Like much of the North American continent, we have been getting exceptional spring rains. And, like much of the US, our rivers are swollen. They're saying our flows are higher than in the 1950s, and those were the record highs. But around here, not many towns were built right in the river bottoms, so we're generally not seeing the danger and property damage that occurs in so much of the rest of the country.

Just not enough river bottom in this arid, rugged land. And in our part of the county, no mountains or canyons to funnel the waters to dangerous depths, like the Big Thompson or the Little Missouri.

So, when we see flooding like this on our flight last week...

we tend not to be concerned. Yes, Steve's house is surrounded by water, and it's flowing into his barn. But he built his home on a low rise, and it would take a hell of a lot more water to get to his doorstep. And yes, it's getting close to the community's water intake, but the engineers put that up on higher ground, so we're not likely to have water quality problems arise.

And yes we're only five miles away, but we're 200' (60+m) higher, and there's a tremendous acreage of lower desert that would have to be filled before we ever saw water rise into town.

No, mostly these high water flows are a curiosity. The big pools on the right center of the photo above are on a golf course. When we stopped by to take a peek, there were three other vehicles of people at the gate doing the same thing.

It's just not that often you see pelicans swimming on the 7th hole.