The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — News

Since we had the fire and Dad sold the cows, Dad decided that he wanted to square up one of the fields.  So we all helped him.  First the fence had to come down, then the fence posts had to come out.  That was the part we helped him with.

Then Dad took the scraper and other big equipment and went up and worked by himself.  We stayed with Mom.

Then we all went up and worked on everything together.

Well, I think Fuzzy might have helped more than I did.

I wanted to, really I did.

But….

There is just so much to learn about out there in the brush…

I mean…

  • like the rabbits are making their burrows deeper and warmer
  • The badger is still just a mean as ever, I make a wide circle around him and his territory
  • Freddy Fox has built a hollow back in the old tree
  • The porcupines are building a nest in the trees at the back end
  • Nope, so far no coyotes—they do pass through regularly, but no dens
  • The ducks are doing good
  • Six crows have taken up residence at the equipment yard
  • A gaggle of Canada Geese are swimming around with the ducks
  • I scared up FOUR pheasant hens (which was REALLY, REALLY, COOL!)

Mom said she sure misses the cows, she has never seen the weeds so big and nasty as they are this year.

I rather thought they looked pretty neat all colorful and all.

Fuzzy and I checked out the deer path in the corn.  We like the deer path, no weeds, nothing.  And if we get back in there far enough we find the deer wallow.   Dad really doesn’t like having the deer in there as they knock down the corn to make the wallow and they EAT the corn.

Oh, well.  They are in there! (Until Dad combines the corn, that is.)

Fuzzy and I chased mice.  There are LOTS of mice.  We had a blast!!

The day was just perfect.  Not to hot and not to cold.

It is colder here, by the way.

Low 40’s at night and only getting up into the 70’s in the daytime.

Fuzzy says he can feel winter coming in his bones.

Mom said she can feel winter in her bones also.

Dad says there is a still lot to do before winter.

You know something, I really don’t care.  I love all seasons.

I really do love living here!

Boomer (and Fuzzy)

 

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Storms

It’s been raining here—lots!  Big dark clouds, full of wet stuff, lots of lightning and THUNDER!

BOOM!

CRASH!

CRACK!

Fuzzy is having a very hard time, not because of the rain, or the clouds or even the lightning, but because of the thunder!!!

 

(Dad had to turn on the water for 24 hours to soak up a piece of hard soil.  Dad worked several days on opening up a new field for next spring.)

That’s a big rain storm coming our WAY!!!!

Most of the time we are in the house with Mom, because Fuzzy turns into this shivering, nervous, wreck of a dog!

Sort of amazes me.  That loud noise doesn’t bother me at all.

But if Mom isn’t home and the thunder comes crashing around us Fuzzy always runs off into the corn field.

He says he feels safe in there.

I don’t know why—it’s still wet, and loud, but we are surrounded with the corn.  Fuzzy says that helps.

Now if DAD is home and Mom isn’t Dad doesn’t let us come in a hover with him until the rain is over. Dad says he really doesn’t like a hot, panting dog crowding up on him when he is trying to do bookwork, or something important (like watching TV).  So he tells us to go into the garage!

We don’t, you know, we head to the corn field!

We sit out there until Mom comes home and we hear the four-wheeler start up and she comes to look for us.  She has to go to ALL the corn fields as we don’t always go to the same one all the time.

After a while ( we don’t come out right away, Fuzzy wants to be SURE the thunder gods have passed before we venture out of the safe corn field) we come out and head home.

Mom tells us to stop doing that, if Fuzzy was to have a heart attack out in farm some where she wouldn’t know where to find him.  She says PLEASE GO INTO THE BARN!!!

But, of course we don’t.

Mom is always really glad to see us and we are always glad to see MOM!  Dad is okay to see also, but we know with Mom there is a big warm old blanket to dry us off and we GET TO GO INTO THE HOUSE until Dad says: “Okay, that’s enough panting the storm is over you dogs need to go outside!”

Which we do!  (Mom always takes us out with a really nice dog cookie and lots of hugs and petting).

 

(The things I put up with…..Linki made a face on a tomato and said it looked like me!!!)

I don’t get the thunder thing, but I always go with Fuzzy.

He would be very afraid if he was by himself.  Fuzzy is my bestest friend.

What is it that Tallen calls Aunt Shannon?

Oh, Yes!!!  I remember!

BFF….Fuzzy is my BFF!

Boomer

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Fall Work

Well, let’s see….first off Boomer and I helped Mom clean the chicken house.  Boomer really doesn’t help; he just bounces around in the house while I am looking for mice. If I see mice, I grab them up and snap them.  Mom says I’m a very good mouser.

(Although, I don’t see as well anymore, but don’t tell Mom, I don’t want her to not let me come in to the hen house with her and hunt mice.    I talked to Boomer about my ‘little problem’ and he said he would watch me and try to do what I do.)

Anyway, there was only one mouse; Mom said the two snakes that had been living in the chicken house have done a good job.  She dreads this winter when the mice will run all over the place again.

Mom washed out and cleaned all of the live traps because they now have to take the place of the hibernating snakes.

Then we got on the four-wheeler and headed up to where Dad is re-building fence….remember that huge fire we had last spring?  Actually two huge fires?  Well, the main fence that runs along the west of the place still hasn’t been fixed.  Long story.

The damaged fences on the top of our place Dad has decided we better remove.  He says we won’t have cows anymore so he is taking down the fences that have huge fire damaged wire. The range cows won’t have to be fenced out of the fields because they come in the winter and run the whole place anyway.

Lots of work, but necessary, you can’t have a cow or calf walk on a burned and down fence, get tangled in the barbed-wire and go down, get cut up, and hurt.

No, sir!

So we are all helping Dad.

I sit by the four-wheeler lots, unless Mom moves somewhere then I go with her.  Boomer runs around, gets the news then comes back and tells me what’s happening out there.

We work until sunset.

The corn is drying down well.

Before supper Shannon comes over and we take a walk with all of her dogs.  We like walking with ‘the pack’.

Hank even comes with us!

OH! YES!  The old tree that was burn last year by our second huge fire the next day…IT IS COMING BACK!  Mom was so happy she petted that tree!

Lots of our farm neighbors have told us how they miss that tree…well maybe it will be back stronger than ever.

Mom said we will just have to wait and see!

(That’s the fixed fence the ditch company burned and have now RE-BUILT!)

Fuzzy

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Dogs

I like to think I have a good opinion of dogs, actually I think I am an expert on dogs.

 

(Boomie, lets go!   Come on it’s time to go!)

For what it is worth I think I’ll pass it on to you.

 

(HURRY, BOOMIE!)

There are lots of breeds of dogs, lots!  But the best breed for you is one that you like…sometimes it’s a this or a that, and sometimes it’s a mutt.  It really doesn’t matter…it isn’t color, it isn’t size, it isn’t how much or how little you spend for the dog…its that you like the dog.

 

(COME ON! Boo–mie!)

Male or female…you must like the dog!

That is the most important thing in deciding. Opinions vary on what good dogs are –night watchman, herding dog, guarding dog, best friend, hunting companion, and so forth. A family dog comes down to three things…calm disposition, eagerness to be with you, and the dog wants to listen to you.

 

(We will wait for you, just run, Boomie!  RUN FAST!)

Just like people dogs have personalities…pick the one that has the personality you like.

Once you get your dog, realize your dog is your friend for life….don’t just throw us into the back yard and never talk to us again, or randomly bring a dog dish with food and water out to us and hurry back in because we might ‘get you dirty’-or some such thing.

Don’t get a dog because you can afford to pay $7,000.00 and then never even look to see if the dog is cold, hungry or lonesome.

 

(Your are just about here!  COME ON!)

Please don’t.

We dogs LOVE being with you, having lots of pets, being hugged on and hugging you back!

If you get a dog, please teach your children to have respect for dogs. Pulling ears, tails, and feet can get a child snapped at, don’t get in front of the dog and pant at him/her and not expect the dog to respond back to the teasing with a sharp bite —more than likely to the face.

You teach us dogs that you love us and we will be your guardian angels for as long as our bodies hold out.

 

(Oh, good!  You made it!)

Each of us dogs has a unique personality, our own quirks, habits, strengths, and weaknesses. We are living animals that respond to your environment and we do not see the world like you do. It’s up to the human to work at understanding us, just like we desire to understand you!

Oh, yes, and having a dog in not a cheap hobby to get rid of by dumping us off somewhere when you are tired of us. We need to be with you for life.  And it takes money to have us…food, water, grooming, sometimes vet bills, but I promise you we will return the love to you 100 times over.

(I’m always glad when you get back on time!)

We dogs improve with use…the more you play with us, pet us, and take us with you, the better we get. Just like you we need stimulation, discipline, and a sense of purpose!

If you decide you don’t want your dog anymore, please don’t dump your dog. Find your dog a home, there are lots of good homes out there that want to spend it with dog.  Please find that home first…the world is cruel to a dumped dog.

 

(Hey, Boomie! LOOK!  SNAKE!  COOL!  Fuzzy)

Fuzzy and I were lucky…we found Mom and Dad, but like I said we were lucky.

Life is short….spend it with a good dog!

Boomer

 

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Helping Dad Harvest

On the way to the bean field …..

FREDDY FOX RAN RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!!!!!!

Fuzzy and I took off running, leaving Mom in the dust!

He was so close his fur almost touched my nose!

Boy, was I surprised and shocked!

Fuzzy and I IMMEDIATELY took off after him, giving him the good old, HI HO chase clear to the end of the corn field, where we immediately lost him!

That was Amazingly FUN!

Back at the bean field I kept sniffing out Freddy Fox’s former tracks…

he even went through the pipe at one point now that the water is gone.

Mom and Dad got the bean truck all loaded up….they have to wait until next week as the three fields left to be harvested are still drying.

Here is one of the fields.

See how fluffy the beans are…they have to get a lot flatter and drier.

Fuzzy and I go everywhere with Mom

We rode in the back while we headed toward the Beanery.

Dad was in front.

We enjoyed the whole experience.

I even like to ride now.  Fuzzy smiles all the way, I don’t smile, you get bugs in your teeth and dirt from the load, but I did have a great time.

We had to wait our turn to be weighed and then we came home.

Dad is over there today with the last truck to unload and then he will be back.

Farm Living is the Life for me!

Boomer

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Fuzzy Plays a Trick on Boomer

It’s fall here!

Thank Heavens…June and July has been hugely unpleasant…searing heat, brutal winds, lots forest fires and No rain.

Lots of colorful plants starting to show up, and the rain!  Plus now we have mosquitoes. That isn’t good, but we will take it.

But that’s okay; Boomer and I are really enjoying ourselves!

Although, I have to admit, when Hank shows up, or any of Shannon’s dogs, Balou, Rock (two Rottweilers) and Huston (the most beautiful dog in the world) Boomer sorts of forgets what we were doing and goes off with his head cut off, so to speak.

Let’s see by his self, Boomer is intelligent, courteous, and resourceful, but when others show up, simple things, like going for a walk to the upper-end turns into a five-hour energy drink.

First Boomer and Hank, and Balou and Rock have to pee on everything.

And I do mean EVERYTHING… their Mom and my Mom have to make sure they move quickly through the yard, past all of Dad’s equipment, the sheds, the tires on every piece of vehicle and the grain bins.

I don’t know what is worse…tires or the grain bins for being pee magnates.

I’ve tried to keep up with them, but my leg doesn’t raise real high anymore so I have to settle for a shot in the dark.  Sometimes that’s not good…I miss.  Where I’ve been aiming I sometimes get myself. 😦

Mom told me I don’t need to keep up with everyone and just walk with her, then I don’t have to ‘raise the leg’ all the time, so speak.

Mom says all the dogs’ together act like a pack of boys—joking, poking, wrestling, and laughing.  Only with us dogs, it’s sniffing, running into the corn to follow a sent, jumping into the canal (only Hank, Balou, and Houston like to jump into the canal).  But they make a huge splash when they do it.

Boomer and I don’t jump in and neither does Rocky…Rocky’s hip hurts so jumping into way-over-your-head, very fast running water is not something he likes to do, then climbing out a grass covered slick, steep side of the canal isn’t fun either.

Boomer doesn’t like water.

I don’t even get in the irrigation ditches anymore, it’s for sure I won’t do the canal.  My 40 pounds wouldn’t last long in that thundering mess.

Then Boomer and Houston (she is a hound breed also) take off baying and following who knows what.   Sometimes they forget how far they travel and we have to wait while Mom and Shannon holler until they come back.

Walks like that are Bizarre!

The ones I like the best are the ones with just Boomer and I and Mom.  We find lots of stuff to look at; Boomer has learned to travel off but not go too far as he might miss out on something.

At the end of all our fields are waste ditches…these are the ditches that take the water, which is running through the fields, back into the canal.

I really like these ditches…they are just right to jump in and chase bubbles and cool your feet off.

So yesterday I was doing just that as Boomer was sniffing around to learn what he could learn. At the culvert I decided to play a trick on Boomer…I stuck my head into the culvert, came back out, looked at Mom and barked like something really neat was in there.

Mom threw a little clod of dirt into the water so I barked again…Boomer had to come running to see what was up…

Mom threw a clod at the other end of the culvert…

Boomer stuck his head to see if he could see something really cool.

So I barked real loud and scared Boomer.

He jumped as high as Mom’s knee….

We all had a great laugh…even Boomer…he rolls with everything!  Boomer is so much fun!

After we walked home, Mom, Boomer and I cut the sweet corn stalks from the garden to take them to Mom-mom’s goats!

Oh, yes…and Mom saw a RAINBOW!!

Make it TWO rainbows!!

Fuzzy

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Insects

Just like all of you everywhere, we have insects…big ones, little ones, ones who stink, ones who just crawl on you and make your fur have icky feelings, some which bite…like spiders and some with stingers!

Where we live we don’t have scorpions, although they do have them in Peach Valley and I saw one once.  They sure are pretty creepy to look at….that tail thing that swings up, up, up….just as I was about to give it a good sniff Mom got there and pulled me away.  She tried to stamp on it but it scuttled real fast under a log.

For shear creepiness there are centipedes ….Boomer found a couple of those under a log in the canyon.  He even yelped and ran off a tad then barked at the log, making Mom think he got stung, but he didn’t he was just was letting Mom know some creepy critter was under the log.

There are some HUGE centipedes in the canyons around us, Mom says, but Boom and I haven’t seen any.

Which is real good!

There are black widow spiders and brown recluses here also.  A friend of ours, died from a brown recluse bite.  She was a real beauty of a German Shepard.  We still miss her.

There are the honey bees, of course, they have stingers.  But they pretty much leave Boomer and I alone, we aren’t sweet enough for their tastes.

But the ones I don’t like are the Yellow Jacket Wasps. I snap at them if they get too close to me and my sleeping spots…my dog house, for example.

Boomer usually just tucks tail and tries to run away from them.

Now Yellow jacket Wasps really like houses, they set up their house anywhere they can along the eves of our main house.  Mom is really steady about keeping them off eves and out of any holes and cracks she can find.  Sometimes those angry bugs even try to make a home in the ends of the pipe holding up the clothes lines…they don’t last long there either.

For the first part of summer and the second part of summer those yellow striped winged stinger bugs pretty much mind their own business. But come AUGUST they change.  They start getting pretty darn serious about figuring out where they want to spend the winter and they get MEAN about it.

This means — THEY STING!!

Mom sometimes put vinegar on our noses (or other places) or a paste of baking soda and water, but if I snap at one and I get stung in the mouth…well, there doesn’t seem to be much Mom can do for me.

Yellow jacket wasps are everywhere right now.  Mainly because they have to hurry as fall is coming on and coming on fast.  I don’t care if the calendar says it is still the third week in August and the heat is supposed to be sitting heavy on the land, the land itself is saying it’s fall…late September early October…somehow we missed August.

Maybe we had July and August all at once…it sure was hot enough for such a thing to happen in July.

Mom took the following photo yesterday so you can see how much fall is on the land.

LOTS!

Anyway, we all were over helping Dad get the header for the bean combine….and yep!  There they were….masses of them.

Building a nest on the edge of the lip of the header….Dad still hooked up the header to the combine and drove the whole thing back to the yard.

Boomer and I were real worried… Dad was bringing that whole roiling nasty mess back to yard where WE LIVE!!!!

I shouldn’t have worried.  As soon as we got back, Mom went and got the trusty can of WASP SPRAY and it was over.

No more wasps.

Now Dad could get to work on getting the combine ready for harvest.

You know something?   Life is real good.

Fuzzy

 

 

 

 

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — When Smoke gets in Your Eyes

Whew!

Lots of smoke here!

Its been here for 5 days and 5 nights already and it doesn’t look like its planning on leaving anytime soon.

I mean LOTS of smoke!

Mom had a blog friend tell her this smoke is from all the horrible, terrible, scary, nasty wildfires in Idaho.

If the smoke is bad HERE—in the western part of Colorado…it must be horrible there.

Fuzzy and I really feel bad for all the animals and people and plants that are being damaged by those fires.  We know what fire is like and we know how SCARY it is!!!!

Yesterday we all went to town.  We followed Blade as he rode his bike to town, first time to town on his new bike, by himself.  He did really well!

Since Blade is spending this week’s mornings with us (and his parents said he could) he really, really, wanted to ride the 8 miles to and from town.  We all got to go because, well, it’s a long ways and he is still a young boy, and there are lots of huge trucks and really fast cars on that highway.

He said it was a long ways.

The going down was fun, the coming back w.o.r.k.!!!

(Dad put the bike in the back of the truck with us and hauled him UP the hill, then took the bike out and started him on the way again.)

Mom said—“Yep, that’s how it works, one way fun the other way work.”

That evening Fuzz and I went with Mom to fork ends back on the cut alfalfa and help Dad change water.

Pretty cool!

They only left me twice.  The second time I really was hiding so they would think I wasn’t close by and I zipped up by Mom and Fuzzy and then passed them and got to the irrigation place FIRST!!!

HAHAHAHAH!  I fooled them!!!

This is the last irrigation of the pinto beans…see how ripe they are getting.  Next week or the following week Dad will start the harvesting process—-there a MANY steps to the harvesting of pinto beans!

I LOVE EACH STEP!  I LOVE HELPING ALL THE TIME!!

We saw a frog …Mom said this was a first.  We see lots of toads, but this is a cool little frog (he had a buddy, but I lost track of him) was the first for our fields.

Smoke makes for some pretty amazing sunsets, but Fuzzy and I agreed…no smoke or fire would be best.

Better!

BETTER!!!!

I was going to tell you about Mom’s bees, but Mom said I’ve been on here long enough so I have to go now.

Boomer

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Just Another Day on the Farm

We have been busy.

 

Nothing real exciting, but real busy.

We are still irrigating.

Sometimes the grandkids come over and help, and Mom-mom, and of course Hank Puff comes along.

Mom’s been cutting all the volunteer corn for Misty’s goats.

We cut the last corn last evening.

I’ve about decided that getting in out of ditches is getting too much for me.

 

This morning when we went out, and this afternoon, I just stayed on the back of the four-wheeler and waited while everyone moved the water from one spot to the next.  That was enough work for this old dog.

I’ll just let Hank chase the water for now.

Of course Boomer still jumps off and runs around.  Sometimes he gets left behind, but not as much as when we first started water this spring.

On the way back Mom scared up a doe…she was hiding in the biggest corn field.  She jumped right out in front of us and lucky for Mom she had the camera out and in her hand.

In two weeks Dad will cut the hay for the third and last time this year.  Sure seems early.  Usually that happens about the second week of September, makes me wonder if he will get a fourth cutting?  I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Fuzzy

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Nessa Visits

We had company…..Nessa from It’s a Dog’s Life and her Mom, Michele!

How cool is THAT!?!

Nessa came ALL THE WAY FROM HOUSTON, TEXAS, just to see US!

Since we live way out in the country Mom went to town to show Nessa and her Mom the way to our farm.  Fuzzy and I didn’t know Nessa was coming so when Nessa and her Mom drove into the driveway and stopped and got out…WE WERE SURPRISED!

Pleasantly so!

After supper Hank Puff and his family walked over so Hank Puff could meet Nessa for himself.

They are the same size.

We all had fun!

Nessa did really well for never having seen a farm or a ditch or a gated pipe and she didn’t even get any stickers in her fur.

Fuzzy sometimes does, but not often anymore.  Fuzzy doesn’t run around like he used to and nothing sticks to my fur.  Fuzzy and I were a tad bit concerned that Nessa would get stickers, but she didn’t want to go into the corn field or even get off the ditch bank road or even really leave her Mom.

Nessa did like getting a drink of really cold water from the gated pipe though.

That was cool.  We stayed with her.  We have manners, company always comes first.

The next day Mom, Fuzzy and I lead Nessa and her Mom off our mesa (that is where our farm is (to the road that will take her to Clifton, then on to Salt Lake City and from there to Boise and from there to Oregon).   Sure sounded like a long, long, long ways from here.

Nessa said she likes riding with her Mom wherever her Mom wants to go.

Bye Nessa!  Fuzzy and I enjoyed your visit very much!

Boomer