Monsoon

Life in New Mexico is, for the most part, settling down. Each room is close to being how the “final product” will look. There are pictures to hang, of course. And a few frames to purchase. And in spite of our best efforts, we brought too much stuff with us, so we’re going to have to figure out what to do with all of the belongings we don’t want to unpack.

The hookups for the washer/dryer need some work, and so, until we can get that done, we can’t do laundry here. We’ve been going to Mudder & Pops every night this week for dinner, and while there I do two loads. I’m about caught up.

The girls enjoy their outings to M & Ps. They know who is in that house, so whenever we are in the vicinity, they want to go in. Once there, Nikki gets some gentle loving from Mudder, and Ixchel knows just where her toy is kept. She immediately goes to the closet door and waits expectantly.

Even thought M & P live less than 3 blocks from here we drive. First of all because we have a laundry hamper. But most importantly, the pavement around here gets far too hot for us to risk burning our girls’ feet.

We do our laundry, eat our dinner, watch a little TV. Then we load up the car, and Scott drives home, and I walk the girls home. We meet Scott at the driveway, then continue our walk to the park for the girls to take care of their “business”.

It’s “Monsoon Season” in Southern New Mexico. For the past two days, El Paso (45 miles south of us) has had flooding. We’re in a Flash Flood zone, and have had nightly warnings. It rains at night here. El Paso gets it during the day, and then, by evening, it’s finally finding its way up here.

Last night, as we walked, the sky was dark. The sun had set about 8:00 pm, but we’re only two days past a Full Moon. But even so, it was dark. There was no sign of the moon, not even a dull glow through the clouds. Black clouds surrounded us, to the north, to the south. Towards the mountains in the east and the mesa in the west. Scudding across these clouds we could make out lighter, ghostly grey clouds. Towards the south, over El Paso and Anthony, lightning flickered. Towards the west, over the mesa, lightning flashed. The mountains toward the east, and the Rio Grande Valley to the north towards Truth & Consequences also erupted in frequent burst of lightning. And it was eerily silent. No thunder.

As we waited for our girls to take care of their necessities, the wind picked up, cool refreshing breezes laden with the scents of rain and wet mesquite and creosote. We strolled home, enjoying the cool breeze on our back, the thick smell of dusty-wet air.

Later, as we lay in bed, talking about the day, the room continued to flicker with flashes from the lightening, so frequent it reminded me of neon lights on a motel marquis. After a while of this, as we turned towards our respective walls to try to sleep I became aware of a noise, the rumble of an idling truck, perhaps a semi.

“What’s that sound?” I asked Scott. He rolled onto his back and lifted his head. Some moments passed.

“Thunder.”

“But, it’s constant. There’s no pause in it! It’s been going on for several minutes.”

“It’s thunder.”

It was to that sound, the constant rumble of thunder in the distance, and to those lights, and to the gentle susurrus of Ixchel’s soft snoring by my shoulder that I fell into a deep sleep.

We slept late this morning. Nikki finally insisting I bestir so as to take her for her walk. I crawled out of bed, and out into the kitchen. I made a pot of coffee, then dressed, hooked up the girls to their leashes, and we set out for the dog park, a tenth of a mile or so from our door.

The streets were still glistening in the pre-dawn, wet from the night’s rainfall. The smell of creosote and mesquite, already strong last night seemed even stronger. The sky was beginning to lighten up, enough that I could see the base of the mountains off to the east, crowned still in dark, roiling grey clouds. In front of these dark grey clouds, white tufts of cirrus drifted, one atop the volcano that shares our horizon looking almost like the volcano was stirring!

And this… this is my home!