Entwining their little lives with ours
Singing the song of Spring
And the coming of Summer
Orioles and others eating delightfully at the feeders
I savor each day from now until winter!
Happy Mother’s Day to each of you!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Outside of all the bending, stooping, picking up, laying down, walking, walking, walking, shoveling.
There is always and forever the delight in being out on the ditch bank watching the seeds pop up out of the ground, growing straight and tall.
There is so much happiness in being a farmer, and a protector of the land and the water.
And having a wonderful, furry kitty. Kitties are an important part of this farm.
There are so many things kitties do: we hang out with our people when they are stressed and just need to hear a purring voice,
we follow along as they work in the farmyard, keeping a silent, watchful eye on all they do,
we keep monster mice away from the house, the feed, the chicken pen, and everything on the farm,
we warm beds in the night, (sleeping RIGHT BETWEEN our people!), and lick them in the face when it’s time to get up in the morning.
(Meow—it’s hot!)
Kitties are very, very important!
Thanks for coming along. We, (Mom, Dad, and I) appreciate your stopping by and reading.
TLC Cai-Cai
Our apple tree has expanded itself in a most delightful way
Completely filling each and every twig and branch with lovely, lovely flowers.
We will see if another freeze comes along and wipes them out; like all the other fruit we have.
Time will tell….until then I will enjoy this massive show of abundance.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Well, maybe not the water itself, but Mom and Dad sure are.
There is the headgate, you have to keep all the trash out of it,
sometimes Dad has to walk across the headgate on the tiny little board to put other ‘blocking’ boards in,
and sometimes Dad has to put down the side of the tiny walking board a screen to filter out the trash.
Trash is a huge part of keeping the water flowing.
Trash stops the water,
causes it to pool up and then will become a flood. Trash makes Dad and mom athletic getting down and digging it out of the water.
Then there is putting in and removing the dams. That is a dam you are seeing.
Dad uses several dams all along the ditches so the water isn’t just rushing by and causing some other sort of crisis somewhere else along the way.
At each dam, the water rises until there is enough water Mom and Dad can start the tubes.
Mom says you have to be fast or the water will rise so high that it will run over the side of the ditch and cause a flood.
The water coming out of the cement ditch into the tubes goes into little furrows that keep the water manageable.
Over time the furrow becomes imprinted with the water and won’t let the water run over into another row.
But in the Springtime, when everything is starting to ‘learn’ it’s way-of-being, Mom and Dad have to walk down the rows and make sure the water stays in its own row and doesn’t get greedy and try to take over its neighbor’s row.
The tools used on the water are shovels, rakes/forks (not all the time, but in the early Spring for sure), dams -metal and the
orange fiber material, siphon tubes, a wide variety of trash cleaners,
four-wheelers to get a person from here to there, and people.
Lots of bending and stooping and jumping over ditches and walking on scary boards…if water isn’t athletic, Mom and Dad sure are! 😊
Lots of work, but Mom says it keeps Dad and her young.
TLC Cai-Cai
We had a huge log come down the canal and knock the warning poles off their foundation
What a mess!
Linkin was spending Friday and Saturday with us;
Terry and I had (Thankfully) lots of help.
It was a huge long process…taking two hours to get the two logs jacked up and out of the water
The water was running
fast and scary—and would have flipped us under the bridge if we fell in it
TLC Cai-Cai and Linkin ready to help
Terry finally got one log up, then had to get the second log up
Linkin holding up one of the logs
After much pulling, straining, lifting, and pondering. Terry got all the logs up, wired together—good to go until this winter when the canal is dry and we can get in there to work on everything.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
I’m so impressed by you
78 years old
each and every day
is a celebration!
Happy Happy Birthday!
From my world to your heart,
Linda
Take these wee little gifts of Mayday flowers
Let them lift your heart from all your responsibilities–those things you can never stop doing
Marvel, with me at these perfect little jewels
Lighting up your computer screen
Saying: Rejoice!
So many of us Love you!
From my heart to your heart,
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 