August 7, 2004

Still nothing doing with the monsoon—around here. However, it is raining like crazy all around Tucson. There was a very big rainstorm in the Vail area the other night, which we discovered yesterday morning when we went out to the river to walk, and were shocked to see water actually flowing in it! Had to be quite a lot of water for so much action this far west. It turned out some women were nearly drowned the night before while trying to cross the Pantano Wash out by Harrison. A woman had gone to pick up her friend at the airport. The wash crossing was dry. Forty-five minutes later, on the way home in the dark, they ran into a wall of water and were swept out of their car (along with the woman’s dog). Luckily, everyone survived with only bruises. The woman who got picked up at the airport had had a very bad day; on top of everything else, the airline lost her luggage.

Around here, pond is still full of algae. I put a little algaecide in, after emailing the company that makes it. They promise it is not toxic. We’ll see if the small amount works.

<>And a very sad note: yesterday morning I saw a round, fat bird I couldn’t quite identify sitting on the fence by the pond. His one-note cry seemed vaguely familiar. I realized who he was when a male cardinal came to the fence to feed him. It was a baby cowbird. This would be a case when I might WANT some toxic water.