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

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Posted on June 2, 2013 by Dayphoto

We are getting closer and closer to the the first cutting of alfalfa…probably the end of this week of the first of next week. We like to wait for the alfalfa to just start to bloom

You can see the tiny purple dots on the stems right now…you can also see some dandelions. This is the field that will be plowed up next year…it’s starting to get old.

A hay field is old when you can see dandelions and/or other weeds in it. We don’t spray for weeds we take the field and plant something else to give it a rest from the 3-5 years of alfalfa. It’s called rotational farming, which we have always practiced.

The sunset last night was on the weird side — really yellow.

As I was watching the sun set I saw a

Sun dog!

Actually that is really strange as we just got through with cold windy weather of the last four days and the weather people are saying we are heading into two weeks of extremely hot weather.

Usually if you see a sun dog it means frigid weather is about to hit……… humm.

Odd don’t you think?

The pinto beans are up

We are planted as much as we are going to plant this year and the crops are all up. (We don’t need any type of freeze now…that is for sure!)

Rumors have it that soon, very soon, they will be around to cut us down two more holes on the head gate…I hope they don’t do it for a couple of weeks, maybe longer. I’m sure that is just “hope” on my part.

Enjoy your Sunday everyone, today at 4 p.m. my oldest granddaughter is coming to ‘spend the night with us and part of tomorrow. It should be lots of fun for her grandpa and myself!

Linda

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Fun and Entertainment

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Dayphoto

This is Boomer…I’m going to show you what Fuzzy and I do for fun and entertainment. It isn’t all work here on the farm. We do more than irrigate, sleeping as much as possible, and barking the mailman/FedEx/UPS guy down the road, and in Fuzzy case, barking at the birds!

Fuzzy LOVES this time of year because there are SO MANY BIRDS!!!!!

Sometimes…just sometimes, mind you we get to go on TRIPS!!!!

Just the other day was one of those SOMETIMES!!!

Dad loaded up me, Fuzzy, the three little kids that are our Mom and Dad’s grandchildren, and the little kid’s Dad into the pickup….Mom rode in the back with us dogs and kids. Then our sister, Shannon loaded up Rocky, Balou, Hank, and Houston in the back of her pickup, the kid’s Mom, our other sister, and we headed UP TO THE PLATEAU!!!

(I don’t know that truck behind our cousins…it was just somebody who wanted to get around us. Which he did right after the photo was taken.)

This is Mom’s favoritits place in the whole wide world—the Uncompahgre (Un-com-pa-gray with the accent on the pah) Plateau!

*Uncompahgre translates from the Ute Indian word; ‘rocks made red by water,” “Rocks that make red water,” or just plain “dirty water.”

*Though the place where this natural stream pollution occurs was originally one small mineral spring, the name was given to a whole tribe of Utes (against their will), a mountain, a river, and one town –which later repudiated it because hardly anybody could spell it, opting instead for Delta.

We were going to Lee’s Reservoir!

YIPPEE!

There was ever so much fun…stick chasing in the water (although, I DID NOT GO INTO THE WATER AS I DO NOT LIKE WATER that much). But tons and tons and tons of cool smells!!! That is Houston you see by Fuzzy in the water NOT ME…I was with Mom!

Fuzzy enjoyed his time in the water very much…he never got out until it was time to go home.

Mom had to ride with a wet dog lying on her lap sleeping in the sun! (She said she didn’t mind)

Then we got home and had to be checked all over for ticks…this is tick season.

Ticks are some nasty bug…ticks never move from wherever they land after their last meal…they just sit and wait until they get hungry ; they wait and wait until some warm blooded thing comes along and then they either hop on or drop down on the warm-blooded thing and start feasting.

Mom says ticks carry horrible diseases and are really creepy creatures.

Anyway, we got checked out, and then had a cool picnic lunch that our people shared with us. After we all got tired we went home and took long naps until it was time to IRRIGATE!!!

Boomer

Monday, May 28, 2013

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Dayphoto

Sorry, sick today….huge allergy attack. I hope to be back tomorrow morning.

Linda

Memorial Day —- May 27, 2013

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Dayphoto

Lest we forget…

Thank you one and all!

Amen,

Linda

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Posted on May 26, 2013 by Dayphoto

The the ‘next impossible happen’! Terry and I took off a Friday, Friday night and half of Saturday while Misty and Bladen irrigated for us.

Blade is 11 now and getting pretty good at sitting siphon tubes. Misty is as good as Terry….hold one end of the tube shut with one hand, pump the water into the tube (while walking) and then sit the tube down quickly so the water flows out. Blade is determined to do it ‘like Mom and Grandpa’. His hand isn’t quiet large enough to close off the end of the tube but he works at it. He stands up and then pumps the water into the tube and then put the tube down quickly…sometimes he has enough pressure and sometimes not. BUT HE IS DETERMINED to do it like the experts….not Grammy :)!

I have to stop walking, bend down and cover the end with my hand, pump the water into the tube and then put in the row. Sometimes I can’t get a good enough seal so I submerge the tube in the water, cover the end with my hand and then put the tube in the row. I’m slower (which is why Blade doesn’t want to do it my way) but it works.

But back to Friday…after all the chores were done and the wind started picking up Terry said lets head up to Hot Sulphur Springs, Colorado for the night. Way back in January Kelly and Misty gave us a over-night stay at the Hot Sulpur Springs Resort and Spa. We called them, they had room on Friday only…the Memorial Day holiday had them full from Saturday through the rest of the week.

Misty said go…so we did.

We took the long way around (6 hours) through Craig, Steamboat Springs, down to Hot Sulpher Springs. Then coming back we went through pass to State Bridge and into Edwards on 170 (4 hours)

We were exhausted and water logged…they have 24 hot soaking pools…met some really nice people…and enjoyed ourselves very much.

Linkin did a great job of taking care of the animals and the chickens here (she will be 9 in two weeks). I do believe it was a good experience for everyone involved.

I will get around to visiting all of you , who have stopped by today and tomorrow.

I hope you a really nice Memorial Day!

Linda

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Night Work

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Dayphoto

Night work starts…well, at night!

Sometimes not at night, but close to night,

you know—

dusk, or maybe it’s twilight, or the gloaming or whatever you like to call it…evening!

Boomer says it’s really EVENING work…

Whatever it is it doesn’t matter…it starts when the day is ending.

Mom, Dad, Boomer and I go out and change the water. We do this every day…Spring, Summer and Fall. We ride or walk on the same fields, move the water through the same rows days after day after day.

I LOVE IT!!!!

Sometimes we go to town…we have to ‘get stuff’ you know. Gasoline, milk,

sometimes a hamburger treat for Boom and I —HEAVEN!

We are changing water more and more now…the water keeps getting cut back and it isn’t even June yet.

(Dad is real worried, but he can only do what he can do. — Boom and I wag our tails and give him lots of licks on his hand to try and help him relax)

We go with Mom and Dad all the time—– Early morning, Noon, Three in the afternoon, 6 at night and then at dark, so far we don’t have to go out in the middle of the night! But Dad says that is coming…like TONIGHT!!!!

The dog cousins come at the crack of dawn for their daily walk. We change water then. Well, really Dad changes water then and we just help.

Then their Mom has to go to work. She really never changes water…I don’t think she even knows HOW to change water. But she doesn’t have too she does other nice stuff….like she loves ANIMALS and Tom the Turkey!!

That’s okay Hank’s mom knows how and she helps if Mom and Dad have to go somewhere and can’t be home at the ‘right time’! We go with Hank’s Mom; of course Hank goes with us. He loves to chase mice out of the siphon tubes.

Hank goes with Boomer and looks over the Chico hills, the sage brush areas, and even down in the slue smelling the news…in Hank’s case just seeing the news. Boomer does all the smelling.

We’ve sure been having lots of wind…Dad says the wind dries things out…I’ll take this wind instead of the stuff we get in the winter—the so cold your face is wiped off your head wind…nope, give me a summer wind…keeps the bugs off a feller and ruffles the fur so ya don’t sweat so much.

Oh, have to go….Mom is calling for me to come—I don’t want to miss my ride. I’ll have to stay home if that happens ‘cause I can’t run anymore.

See Ya!

Fuzzy

Out the Back Door

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Dayphoto

Celi from A Kitchen Garden blog spot asked her readers to do a blog post showing the view of your house —out of your back door.

Click here to see what Celi has for today’s post….lovely views from around the world.

Now for our back door (which we use as a front door) to the east of the back door

to the west of the back door

right out the back door

As you can tell most of my yard is right out the back door

Although, there are other parts of the yard I haven’t shown you

that because it is just mostly the lawn…

But right out the front door (which we use as a back door) is this

Complete with the corn rowing up!

Head on over to Celi’s to see some outstanding views from around the world!

Linda

Wordless Wednesday

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Dayphoto

Across the Pinto Bean Fields

Life is good!

Linda

An Ant-hill Made of Sticks–Update–Western Thatching Ant–September 20, 2014

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Dayphoto

Way up at the upper end, on the edge of the new alfalfa field, hidden waaaaaaaaaaaay back in the Chico brush live some very, very industrious ants.

Not only do that have a marvelous ant hill, they have painstakingly gathered many, many, many sticks to help hide their home from predators.

Here is the link to understanding what type of ant this is–http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Formica_obscuripes/

These seem to be black and red ants.

I have not idea if they sting, what they eat, or anything about them. Although, I do like to randomly drop by and leave bits of table scraps — treats for the hill, so to speak — we leave them alone.

We happen to think that bugs are just as important to life on earth as, well, plants!

Happy Busy Tuesday!

Linda

The Weekend

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Dayphoto

We spent Saturday and Sunday in Grand Junction at the soccer tournament. The two oldest grandchildren were playing—of course we had to attend. 🙂

It was horrid cold, bitter, bone chilling wind, thunder storms and lightening which slowed the games down…..everyone has to leave the field until 30 minutes after the last lightening strike, and long. We couldn’t stay for the last games of the day because of getting home to change water.

Today is still cool, jacket wearing cool, but no freezes THANK HEAVENS!! Everything is up and growing to have a killing frost now would be…a disaster! (But we won’t even go there in our thoughts—tomorrow it starts to warm back up.)