they probably couldn’t see me in the low light, and the high ISO produced interesting images. The Sandias turned a nice “watermelon” pink tonight.
I went out to get the moonrise this afternoon. The clouds covered the moon when it first came over the mountain, but then as it rose behind the clouds it afforded nice photo ops. The geese and cranes are still hanging around, and the crows were thick at times, which reminded me of the movie “The Birds.”