Before I left for the beach, Tucson was getting a lot of rain. I have never seen so much rain here. According to the locals, this is what monsoon season is all about and last year was a pitiful example of monsoon season. You wouldn't believe the difference in the landscape! First of all, the water is everywhere. The Tanque Verde Creek is flowing, and all of the washes are running -- including the one in the backyard. Suddenly, everything is green! It happened so fast that you could almost hear the rustling of the trees, shrubs, and cacti as they sucked up every available drop of water and filled up. The cactus is looking great -- they were sort of wizened looking because they were so low on water, and now they are looking fat! Grass has sprouted all over the place; it has grown so fast that in about a week, it is almost a foot tall.


Here is a picture of Tanque Verde Creek. The water at this point is about 18 inches deep. However, the day before, it was about 2 feet deep and there was a current. The creek is about 25 feet wide. That is a LOT of water!

Here is a picture of Agua Caliente Wash -- yup, the Hot Water Wash (I often wonder if there is a Cold Water Wash around, but have yet to find it). This is a huge section of land and it goes for miles -- you can see how wide it is, and I couldn't even fit the whole thing in one picture. It is amazing to me how much the landscape has changed with 6 or 7 days of rain. Of course, now the water is all gone and we are left with a lot more green than we had!