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

Monday, June 10, 2013

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Dayphoto

The hay is looking good! We need to haul it in soon…either today or tomorrow, Wednesday at the latest.

This might be the last time we get a cutting off this field since the water is short. Terry will decide after the hay is hauled in.

I know I keep going on and on about the water (I’m sure it is becoming and old song by now) but that is where our thoughts are. Moving water, making sure everything gets wet, always asking the question “can we make it?” Everyday we ask, everyday we work it a little bit more and ‘whew’ we are through those rows.

Terry is off to the Doctor around 9 this morning, which will tell us more about his leg. He is DETERMINED that HE WILL haul in the hay…

sigh

Sigh, sigh!

I decided I will just have to see it though, and if I can pick up the slack I will.

We finally had to break down and hook up the air conditioner. 93* was hot and today it is supposed to be 103* It was time

Besides coming into a cool house was nice after the blistering heat in the fields. The wind is predicted to rise today so having the cooler on will help keep the dirt out of the house.

Well, not much going on here, just taking it one day at a time, one field at a time and waiting to see what the Doctor has to say.

Thanks for stopping by,

Linda

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Posted on June 9, 2013 by Dayphoto

Thank you to everyone who wished Fuzzy a Happy Birthday!

Terry and I have been making siphon tubes. We always have a few that split and/or crack during the year.

We first heat up a PVC pipe, cut to length, then put the soften tube into a homemade mold to let the plastic cool back down in the shape we want. After we get whatever it is we are needing for whatever field we are working on, we take them out and put them right to work.

The days are hot….really too hot for June, more like July hot…tomorrow we are supposed to hit 102*, yesterday it got to 99*. Today we will hit somewhere around that again.

Our heat is nothing like the areas that have high humidity with it. We are considered High Mountain Desert so our heat is a dry heat.

What is nice about desert heat is is does cool down during the night. Mornings are nice! When Terry and I went out to change the water this morning at 5:30 we both wore a light jacket…that won’t be the case later in the day or this evening.

Last night Terry stepped wrong and tore his calf muscle. What a mess…poor guy! It’s his left leg so I have to do the driving where there is a stick shift and do the walking up and down the ditch bank. Now we work as a different team…he supervises and I tote and fetch and carry and lay and start the tubes.

I think I liked the other team better—you know like teamwork. 🙂

I’m a little concerned about hauling hay, as I’ve never ran the loader… ever! I can pick up and move bales by hand, but the loader…..

Maybe he can hook up the loader to the 730 as it has a hand clutch—we will see. Tomorrow he will go to the Doctor and then we will figure out how to haul the hay.

As they say—where there is a will there is a way!

We will get there, he just needs to take it easy and let the muscle reattach itself.

This is pretty grainy because I was way too far away.

Have a restful and fun Sunday!

Linda

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Thirteen Years and Counting

Posted on June 7, 2013 by Dayphoto

This is my BIRTHDAY month!

Mom says I have a whole month for a birthday! That is because she doesn’t really know when I was born! I was a lost dog when Mom and Misty found me.

I was also five years old when Mom and Misty found me.

You see I was ‘dumped off’ in the country by my other people. Since I am part Border collie and part Sheltie (that is what my vet says) I sat by the side of the road where they dumped me for days and days and days. Anytime Mom or Misty would try to get me I would run off…I was waiting for my people to come back, you see.

I waited until I went from 40 pounds to 25 pounds. I was sooooooooooo hungry I almost couldn’t run anymore. But I waited!

Then Misty came out with ROAST BEEF! That was it…I was Mom’s for life. Mom took me home and gave me lots of love and took me to the vet and well…here we are eight years later!

Since Mom brought me home in June that is when my birthday is…I get a whole month…because neither she nor I could figure out a good day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to ME!!!

Dad had a meeting so Mom, Boomer and I did the water without Dad. We had lots to do.

A skunk got in one of the gated pipes so we had to get it out and then bury it.

WAY COOL!

Boomer and I wanted to sniff it up really well, but Mom didn’t let us…. “Leave the dead alone you guys!” she said.

We had to walk up to the middle of the pinto bean field and check on a pipe there…it was horribly HOT!

Then we rode the four-wheeler up to the hay field to see how the alfalfa was in the hay making process. Boomer jumped off because he smelled a cool smell and had to run home.

Then we sat outside and had a couple of really yummy Dog Treats and a milk bone for my Birthday while Mom watched the hummingbirds. And I got lots and lots and lots of pets. Boomer got some too, but it was my special day so Boomer had to let me have the most!

Then around 10 o’clock that night we all went back out and changed the water in the front corn field.

It sure was a nice day!

A perfect Birthday just for me!

Fuzzy

June 6, 2013

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Dayphoto

Boy! It is hot here! The wind is even hot…pant, pant! Wheeze!

Good for growing crops, a tad hard on us.

( you can see the canyons of the Escalate and Dominguez as the sun sets)

The mornings are nice until around 10 o’clock then we bake until around 10 o’clock in the evening. Makes for nice sleeping.

The birds are up and at’em at 4 in the morning…we agree with them…early shades of grey and cooler air helps get lots of stuff done.

As the heat and the wind wear on…a nice little siesta (some cultures understand good living-that is for sure!) works wonders for the brain and the soul and the body.

So far the water hasn’t been cut back anymore—knock on wood! We are moving it every 12 hours, depending on the field. Some fields we move the water every 6 hours. If the amount of water can stay just like it is we will make it…fingers crossed.

The day is waiting and I’m sitting so must run now.

(an alfalfa bloom or two)

Have a good Thursday see you back here on Friday when the dogs take over the blog!

Linda

Wednesday June 5, 2013

Posted on June 5, 2013 by Dayphoto

For some reason my internet has been down until right now.

Oh, well…

Terry has the first cutting of hay done…

This is the ‘getting old’ field. The rows are not very thick. As I’ve said before this field will be planted to something else (if there is water) next year.

We wait now for the alfalfa to dry down…usually about a week if the weather holds sunny and hot. Sometimes faster if we have wind to go with it.

But if we have rain (fingers crossed this doesn’t happen) we stand a very good chance of the rain ruining the crop. So no rain for AT LEAST TWO MORE WEEKS!

The alfalfa need to morph into hay, then it needs to be baled into bales and hauled into the hay yard to be sold.

This shot of the hummers is a little better…I only cut off two of the little flying jewels, but I did get one looking good.

Last night the jet streams were a delightful pink

I always wonder where they are going—home … away…somewhere for fun…just out of here..going, going and then gone…just the tails left.

Off to work in the yard!

Linda

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Dayphoto

Terry is out cultivating the pinto beans…THANK HEAVENS FOR BIG EQUIPMENT! I would hate to have to go out and weed that whole field by hand…although, we have to when the pintos get too big to drive a tractor through. At that time we only go after the big weeds and still they will get away from us.

Linkin rode her bike over…

you can see by this series of photos that they live just over the fields from us…

which is nice, because the kids never have to get on the road to ride their bikes…

they just have to head down the field roads.

We took her to her school (Lincoln Elementary) to show us what she likes to do at recess,

whereby she and her Grandpa had a very hot game of Tether Ball. After a well balanced super of Chili-cheese fries and a Frosty we took on a game of Miniature Golf! No scores kept just good fun. Grandpa won the prize at the end of the game, which was a turn each in the batting cages.

It was Linki’s first time to ever swing a bat — she did really good. We used the softball pitch.

Then back home to change water and set it in the next area.

While they were up at the corn field I tried my hand at photographing a hummer or two.

I still have a long ways to go to getting a good shot!

Have a good Tuesday everyone! Meet you back here tomorrow!

Linda

Monday, June 3, 2013

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Dayphoto

We had great fun with Linkin. A day with just one of the grandchildren…their day..is always nice. She is still here and will go with me later on this morning to ‘pet the kitties’ at the shelter while I walk the dogs. A child has to be fourteen to walk dogs, but the shelter manager lets Linki pet all the kitties and play with them in the big walk-in cage. This works out for everyone, me, Linkin (who adores cats), the dogs and the kitties.

It’s nicely warm here 88* yesterday with some clouds drifting by and a little breeze or so.

Terry has decided today he will cut the alfalfa…the long-range forecast is for hot, drying weather for a least a week. Good! At the end of the week, the alfalfa will be dry as toast and morph into hay. Then we pray for dew in the morning so he can go out and bale the hay. After he gets it baled he will haul it in and the dogs and I will work on the hauling in of the ends of the fields.

My favorite little bugs are very active right now…I just adore these fat, furry buzzy bees!

She was very intent on her work so didn’t mind that I was shooting away with my camera.

She also posed several times, I just sure she loved having a photo shot going on while she was so very busy!

Linda

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!!!