We are having a hot spell: daily highs in the mid- to high-forty degrees. For the last few days it's been windy, so a lot of the snow on the ground has blown away, revealing the sand and rocks left by the flood.

Now that the wind has moved east, we'll have plain old warm weather for awhile. The moon is very bright at night, reflecting from the snow that is left, and it's like daylight out there.

I have been studying river geomorphology (the study of the physical features of the surface of the earth and their relation to its geological structures). I look at various articles about what makes a healthy river, and follow up on any new terms that I come across.

Yesterday, I discovered "thalweg."

(photo from Wiki)

"The thalweg marks the natural direction (the profile) of a watercourse. A river's thalweg is almost always its line of fastest flow."

Figuring out where the thalweg lies is used to figure out where to place boulders to slow down erosion of the river banks.

The word comes from the German language and means "valley way."



Here is an old postcard showing the motel where I stayed for 20 days while waiting for power to be restored to my house.



I like the dude in the red shirt and rolled up jeans sprawled in a chair next to the pool with a beer in his hand.