It stopped raining for a bit today. It had rained all night. The wet stuff measured at a little more than half an inch from midnight to midday. That was on top of almost 8 inches the last thirty days. For desert country that is exceptional.

Mueller Lake, which made its return appearance in our back yard last week, grew significantly. The new water feature which had been quickly dubbed River Gael began to create a delta area into Mueller Lake. The small creek behind the house began to raise its voice. It has been christened Mueller Babbles.

During today’s lull in the reoccurring storms, the Spouse, the dogs (remember George and Gracie?) and I went to survey the damage, if any, to the dog run.

This is what we found.

Mueller Babble

This little creek can become a roaring river in heavy rain. It collects runoff from the Eastern ridge of a small mountain range. It simply follows a natural path at the bottom of the range. Mostly, it is dry. But when the ground becomes saturated it comes to life and give us its song.

The next thing we saw were two white/brown/black streaks racing for the dog run and coming to an abrupt halt when water was detected! For dogs bred to be bird dogs and chase that bird into any body of water, George and Gracie are failures. They hate water. But their desire to explore the dog run, which they hadn’t seen in a week, over came their squeamishness. They tip-toed up on to the north face, George with his ball and Gracie hoping for lizards.

A saturated dog run and the puddles that those poor dogs had to walk through

The most startling thing was the growth and beauty of Lake Mueller. I began to take its picture and saw the most amazing reflections. Lake Mueller is, in reality a large puddle. But for just a few moments it showed me the most incredible sky outlined with oaks and pine.

They are not upside down. They are reflections taken from different areas around the lake. The delta created by River Gael fascinated me. That is a lot of silt for a little, bitty rivulet.

That raised a curious question. Where did River Gael come from? That had never been explored. The answer was not found today but the excursion into George’s special spot revealed a serene little place where water sang.

And that sky stayed amazingly beautiful.

It was a wonderful day for reflection.