May Rains

We have had more rain in May than we ever imagined Northeastern Montana could have!  We are used to occasional rain, lasting for maybe 20 minutes.  We have had rains this spring that have lasted all day or longer.  We are very thankful for the moisture - very thankful.  It has set us a bit behind schedule, however.  Seeding was halted for 2 weeks earlier in the month, and last week we were able to get into the fields for a short time.  Last Wednesday it started raining again, and our monthly rain totals really went up.  In just the last week, Tony has gotten over 7 inches in Fort Peck.  Here we have gotten about 4-5 inches for the month. 

Along with the rain, comes a bit of flooding and raging creeks.  Here are a few pictures.

This is the road going from the high school to the Nashua hiway.  It used to be a paved road years ago, but has been graveled for several years now.  The water washed over the road, taking the gravel from the road, along with the ditch, along with it.

This is the bridge on the same road, just a mile or two away.  Normally the creek is a calm, very small creek.

taken from the bridge

This is the creek crossing we use all the time when we take the shortcut to town.  The water on the near left hand side is actually the road, and you can see how far the water had been up on the road on the opposite side of the creek.  Normally this time of the year there will be a bit of water in the creek, and it will dry up during the summer.  We won't be using the crossing for a while!

Along with the rains, we had fog.  It was kind of eerie this time of the year.