First Cutting of Hay is Done

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Dayphoto

Finally we finished up the last of the hay

I finished picking up the corners around 9:00 last night and Terry stacked the last load just before dark.

The irrigation water was set on the hay at 5:00 this morning.

It feels good to have the first cutting done. We sold 60 bales on the first field even before we got it hauled in

I was so tired last night I couldn’t sleep well. Still it’s nice to know rich, green leafy hay is stacked.

Next on the list?…

Cultivating the corn and the beans.

Oh, yes! The beans are up and rowing out.

Life is good

Linda

First Lawyers Home Served as Hospital

The Gunnison River

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Dayphoto

The Gunnison River is flooding! Farms and ranches all along the river bottome are covered in water.

The peak is supposed to happen sometime next week. I know those people waiting for the water to go down will be more than glad.

Linda

When You are Nine and You Want a New Bike

Posted on June 12, 2011 by Dayphoto

You ask everyone you know if they have a job or two that you can do to earn money. For his Dad he is helping put in a new lawn at their rental property, for Grandpa its rolling bales so the stack wagon can pick up the bales easier, and for Grammy….its weeding

We found lots of cool things to look at while weeding, worms, butterflies, and a snake skin

Since I have lots of weeds, I hope he stays with me even after he gets his bike purchased.

Linda

First Resident of Paonia

Fuzzy Blogging on Friday (Really This is Boomer)

Posted on June 10, 2011 by Dayphoto

Fuzzy Disappears

Yesterday was really hot, so hot Fuzzy and I did anything we could to cool off. First we went down to the canal and tried wading in the water, but it was running way too fast so that didn’t work.

While we were there Fuzzy told me about the time he fell into the canal and couldn’t get out until he got to the next head gate a mile away. He kept thinking Mom would come get him out, but she didn’t.

I guess, how it happened, Fuzzy hadn’t been living with Mom and Dad very long maybe a month or so, not a full two months yet so he was getting use to all the ‘stuff’ around the farm.

Fuzzy loves water and he loves bubbles in the water. The canal is water (huge, rip snorting, fast moving, and thundering water) and the water makes lots of bubbles as it crashes along.

Fuzzy was down at the little slide spot where we all get a drink of water staring transfixed at the bubbles when suddenly a river monster jumped up and pulled him into the canal and tossed and turned him every which way. Many times he tried to swim but the current was way too strong for his 30 pound body.

Mom was working in the yard when she missed him and started calling for him. She told Fuzzy later she looked everywhere for him, but she never even considered that he had fallen in the canal.

Anyway, Fuzzy said he was swept along so fast he had a heck of a time getting his balance when suddenly he was pushed into Shay’s head gate. And that is what saved his life. Once in the head gate he could get his feet under him and climb out. Fuzzy laid there for some time then got up, got his bearings and started walking home. He got there in time for supper. Mom knew immediately what must have happened because Fuzzy was still wet (although not AS wet) and he was exhausted.

Fuzzy said he got lots and lots of petting’s that night and even got to sleep INSIDE!

So here we are on this miserable hot day, the canal was too scary to cool off in, Dad gets upset if we lay in the furrows out in the field and Mom comes unwound if we dig nice cooling holes someplace in her yard.

So we just sat outside on the back step and panted. Our tongues hanging so far out of our mouths we must have looked like old shoes.

Dad felt sorry for us and asked Mom if she and the dogs would like to go for a ride down to the river.

Yippee!

We are going to the river! Fuzzy and I LOVE the river. There is a really cool, shallow spot where we can swim and shade all around, and best of all there are really neat smells down there.

Golly geez the ride down to the river is just wonderful…so much news on the wind I feel like I’m in heaven. Fuzzy and I keep trading sides just so we don’t miss anything.

Once down at the river we all splashed and played for ever so long. Then Mom wanted to take a walk so we all walked on down the road and up the draw to see where Davis cows traveled up to the White Ranch and then on to the Plateau.

The whole experience was delightful!

Suddenly I realized Fuzzy wasn’t with us. I tried to tell Mom. I got a real worried look on my face, wrinkled up my brow, whined a little bit and ran around in circles sniffing the ground. I sat down and tried to beg a little, then got up and wagged my tail end in a sort of sad drooping way.

Mom just said “Come on Boomer, we have to get back to the truck it’s almost time to change water again.”

That really upset me….”Where was Fuzzy, we couldn’t go without Fuzzy!” I whined and squeaked and really tried to tell them I was worried about my wonderful old friend.
Mom said “Come on.” Sadly I did. The walk back was horrible. I would stop off and on and bay —hoping Fuzzy would hear us and come running.

I tried to bay really, really loud because Fuzzy is losing his hearing and doesn’t always know even when the Mail Man comes.

The whole way back was agony. I was so afraid Fuzzy was going to become bear bait I could hardly go back I wanted to go look for him.

After awhile we made it back to the pickup. Mom told me to get in the back. I couldn’t even jump in I was so sad. She had to pick me up and put me in. I jumped right back out. Then she grabbed me and tied me in.

Blackness just descended…I didn’t know where Fuzzy was and now no one was going to look for him.

It was horrible.

Then I heard Dad say: “Jump in Fuzzy, you should be cool enough now after your swim and you nap under the truck.”

Fuzzy was found!

He was never lost!

He was just sleeping under the truck.

I was so happy I howled with joy when Fuzzy jumped into the back of the truck.

Mom laughed and untied me and I kissed Fuzzy all over the face!

Boomer

Cultivating and Packing Rows

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Dayphoto

We woke up to blue skies this morning. What a joy!

Linda

Beans are Planted —Now for Cutting Hay

Posted on June 7, 2011 by Dayphoto

The smoke from the fires is still thick here. You can see it all around even close to you. I can not imagine what it would be like to be in the midst of the fire itself. This is bad enough.

First Terry opens the field

Then Misty cuts while Terry watches

Then on her own.

This is not an easy machine to drive since you don’t use a stirring wheel, but

levers!

One field down. One more to go. But first the corn has to be cultivated and the rows packed so the water can be set in it.

The smoke filled canyons

Watching the setting sun through the smoke.

Linda

Indian Scout Homesteads at Harts Basin; Valley Still Yields Artifacts (May 1958)

Wind, Smoke, Alfalfa and Planting Beans

Posted on June 5, 2011 by Dayphoto

The ground is at the right moisture for planting the last of this years crop…the pinto beans

It will take Terry about two days get the pinto bean fields planted.

Of course everything always comes together at the same time

The alfalfa has just the right amount of bloom to be cut.

First things first. First the pinto beans, then on Monday or Tuesday the alfalfa will be cut. It take alfalfa about a week in hot drying weather to turn into hay. Then there is the baling the stacking and the hay customers.

We really like our hay customers, everyone that comes out is fun to see again. Terry also sells his hay to the Delta Elevator.

The smoke you see blowing in is from the fires in Utah and Arizona. It’s always sad that summer has to bring with it forest fires.

Anyway, I’m glad its summer!

Linda

Fish Laws and First Wardens in Delta County

The Last Day of Work

Posted on June 4, 2011 by Dayphoto

Friday was my last day at work.

We have a new Director so he asked me if I would be interested in coming in on Friday instead of Monday as my last day of work.

I said SURE!

Today is the start of the rest of my newly retired life!

Linda

A bit about Paonia

Fuzzy Blogging on Friday

Posted on June 3, 2011 by Dayphoto

A Chicken Goes Missing

Mom-mom came up last night and said that a horrible thing had happened at her chicken pen…one of the hens was missing.

I, Fuzzy, was paying lots of attention to what was being said, but Boomer and Hank were not. So I continued to listen very carefully. In order to not repeat everything here are the high points:

Mom-mom only has four chickens
All the chickens love Mom-mom and let her pet them and the kids pack them around
The chickens are only allowed out of the chicken run when Mom-mom is home
Hank doesn’t get to stay close to the chickens because he gets that ‘gleam in his eye’ that Mom-mom doesn’t like
(You know the one whereby we dogs get that fixated look, the mouth begins to drool, and the ears are pricked forward and pointing right at the chicken)

Mom-mom let the chickens out to scratch and scramble in the yard

When it was time to come in for the night one chicken, Fluffy Cluck, didn’t return

There was no body, no pile of feathers, no evidence of any kind of what may have happened to Fluffy Cluck

I knew I was going to have to find out; it would also give me a chance to show Boomer how to find lost chickens.

I waited until Mom-mom and the kids and Hank went home, Mom and Dad finished their chores and went inside for the night.

It was a beautiful moonlit night. Boomer was up for the adventure so off we went. We took a short-cut through the little growing corn plants, if Dad saw us he would have yelled at us to get out of the corn field, but (he he) Dad was inside.

We made it down there in no time, I headed straight there, but Boomer had to follow his nose everywhere but straight. That boy!

Once there I told Boomer what we were up to and what we had to do—find Fluffy Cluck! I bet she was somewhere in the yard or under a bush pile, maybe down by the goat pen hiding out in the jump’n pile.

See Mom-mom puts these logs all together so the two goats can climb and jump and play ‘King of the Mountain’ if they want too.

We checked to see if Hank was hanging out until it was time for him to go inside and sleep next to Blade’s bed, he wasn’t outside.

I was a little disappointed I thought it might give me a chance to teach Hank something too.

Anyway off we trotted to the hen house….yep everything was locked up tight, no open doors, the big human door was shut, the door to the run was shut, I had Boom jump up to see if the nest boxes were closed (he enjoyed that) yep– they were. The gate to the run was shut.

Good. All as it should be.

Now to find the hen or what happened to the hen.

Boomer was all business, I showed him the smell of Fluffy Cluck, Boomer had never smelled real live chicken before so for a little while for Boomer to focus.

Once we got all the odors separated out we set out to find out what happened to Fluffy Cluck.

That was one busy bird…whew! Took us at least an hour to follow her zigzag all over the yard, she was here and she was there and she was everywhere. Gradually we sniffed our way to the goat pen…just as I thought. There she was.

We had a long talk with her…she was pretty sleepy and had a hard time focusing but I think we convinced her that she really needed to sleep with the rest of the girls at night.

She told us she had planned on it but she was really enjoying scratching around in the wood pile and when she realized how late it was she was just way too sleepy to make it back to the hen house.

Satisfied that we had accomplished what we sat out to do-Find Fluffy Cluck– we headed back home. We got there just ahead of the time when Dad goes out to check the water (around 1:00 in the morning) so we went with him instead of to bed.