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My name is Linda Brown. I live on a farm on the western slope of Colorado, in the high mountain desert. I’ve lived here all my life, hailing back four generations on my father’s side. Today I blog about our farm, the everyday activities that keep the farm going. I also write about my thoughts and dreams and goals. On Friday’s I always write about TLC Cai-Cai. Our sweet kitty who helps keep the farm safe. And Boo Berry Betty, a breeder dog learning to be a Farm Dog! The lovely thing about blogging it opens the world up for all of us to reach out and meet people from many different cultures and different ways of life. You can find me every day (but Saturday) at https://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/ Your Friend on a Western Colorado Farm, Linda Brown

A Mystic Exaltation—Sunday, July 9, 2017

The mail arrived yesterday….all the way from the other side of the United States…a land of warm sunshine and lots of rain, a land where the countryside is enameled green and lush.

The package was very unexpected.

And heavy!

I opened it excitedly to find

A note wrapped around a rock!

The note reads: “Hi Linda,  The instant I saw this heart rock, washed up out of the farm road by all the rain, I knew it was for you.   Best wishes, Marianne”.

Removing the note I saw this amazing heart shaped rock, wrapped with a gold ribbon!

What a wonderful gift!  A chord of music sent from her mountain, a timeless enchantment; adding magic to my day.

Thank you, Marianne!  I have placed this jewel in my rock display, complete with your note!

Because of this great and delightful world of the internet I can also share with you, the same heart sparkling all the way from here to there!

From my world to your heart,

Linda

 

The Adventures of Boomer on Friday—-A Good Day

I was going to tell you ALL SORTS of stuff…things like how scared I was, how very sick I was, how the nasty cough hurt (it’s almost gone now, but not all the way) you know all the STUFF I’ve been going through.

But Mom told me she has been telling you.  That you have all been there pulling for me.  Geez, that is so cool!

So…. I will tell you I’m on the mend.  I don’t cough as much, Mom gives me orange Gatorade and coconut oil.  I don’t like the coconut oil.  I try to spit it out, but Mom makes me try to swallow it by putting it on my food.

Sigh!

BUT I MUST ADMIT…it seems to be helping my throat!  My throat gets too sore and dry so it’s hard to swallow.

OH! I’m going into details.

Anyway…just let me tell you…I SAW FUZZY DUDE!  Boy have I missed him.  He was waiting for me over this bridge full of all sorts of colors.  I started to run toward him, but he barked at me to STOP!

So I did.

“GO BACK, BOOMER!  GO BACK!  Mom needs you.  It’s not time.  I will come get you when it’s time.”

So I did.  I woke-up to Mom looking at me saying: “You can go, if you want, my Little Boomer, but I would really like you to try and get well. It’s up to you, but if you stay, Boom…you have to try.”

So I did.

And you did.

I Thank You!

Boomer

Hot-Sun-Kissed 106* DayLight—July 6, 2017

As the health of Boomer flickered good and bad, bad to worse, then improving, to— I now have Hope….we had company.

My brother and his wife, Cloudy came for a short stay. Boomer felt good enough to be part of most everything.

Then the kids came from Battlement Mesa.

We went to the lake, of which I would not let Boomer go.  Too much activity and way too hot.  And who knows how he got this stuff—I want it confined here and to die out here.

Then early this morning, while the air was still cool, before the red and bright light spread it’s heat upon the land

We had a hay customer arrive wanting 100 bales.

Then the day broke forth spreading sunshine and shadows.  Boomer and I walked a short ways down the farm lane…waving good-bye to our family as they headed back to their home.

Gradually, gradually I am seeing Boomer improving.  Once more I thank each and everyone of you!

Very humbly, your friend

Linda

The Gossamer of Summer—Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Our youngest daughter, our son-in-law, and the three grandchildren (plus Grandpa, of course) all posed for our annual “Knee-High by the Fourth of July” calendar photo last evening.

Then we all headed off to watch the

fireworks at Confluence Lake in Delta.

Of course fireworks are always beautiful…massive showers of sparkling lights hurtled to the heavens, drowning out the stars…but not the waxing Gibbous moon.

Before we headed down to join the masses watching roaring darkness…

Boomer went with me to do my evening chores.  This is the first time he truly smiled since his illness. I’m holding my breath in this space-in-time; following the last few days of fear, illness and extreme worry I pray we don’t have a relapse.

He still has coughing jags, but he is eating and drinking and eliminating.  His tail wags, he is walking around, asks to ride with me on the four-wheeler…and now Smiles!

Once more thank you so much (each and everyone of you) for your support and strength through out all this.

Love,

Linda

In the Presence of Extraordinary People—Tuesday, July 4TH, 2017

Elaine sent me this rainbow from her friend in El Paso county, Colorado:

Elaine wrote:
Dear Linda…

(click on the blue link to go to his website 🙂 )
He took the beautiful rainbow picture attached…
So I send it along with loving thoughts ~ and I hope it helps Boomer!  Luv ya!
)))hugs(((
Here is what Jason said…
“Yes, please do send it along to Linda with our compliments and healing thoughts towards Boomer.

Boomer is doing ever so much better!  Sammy stays with Boomer all the time.  A kitty and his dog.

Boomer finally ate breakfast this morning: shredded chicken, a dollop of yogurt and tiny squirt of gatorade to wash it all down.  (Which he thought was amazingly yummy)

He is still coughing, but the swelling in his stomach is receding, his nose is off and on cold, and he has developed a huge desire to have Mom sit with him and hold his paw.  (Which I admit I do 🙂  Just like a little kid he has figured out to start coughing and Mom will come sit with him and hold his paw. 🙂

He is walking around, even walking out to the chicken house with me.  But not always, but I figure any willing to move action is good.

And his tail is waggles in greeting!  Which I adore.

As the setting sun shivered gold across the fields, Boomer asked to go with us to change water last night.   I always look at that as a good sign!

So….once more I want to thank each and everyone of you!

When winter touched our lives, you held us in your thoughts and prayers.  That is a huge deal.  Your light shown in the darkness giving me hope.  In turn I was able to give Beaglie hope.  Please don’t laugh.  Hope is a mighty thing…and I thank you for it.

From my heart to your world,

Linda

The Sun Gilding Raindrops—-Monday, July 3, 2017

Marianne, from NorthView Dairy in New York, posted on her blog, then sent to me photos of a beautiful rainbow…she said they were for Boomer and I.

They are so perfect…they echo throughout my heart like a song.

Boomer is improving slightly.  The prognosis is now pneumonia. I have medicine for him — I hope it works.

Yesterday he ate.  And he drank.  Not lots but some.  The coughing is lessening, but still there, and he is weak and exhausted.

About evening, when we do the last change of water, Terry and I were coming back in and he met us at the garage.  A weak tail wag going on.

Picking him up I we took him for a short ride where he seemed very happy.

Then last night the coughing worsened.  Nighttime always seems to bring out the illness.  I sat with him, petting and rubbing and soothing and calming so he could breath.

Around midnight we went outside and he had a nice big pee and a little walk about. Then he laid down again and I sat with him, until 1:30 a.m.  He was sleeping —- sleeping restfully.

Around first light he started coughing again.  So we went outside where he seemed calmer.

At this moment he is resting on his lawn lounge chair.  He has not wanted any food or water.  When I finish visiting with you I will go back and sit with him.  Then when he wakes up I will try water and food again.

The clouds were thick here last night and full of small rain dropping in the canyons.  I didn’t see a rainbow here. But thankfully my email had three this morning.

Your friendship, your prayers and warm loving thoughts burn brilliantly bright through the internet.  I thank you.

My hope is today we have turned a corner and the murmurs of call to the Rainbow Bridge lessen; my wonderful little beagle begins recovery.

From my very sore and worried heart to your world,

Linda

 

Update on Boomer and a Giant Ray of Hope—-Sunday, July 2, 2017

The vet gave Boomer a shot and some pills.  Those two things gave me hope.  And the fact Boomer is starting to want to eat again.  For the longest time he would eat and throw it right back up.
The problem is he is coughing and coughing and coughing.  I knew it wasn’t Kennel Cough he gets his vaccines regularly.  But what was it?
Going to the vet helped me and, of course helped Boomer.  I sat with him for an hour after we got home on Friday, just sat there, petting him, holding his paw, helping him relax.  The relaxing is the good…he doesn’t get panicked that way.
If he stays relaxed the coughing lessens; and the shot and pills can work.
So gradually over the day Friday, then Friday night…on Saturday he wanted to eat breakfast—YAY! Huge improvement.
Still coughing, but not as much.  AND he wanted to go with me to do the water and work on the hay bales.  He didn’t want to get off.  Just ride.
HUGE improvement!
NOW WHERE DID THIS COME FROM?!  The only thing I can think of, was one night one of our outside camera caught a stray dog walking down our farm lane. It was extremely thin;  bones sticking out everywhere.  It was walking with a curve in its spine, leading me to think….is this dog was sick/ someone dumped it out here?
There was a collar mark on it’s neck.  Were these people Not wanting to take care of their dog?  If so they passed the illness onto to whomever and wherever the poor thing traveled.
Boomer started acting sick on Tuesday, then on Friday I was afraid I was going to lose him.  My heart was breaking, but I was determined to help him, if I could.
After the vet visit and the sitting and loving and caring for my little beaglie I came upstairs to the office and checked my email.
There is was:
A beautiful double rainbow…a sign of hope and comfort.

Joe Cooper wrote: I hope you are having a great evening.

I just took this.

(I then asked if I could publish this symbol of hope, which I needed so badly, and he said yes.)

Then he said something else, which brightened my day even more:

“I enjoy reading your blog, and I find it comforting and makes for a better day for me. So how could I not try to give back?

 Have a great Independence Day!”
Joe Cooper
What a perfect gift —- reflecting dazzling multi-hued light, lifting the shadows on Boomer’s and my days.
Maybe by Monday this madness while be gone and Boomer well again.  I’m living with Lysol spray, soap and hot water, clorox, and a shovel to bury waste, so no other animal will come down with this nasty illness.
As for that poor dog….  A pox on whoever dropped it off.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda

The Adventures of Boomer on Friday—-SICK

Mom is taking me to the vet.

Boomer

Sun-Warmed Days—June 29, 2017

The sun-shimmers across the farm, bringing heat,

wind (hot and dusty), and all sorts of things, which only sun-warmed days can bring.

Shannon’s little nephews from Jason’s side came to spend the weekend.

So I dug out the bikes, aired up the tires and off they went—to drive through ever ounce mud they could find on the place. 🙂

We are fighting weeds of the most magnificent growth…

We hauled the two culverts up to the Upper End,

where they will rest until the water is turned off.  Then it will be time to get the backhoe up here and replace a couple of worn out culverts, which are leaking water.  (There is always something to do in the repair department, it seems.)

Today my brother and his wife, plus two of their friends arrive for a summer visit.

I’m thinking I’ll make stove-top green enchilada’s for supper.  It’s important to keep the kitchen (and the cook) cool.

Still all in all…although the day heats up to bleach the world, the evening sun touching the world’s rim colors the sky in amazing reds and oranges.

 

And….Oh, yes…I can’t forget

Another flat tire! There have been so many now we have to laugh about it!

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

The Middle of the Growing Season—-Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Yesterday Terry decided it was time to cut the hay

Rich, thick, full of blooms Second Cutting of hay

Today our whole house smells of delicious ‘just mown’ alfalfa…drying in the sun and wind

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda