About Dayphoto

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

The Adventures of Boomer on Friday—A Thaw

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Dayphoto

It’s thawing here!

Mom and I Love it!

Every day we go for a walk! Heck, we go for two walks…even three walks!

I look for cool things to show Mom…like this:

I call it the death of a dove.

Not by me! I’ve never killed a thing in my life.

The worst that I ever do is chomp down hard on my blue rubber bone. AND I DO NOT GIVE IT BACK TO MOM UNLESS SHE CHASES ME–then I just drop it right at her feet and wait for her to throw it again. (Mom says it’s rather tiring to have to chase me all the time, but I think…better her than me!)

HAHAHAH

Dad had some hay customers…all the hay is sold but they left the hay here in the hay yard. I LOVE when they come out to get hay!

I bark them down the road, then I follow them all the way to hay yard. Once there I spend lots of time sniffing around (and peeing) on their tires.

I have to be careful about the peeing, if Dad sees me I get yelled at and told to go back to the house! I always check out where Dad is before I LIFT A LEG!!! 🙂

Anyway, Mom and I are having a really good time with this thaw! If we walk to the upper end Mom has to wear her boots but I don’t. I just walk wherever I want too. Of course when I get home I have to have my paws washed off before I can come inside. Mom says that is the down side of thaws…mud!

Anyway…Hank is here from Craig. He and his family are going to be here for the weekend. I share Fuzzy’s bed with Hank…its nice having a friend again. (Hank snores…LOUD, but I try to ignore it.)

Blade is thirteen this year…Mom and Dad were going to go up to Craig, but the family came down. That’s even better because Hank came with them. I stay home when they go, because I guard the place. It’s very important to guard the farm.

Now Hank, Mom, I and the two little girls are going for a walk. Yippee!!!

A thaw and company! PRICELESS!

Boomer

A Little of This and a Little of That—Thursday, January 8, 2015

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Dayphoto

This is a photo was taken by our oldest daughter while she and Jason were up on the Uncompahgre Plateau (Un-come-pah-gray, with the accent on the pah). Winter on the plateau!

It’s melting here! Bright sunshine and warmer temperatures are quickly destroying all the footprints in the snow.

I am not sure if this is a canine with a bum leg or a lame deer. My vote goes for the deer–although, I’m really not sure. A dog could drag a leg, but more than likely they hop along on three legs.

Little birds…of which kind I’m not sure….we have quail, pheasant, plus many little song birds. There is also a possibility that mice have scampered over the birds tracks.

I have even brought out my EVERYDAY shoes! Feet need to see the sun! 🙂 That’s my theory, anyway! 🙂 I can only wear these ‘shoes’ when the snow is still frozen, the rest of the time–I wear boots.

Under the big cottonwood tree in the yard, the snow has melted and turned to dry dirt—makes a joy to haul wood. I even raked around the wood pile yesterday!

Another storm is due in here in a few days, but for right now! I’m enjoying this warmer weather and the sunshine! YAY!

Your friend,

Linda

Traffic Jam—Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Dayphoto

You honestly don’t see this much here anymore. Most of the time the shepherds and the cowboys truck their animals from one pasture to another.

BUT if the need to move to a pasture just a short distance the animals are driven there.

Terry and I were on our way to Grand Junction, Colorado, when we ran into about 300 sheep around Camel’s Switch! It was a hoot to watch the dogs working the sheep.

To give you a tiny idea of cowboys herding cows here is an older photo of the cows leaving our place for a pasture just down the road. Moving cows has the romance of ranch life all wrapped up in herd—cows, horses and cows boys!When I was a child sheep and cattle drives were very common. Often times children were let out of school to help drive the cows up to the pasture on Grand Mesa (I went a few times) or to gather the cows in the fall and bring them down.

Sheep were moved from one orchard to another in the winter…(Shepherds Walk WITH their flocks), many a time my brother and I would leave for school in the morning and come home that evening to sheep feeding along the trees in our father’s orchards. Overtime we would head out to school then come home to find the sheep had moved on…to a back orchard or to a neighbors. Sheep were perfect for mowing down all the weeds between the trees and along the ditch banks in orchards. They were short enough they didn’t eat twigs from the trees and always hungry enough the orchards were void if ladder binding weeds when it became time to start pruning the trees before spring buds appeared.

Watching the animals move ALWAYS makes me think of that old song RAWHIDE!

Keep movin’, movin’, movin’,
Though they’re disapprovin’,
Keep them doggies movin’ Rawhide!

Move ‘em on, head ‘em up,

Head ‘em up, move ‘em out,

Move ‘em on, head ‘em out Rawhide!
Set ‘em out, ride ‘em in
Ride ‘em in, let ‘em out,
Cut ‘em out, ride ‘em in Rawhide.

Wasn’t it Clint Eastwood that starred in that tv series?

Anyway, most ranchers and sheep people move by truck now days. Head over to the post about this happy photo. (I came upon this cattle truck one day way back when I was still working. Just click the blue lines to go to the post. 🙂 )

As a side-note…the guardian dogs were having a great time DOING NOTHING!!! Hahaha, tehe! It was all up to those hard working border collies.

There were three guard dogs and there were EVERYWHERE! They checked out every smell, peed on many a bush, walked down the train tracks…trotted into yards. They were having a DELIGHTFUL TIME!

Just so you don’t think the border collies (four of them in the back, two in the front) had their noses out of joint (my maternal grandmother’s saying 🙂 ) they DID not! They were having the time of their life pushing those sheep along!

I think it is safe to say…I enjoyed every minute of being ‘stuck’ (I use this term very loosely) behind a fast moving flock of sheep!

Your friend on a Western Colorado Farm,

Linda

Housebound—Monday, January 5, 2015

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Dayphoto

Feeling a tad housebound Terry decided that a short walk to hook-up the fence down by the head gate (for the next farm) would fix the problem.

Starting at the electric fencer each strand of wire was checked and re-hooked–working around our farm yard; gradually making it to the gate at the end of the pinto bean field. This is also the head gate (for irrigation water) to the next farm.

Sunday we try to only do those things that MUST be done. But, sometimes the air inside starts to feel closed in an way too warm.

Still feeling like we just DID NOT want to go back inside Terry and I finished up the cleaning of the grain bin. We swept up two buckets of corn, cleaned out the tubes and hooked up all the doors and vents. (Boomer wanted very much to help…but doggie toes on the mesh floor was NOT a good idea.) Then we took the two buckets of corn and flung it out into the ditch to feed the quail and pheasants—the mice and song birds—and yes, any deer that might trot along looking for a nice winter treat.

When we finished our slight chores I noticed that the sun was setting; breaking through the clouds in a tiny rim along the Uncompahgre Plateau. What a joy to see even that tiny bit of sunshine.

This morning the sun rose causing the thin clouds to turn a brilliant red…another joy for a winter’s day. This color is rare, rare, rare in the pale frozen time of winter! I sang a song of happiness when I saw it!

Now, as I sit upstairs in my little office, looking outside I see the thin clouds have become thicker and typical white/blue colors that mark each day have arrived. Today Terry and I will continue to work on the fences and do all those every-day things we each must do.

I am also sending to each and every one of you warm thoughts for a perfect Monday, filled with pleasures and happiness!

Your friend,

Linda

Saying Good-bye–Sunday, January 4, 2015

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Dayphoto

There are so many ways to say Good-bye—so many.

When a life passes on to the ‘other-side’—where that is we will never truly know until we also pass over…the tangible pieces of every day living are left behind. “You can’t take it with you,” is a very true statement.

Rick’s brother and sisters respectfully asked Terry if he could/would come help them with the gathering of Rick’s assets and collections. Farmer’s always have collections, you know. It takes many pieces of this and that to keep things running.

So down the road Terry would go tractor and loader at the ready.

Another neighbor, Shea’s brought over the trailer for Terry to load the equipment for the ready of Flower’s Consignment Sale the first Saturday of February.

Saturday other friends and neighbors arrived— a community of men helping the family complete Rick’s life on earth.

Yesterday they finished. There is something so sad in the thought that one life is finished. The farm house will be sold- a new family will move in excited to begin life in the country- the equipment will go on to someone delighted to have it, and the personal items sorted and delivered to favorite nieces, nephews and cousins. Although gone, the memory of Rick will stay alive in everyone thoughts.

Saying Good-bye.

Even in death people pull together to make one last gift to the person who has gone on.

Your friend,

Linda

The Pause—Saturday, January 3, 2015

Posted on January 3, 2015 by Dayphoto

Winter colors are always so soft and muted. They lend no warmth to the land…none.

While the colors of summer blaze forth and simmer in intense bold shades of red, orange and purple

Springs hues are all fresh and new…the new green of leaves as they unfurl, the sprigs of bright green grass showing up among the dry shades of winter brown, Either-Way Fall’s golden flames shine forth from the brilliant trees to the bright blue of the sky

But winter…pale and cold and frigid.

Surrounds everything in the color and feel of snow

Wind relentless in its fury picks up the snow and flings it burning and biting into anything it touches

The colors of winter…blue, lavender, pink and white. The colors of silence, of waiting, of hunkering down, resting….

Your friend on a very frozen farm in western Colorado,

Linda

Right on Time–Winter’s Chill–Friday, January 2, 2015

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Dayphoto

The Sunday after Christmas a strong winter storm made it’s way across the Utah border and onto the the Uncompahgre Plateau (Un-come-pah-gray accent on the pah). We watched it slowly fill in the canyons and draws, skimming the tops of the mesas until it started to push it’s way into the Roubidoux Canyon. Once in the canyon it’s just a matter of a fast wind before it hits us. We are the first mesa after you leave the canyon…you can see the flat lands below us (we are the last farm on California Mesa – just before the flat lands which drop off into Roubidoux Canyon.)

Monday morning the kids headed back in a snow storm, leaving well before the storm stopped.

By afternoon the Uncompahgre Plateau was white and we had about an inch of snow. Today we we have about and 1 1/2 inches— not a lot of snow. But what we do have is COLD!

That typical cold, which freezes your skin the minute you head outside. Your air puffs white and steamy as you breathe in and out, in and out. With conditions just right you nose even freezes shut. Sure is a nasty feeling.

Boomer and I still go walking late at night. The moon is almost full now, which allows me to walk without a flashlight—-although I do take one with me.

The air is crisp and full of sounds. Sounds carry far in cold air…I can hear the coal train going through Delta on it’s way to Utah, I can hear the neighbors cows from over in the hollow, and the sound of cars and trucks passing way over there.

Boomer and I walk along …he smells all the news along the way, I see the foot prints…bunny, mice, birds, deer, Sammy the cat’s paw prints, and other canine prints…dog? Coyote? Wild dog packs? Cy-dogs? I don’t pause to decide what I’m looking upon. Lots of our neighbors allow their dogs to roam the farms (never a good idea–a dog chasing livestock is sure to be shot).

When the chill starts to be too much we head back toward the house and the heat of the wood fire. Boomer settles back down for a long winter nap. After filling the wood stove I like to sit by the window watching the frozen world full of white/silver moonlight; the cats sit with me–Sammy on top of the sofa and Monkey in the window. We all stare outside marveling at the mid-night beauty of ice, snow, and sparkling white moonlight.

Your friend on a very frozen farm in the western part of Colorado,

Linda

2014 in Review—Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Dayphoto

It’s always fun to see what the WordPress site says in their annual report each year. Some of you will find this stupid, but I always find it very interesting. So for those of you (like me) who like this sort of thing—here is my annual report for the 2014 Year.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 90,000 times in 2014. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 4 days for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Your Farm Friend from Western Colorado,

Linda

Back to Normal—Tuesday, December 30, 3014

Posted on December 30, 2014 by Dayphoto

We are back to normal…our children are all back at their homes- our house is empty and lonely.

Boomer did really well with all his dog company– Puff Cake (this photo is from this summer as he was taking a nap have a hard run while irrigating) came and stayed with Boomer.Shannon brought up two of her six dogs to hang out for a spell—Rocky and Black Beauty (sorry no photos), which added to Boomer’s joy.

I’m very behind with my comments and blog visiting, but I hope to get caught-up today!

Thank you all for stopping by and visiting. The photo and video of the cougar that GNan sent was just stunning!

We have Mountain Lions here…

many a time we have walked down the ditch bank and saw paw prints in the mud. Thankfully we have NOT met the ‘in-the’flesh’ cat.

Those big cats also hang out at Confluence Park in Delta..(the food source is rather plentiful there) The city has placed signs along the walking paths to be aware of the Cougars in the area and how to defend yourself if you happen to meet one.

Anyway, today is getting us back to normal…Terry is hauling the next to the last load to the Elevator and I’m putting up the Christmas stuff. Then when Terry gets back with the truck we will load out the very last load of corn from our Butler Bin into the truck. He will either haul it today (you have to be there before 2 in the afternoon) or he will head down the first thing tomorrow morning.

We are so grateful for the call to take every last kernel of corn we have…who cares if it has to be there by 2 on the 31st. The gift of having this year’s crop delivered and sold in this year is HUGE!

I hope this post finds all you doing well and ready for 2015…it’s almost here!

Your Friend,

Linda