Author Archives: Dayphoto

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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 Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday—the Post Man

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Fuzzy and I have been helping in the fields lots. We always go irrigate, three times a day, early morning, 2:00 in the afternoon and then as it is getting dark.  I love to go irrigate…there is just so much to learn out there.  News of the world, so to speak!

Last night Dad was clear across the BIGGEST corn field setting tubes in the dirt ditch, and Mom was at the cement ditch between the bean field and the second largest corn field.  Fuzzy was in the cement ditch trying to catch bubbles and I was in the corn field looking for that huge bone I buried four days ago.

Like I said it was just starting to get dark, the sun had set and the shadows were growing darker and darker.  When I smelled something ….

Coyotes!

I came running out of the corn field as fast as I could go…my nose in the air when we heard them….Loud, long yipps and a bark howl.  Jeepers weirds me out!

Then it happened again!  Only this time more of a chattering yips.  Mom told Fuzzy and me to get on the four-wheeler…. “Let’s go!” she said.  “Hurry, Fuzzy, get out the water, we need to see what is happening with Dad.”

“Boom do you want to ride or are you going to run?”

Ride!  I’m not running through the corn rows with that wild smell out there and that big noise, no sireee.

I hopped up before Mom even had Fuzzy picked up and placed on the back. I could feel the back of my neck all prickly with my fur standing on end.  Fuzzy didn’t really seem to know what was happening, just that Mom was in a big hurry.

As Mom was turning around I told him….Coyotes!

Fuzzy growled real deep and long.  Mom told him “Shhhhhhh, Fuzz, we will get there and scare them off.  They won’t do anything when they hear the four-wheeler.”

Dad was supposed to be at the dirt ditch waiting for the last of the water that Mom had let loose, then he would set the tubes there and come on home, we would meet him at the barn.

Wheeeew, Mom was flying!  It was sure hard to stay on, but we made it.  Dad was at the dirt ditch with four more tubes to set when we flew up…. He said four coyotes were hanging around warning him to not come any closer.  He didn’t have a gun with him, so he was glad we showed up.  Mom wouldn’t let us off the four-wheeler.  She didn’t have to worry about me, but Fuzzy kept growling and pointing toward the equipment area.  Mom had her four-wheeler turned around so the lights were hitting in the general direction while Dad finished up.  Coyotes can and will defend their pups if they think someone is too close to them.

With lights on and darkness almost complete we all headed back to the barn and the safety of the house.  I was so scared I jumped right off and headed to my dog house…its safe there!

After jumping inside the dog house that was closest to me, I turned around a few times and settled in.  Mom and Dad had already gone into the house and Fuzzy was heading into the other dog house.   I was really tired. Getting really scared sure can take the energy out of you!

“We scared them off, Boom!  We did a really good job.”

“I agree, Fuzzy!”

“Well, Good Night!  I don’t know about you, but I’m beat.”

“Me too, Fuzzy!  I’m really tired.  Good Night!”

We were dozing real good when I heard Mom come outside.  It was dark, of course, for it was still night. I got out of my nice warm bed to see Fuzzy standing next to Mom shivering and shaking all over.

BOOM!

BAM!

CRACK!  There was fire in the sky!

Rain came down really hard in great big drops.  Mom completed picking up our food dishes, placing them under the carport so they wouldn’t get wet from the rain.  Fuzzy and I were so tired when we got home neither one of us finished our supper.

BAM!

CRACK!

We were all getting wet!

“Come on,” Mom invited.  In we went to spend the night in the bedroom right next to the bed.  Fuzzy got under the bed; I stayed close to Mom’s side.  This is really nice, sleeping inside.  You can’t see or hear anything going on outside, like you do when you stay in the dog house.  Dad says dogs need to be outdoors, they are for guarding the house and the property, inside they don’t know anything that is happening.

“Shhhhh,” Mom put her fingers to her lips.  “Now this is only until the rain stops.”

That works for me!

We got up early…Mom ALWAYS gets up early…and went outside to check things out.  The world was new again.  Made me so happy I had to twirl around and around and around!  Then I ran just as fast as I could to the haystacks and back.  Fuzzy stayed with Mom while she did the chickens and threw some hay out for the cows.  Dad went to irrigate, but it was too muddy for us to go…so Mom said.  Besides she was going to fix breakfast.

I LOVE breakfast!  I love anything I can eat, I like dry dog food and canned dog food, I love people food, I give it a good sniff and whooose down the gullet it goes!  Fuzzy is particular.  If he waits too long I try to sneak over and see what he is not eating.  I have to be careful because he will get really mad at me for taking his food, but I wait.  I can wait a long time, and then when Fuzzy dozes off to sleep BAM I’ve got the food!

HEHE!

Around ‘that time’ Fuzzy and I decided to head on down the lane so we could be at the mailboxes when the mailman comes.  Barking at the mailman is one of the most important functions any dog can have.  I just love barking at the mailman.  We have a really cool mailman, he always has a dog cookie just for us…we bark, he tosses out a cookie, we head home…..after we eat the cookie.  Pretty Neat, huh?

MAIL MAN…Come on Fuzzy!  We are about to be late!  MAIL MAN…he’s coming up the lane, WOW! I love it when he drives all the way down the lane to deliver the mail.  We get to bark him home.  To our home, that is.

BARK! WOOF!  HOWL!!!

Mailman!!! YAHOO!

Our mailman is really neat, he has never killed a chicken, broke a sack of feed like the raccoons do, or stink up the farm like skunks do, he doesn’t seem to run in a pack like the coyotes, he just well, delivers the mail!

Off we ran…barking and howling and baying….HERE COMES THE MAILMAN!  HERE COMES THE MAIL!  HERE COME THE DOG COOKIES!

And there he was…handing a package to Dad, along with two dog cookies!

Now this is what I call a really nice day!

Boomer

History Really Does Repeat Itself

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Many years ago I used to walk all the way down the lane to the bus stop, the family dogs with me, to wait for the kids to get off the bus and tell me about thier day at school.

Who would have thought that many years later I would get the same opportunity, only this time I would ride the four-wheeler down, with two dogs amd the littlest grandchild?  We wait at the end of the lane, tossing pebbles in the irrigation ditch, looking for bugs, and finding pretty stones until the bus comes.

Then a fast trip down the little dirt road to an after school snack, fun for Grammy conversation, a little down-time until 5:00 p.m.  Then its homework time and usually Dad is home to get the kids.

I like the fact that this history did repeat itself.

Linda

http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com/

Third Cutting of Hay

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Terry finished cutting the last alfalfa cutting of the season.  (We get three cuttings here.) 

Gosh, this summer sure has flown by!  I guess it went so fast because it was my first full summer without having to go into work everyday.  I had worried that I would miss the excitment of registration and then all the students coming back, but I HAVEN’T!!!!   I guess I was ready…time to retire and let others take over the reins.

Both grass and alfalfa and mixed ( part grass and alfalfa) hay is leaving our area by the semi-loads.  People are coming up from Texas and Arizona to get hay to feed thier critters! It’ really sad.  I wish rain would start falling in the south!  Days and Days and DAYS of over 100* temperatures without even a cloud in the sky is horrible.  Our news here said that Texas has beaten it’s own record for the longest amount of over 100* temps…something set in the 1980s or thereabout.

Unless Terry decides differently we changed the last set of water in one of the corn fields last night, we will finish up the rest of the corn this week. 

We are just waiting now, for the ground to be really (bone) dry so the pinto beans can be pulled and rowed.  They will dry in the rows until all the stems and leaves are brittle, then we will start combining the beans.

The corn has dented or is in a stage of dent.  Once reached that will be then of the irrigation of the corn.  After that we wait for the whole stalk to dry down and then we will combine.

The largest field of alfalfa will be plowed up next year so we will be done with the irrigation of it, but the smallest field will still need water.  The field must go into winter with enough green leaves to not die over the winter.

So in away the work is ending, but will pick up for several weeks of harvest then the 2011 farming season will be over.

Gosh, that seems to have gone fast!

Linda

http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com/

What Is This?

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Late last evening as we were finishing up the last set of water I happened to glance into the sky and saw this

It must be some sort of reflection of the setting sun on the near-by clouds, for sure it wasn’t a rainbow.

Rainbows occur with the sun behind you and the rain clouds before you.  But this was next too the sun, both of them in the west.

If we were in the months of either January or February I would say it was a sun dog, but this is August.

The sky is so amazing…many thing of wonder are in the heavens just like down here on the earth.  You just have to look for them.

Have a wonderful Sunday,

Linda

http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com/

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday —How It Really Is

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Boom, Mom and I were out in the corn field picking corn; it was starting to get really hot.  I was hot, but I wasn’t about to leave Mom.  So I just sat waiting in the shade of the four-wheeler.  Boomer was off sniffing smells.  That kid can get lost sniffing smells.  Sometimes I follow him around, but mostly I like to sit in the shade while Mom gets her load of corn.

After we get all the corn we are going to get Mom loads me up on the four-wheeler and off we go.  Boomer runs along beside, behind, or way out front.  Today he was way out front.  Way out there, running so fast I lost sight of him.

When we got to the start of the yard we could see and hear Boomer baying and spinning in circles like there was something neat in the yard…there was…Shannon had come (also the boys and Houston).  Not only were they there, but Shannon had unloaded the whole kit and caboodle.  They were sitting on the lawn talking to Dad.

Mom and I jumped off the four-wheeler and headed over to the party, Boomer, of course, was already there.

“Hi, Houston, gosh it’s good to see you!”  It’s really nice you get to get out and be on the lawn. Heck, gosh! It’s really just well….nice!”

I pushed Boomer out of the way…excuse me Boom I’ll handle this.

I looked up into her face and my heart began to pound…My goodness that woman was beautiful!

“Houston, may I welcome you to the farm!  Before you got here the day was long and hot, now that you are here I can see the sun is shining just for you.”

“Well, aren’t you nice?”  She smiled at me.  “Thank you.”

I heard a growl.

“Was that you, Hou-Bug?”

“Why, no Fuzzy, it must have been one of the boys.”

The boys…I forgot all about the boys!

There they were hanging out with Shannon, on leashes so they wouldn’t go mark anything.  Also, so Dad would feel more comfortable.  Makes me feel more at ease also, Boomer also agrees.

“Oh, Hi, Boys.”

They just looked at me.  I felt as significant as a bug of some sort.

So I tried to get right in their faces to make them look at me…Shannon just grabbed my collar and pulled me over to her.  That was okay…I really like getting pets from Shannon. Heck she does Doggie Massages so her pets are reallllllllllllllllllllllly wonderful!

Boomer was very alarmed, kept baying the RED ALERT until Dad said…. “That’s enough, Boom! Stop it Now!”  He stopped and went over to Mom and hovered by her chair.  Then he got up an moseyed around sniffing the ground.  His attention span is really short.

I was so busy watching Boomer that I forgot that the love of my life was not far from me…maybe just about three feet.

“Hello, Fuzzy.” Houston said in that soft honey voice of hers.  “Boomer’s real cute, isn’t he?”

HUH?

I looked at her for a long time and then I looked over at Boomer.  Boomer was ignoring all of us, sniffing for some sort of news or something.

Cute?  I couldn’t believe she said such a thing.

I thought I had better let her know how I felt so I told her that I thought she was the most beautiful dog in the whole world.

“Oh my,…” she exclaimed with very wide eyes.

“What is it, My Dear?  Is something bothering you?’

Well….I’m sorry you sweet little dog, but my heart belongs to Rocky.”

I was stunned.  I felt like I had been hit on the head with a rock, well I guess in a way I had.”

I got up to leave, but Shannon reached over and started petting me.

Sigh

Oh, well.  I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.  When I really look at it, I think I have the best of life, Mom, Dad, Boomer, a couple of cats, but they don’t count.  And, once in a while, Shannon comes over and pets me and gives me doggie massages.  When you get right down to it, I don’t think it WAS Houston at all, it was those wonderful Doggie Massages.  I just mixed it all together and thought it was Houston.  Outside of Bella she is the only female dog in the family pack.

Fuzzy

Look Close

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A Momma and her two babies ran right in front of the pick-up.  As they scurried across the road and over into the field I was able to get out my camera.

Pretty cool. 

Linda

http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com/

Crop Report

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Summer is fast coming to a close.  It doesn’t seem possible that this is the last full week of August.  School started here for everyone.  The big busses passed our house early this morning (there are two).  This afternoon my little grandchildren will get off the bus and walk down our lane until volleyball season ends.  Misty is one of the volleyball coaches at the middle school so the two oldest grandchildren will ride the bus to our house.  The littlest kid will already be here. 🙂

The pinto beans are starting to turn yellow and the bean pods have striped up, Terry should be pulling them in about two weeks if the weather stays warm.

The hay is getting close to the third cutting which should also hit in about two weeks (crops have thier own schedule…they don’t take yours into consideration 😉 )

And the corn has moved from the blister stage (where it is soft…if you stick your finger nail in one of the kernals it will pop) into hardening up.  We raise hard-dent corn…. this is the corn you cook with to make corn bread or it is ground up and put into animal feed.  Only about two maybe three more irrigations for the corn. 

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We will still have to irrigate the hay to make sure it has a good healthy start into the winter, but our work is rapidly winding down.

The last week has brought moisture into our area…I only saw one rainbow, but it was wonderful….hitting the pinto bean field just about the time I was out picking corn!  It was raining closer to the south side of Delta … we didn’t get wet.  They got the rain, but I got to see the rainbow!

Linda

Prisoners Were Rescued on Day They were to be Executed

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday —Houston part 2

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It was a hot summer day. I mean hot. Boomer and I were laying around in any spot of shade we could find, I have two places I claim as my own, Boomer is not allowed near them, the first one is under Dad’s pick-up and the second one is under the lilac bush next to the tile house.

I catch Boomer trying to lay in one of the spots every once in a while, but I never let him even get turned around twice when I give him the evil eye and a deep throated growl:

“Get your own place, Mutt! This is my spot!”

So anyway on with the story, I was really hot so I was sleeping under the lilac bush, which was where I wanted to be. I crawled under the bottom leaves and scratched out my soft hole a little more. I have a pretty nice hole under there already but it never hurts to fluff up the dirt a bit. Sometimes rocks and sticks get in the hole, have you ever slept on a rock or a sharp stick? Pretty much hurts, that’s for certain and sure!

The heat was making it really hard to move around much so I gave a couple of scratches and pats turned around a couple of times and dozed off:

I was zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz dreaming of zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, hum, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, the most beautiful dog in the whole world…Houston. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz That woman is hard to get off my mind. Zzzzzzzzzzz

Suddenly my right ear picked up a sound. I was still sleeping mind you, but my ears really never sleep, they are real good at picking up all types of sounds all the time. That’s why I’m such a good watch dog. I can pick up sounds other people can’t, when I do I jump up and run really fast barking all the while to scare off whatever it is that is coming onto our property.

Sometimes I do such a good job of scaring off whatever is coming that I have to bark at the birds in order to not waste a good run and bark.

Boomer says I don’t hear real well, but I hear just as well as I have always heard, maybe better!

So there I was, the heat bearing down on the earth, me under the shade of the cool, green, leafy lilac tree having a nice dream when

BARK! BARK! BARK!

WOOF!

WOOF!

It sounded like a cacophony of I don’t know what….attack by wolves?!?!

I woke with a start….Boomer was already down at the canal baying at that huge sound coming our way… I had been distracted by my dream or I would have met him there.

“Red Alert” he was baying, “RED ALERT!”

I took off barking and running as fast as my legs could get me there.

“Where ya been, Fuzzy?” Boomer asked in-between barks.

“Resting” I replied, “It’s hot, I was tired.”

“You’re about to miss Houston.”

Houston? Where is Houston? Bark, bark, BARK!

“Coming down the road, can’t you hear them?”

“I can hear just fine. It’s that loud noisy truck coming that makes it hard to hear.”

“Well, Houston’s in that truck!”

“She is?”

“You would know that if your eyes worked better!”

“My eyes work just fine. You can’t expect eyes and ears to work extra fine when they’ve been sleeping in this heat!” I growled at Boomer

“Oh, here they are, they are here, Shannon and Houston and the boys.”

I looked over at Boomer he was twirling around in happy circles stopping every once in a while to give a short happy little bay.

I took the lead and went streaking to the driver’s door as Shannon pulled to a stop. I wagged my stubby little tail and gave her a Helllllllllllllooo bark as she got out of the truck.

Then I looked up and looked straight into the eyes of ♥

Houston❤ ♪ ♫

Oh! Be still my ❥!

Of course the other dogs were there too and so was Boomer.

Boomer was bouncing around baying and barking

“Hi, everyone Glad you came Do you get to get out Why ya here. Hi, Houston is it hot enough!

Have you gone for a swim?”

Just then Balou and Rock growled and barked madly because Mom was coming with dog cookies.

Foam was coming off their mouths and Mom reached right up there and gave them all a pat on the head and a huge homemade dog cookie!

Boomer and I barked a loud warning, swirling around Mom’s feet trying to tell her to BE CAREFUL!

She just laughed at us and gave us a cookie also.

Then Shannon got out and loaded a hay bale into her truck. No one got out but Shannon. I was hoping Hou-bug would jump out, just to say HI, but she didn’t.

Then Shannon petted all of us…Boomer and I, gave Mom a hug, got in her truck and drove off.

Boomer and I sat at the end of the lane and watched them go.

“She is really a nice looking dog” Boomer remarked. “Don’t you agree?”

I just looked at him. Silly moon-struck dog!

I headed back to my shady lilac bush. This was just way to much excitement for the day.

Fuzzy.