The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Moving Water

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Dayphoto

Dad had another meeting last night so it was just Mom, I, and Boomer. We had a great time.

The sunset was beautiful.

We had to move the water from the upper end, from the hayfield, down to the corn field around the house.

The corn field around the house is well….hot! We are all ringing wet all the time and it isn’t because we are dipping in a swimming pool, let me tell you.

I sleep under Dad’s pickup truck and under the lilac bush, the two coolest spots in the house.

Boomer has decided he wants to sleep with me under the pickup truck…I told him okay, there was room enough for the both of us.

The other place Boom likes is under the garden bench right after Mom has watered her flowers right there.

The musk thistles are amazing…they are as tall as Mom. Mom says they are pretty but she sure doesn’t like having them around, especially on the ditch bank. Makes for moving water well, stickery!

Those things aren’t near as bad as cockleburs I tell her, but sometimes Mom doesn’t understand what I’m trying to say.

It took us a little while to get the water from the upper end to the house, so Boom and I played around lots. Mom worked with the water, she had a run away for a short spell….the ditch had sanded up and the weeds were a mess…she dug and dug and finally the water headed on down like it was supposed it.

Did I tell you the sunset was amazing? It sure was.

Well, not lots happening here…just watching the corn grow and the pinto beans and hay. Dad sold the second cutting of hay, every last bale of it. It wasn’t the best hay as it got rained on, but a couple of small farmers wanted it for their two cows and one wanted it for his three cows and his wife’s rabbits. Dad gave them a huge deal and they took everything down to last hay leaf. Dad said this was a win-win for everyone.

Mom is painting the inside of the house since she has everything all weeded up. We like it better when she is outside with us, but sometimes she works inside.

We go inside sometimes, but that can be hotter than outside…like when she is canning. WHEW!

Hope good things are in the picture for all of you.

Just hang’n loose,

Fuzzy

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Mom in Charge

Posted on July 20, 2012 by Dayphoto

Dad had a meeting to go to last night so it was just Mom, Fuzzy, and myself…oh yes, and Hank. Hank came along since he was spending some time with us while his folks went on vacation.

It was an amazing evening.

Lots of clouds had come in with lightning storms (complete with thunder) running around on the Uncompahgre Plateau and in the canyons next to us. Mom said she really enjoyed being out there with all the majesty of the heavens.

Fuzzy said he didn’t like the thunder so he stayed really close to Mom the WHOLE time.

I only searched for news a little bit….well, because Hank was with us

and I didn’t really want him to get to do something

that I didn’t get to do so I hung around pretty close.

The beans are setting pods, and vining out, and in general looking really good. Mom says we are half way through summer now when the beans vine out.

We had to drive through the grass (well, Hank and I ran through the grass) and it was WAAAAAAAAAAAy over my head and Hank’s head and even MOM’s head! Mom said we really need cows, but that isn’t going to happen.

On we went, moving from the head gate to one field then to the other field.

We saw some cool tracks on the ditch bank….is it a big cat?!?!?!

Or a bear!?!?!?

Mom said she didn’t want to meet it out here in the dark of the night whatever it is.

Mom also said she hoped it was just passing on through and wouldn’t be back.

We sometimes see tracks like this, but so far….we never seen who makes them.

The sunset was rather cool….there was a break in the clouds causing a red wave of light to spread all over the farm, even the corn turned red.

AND SO DID I!

Have a great week everyone!

Boomer

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Happy Birthday to Fuzzy

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Dayphoto

I’m now 12 (twelve) that 72 years old in dog years! But let me tell you…I’m a very active 12 year old….I do all sorts of stuff…irrigate, herd the chickens when Mom tells me too, bark the mailman down the lane, bark the hay customers clear to the hay yard, bark at the birds as the swoop around catching bugs…I have lots of jobs and I do all of them well!!!

Yes, I take naps, and yes I like to sleep, but it’s so very hot everybody likes to sleep, not just me!! Huff! Huff!

Since I turned twelve my Mom decided that I needed a Birthday Party…Misty and Shannon said it needed to be at the lake because I LOVE WATER!!!!

So last evening, when the broiling sun had been covered up with the clouds, around 4 o’clock, off we all went to the lake.

What wonderful time I had!!!

What a great time everyone else had.

Except Boomer!

Boomer doesn’t like water, he can swim, but he prefers to not get his feet wet if he can help it.

He says he would rather gather news than get in the water where everything smells WET!

But Mom-mom made him go in…he tolerated it.

There was this rock in the water Boomer wanted to stand on so his feet wouldn’t get wet, I don’t see how much good that would do, his feet might be dry, but he was still surrounded by water.

Anyway, I had a great time! No, heck! I HAD A WONDERFUL TIME!

Happy Birthday to me!

Fuzzy

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Got Ya

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Dayphoto

Now as everyone knows, it’s been hot here!

Hot and dry!

Dry and Hot!

Did I tell you it has been very hot and dry here?

Well, it has.

Still the work has to go on.

We are still changing water every eight hours.

Boomer and I LOVE to change water.

We were out with Mom and Dad changing water last evening when Boomer hollered that Pete and Polly were over at the old apricot tree!

I didn’t go see them; the bubbles in the water were more fun.

Boomer said he just barked “Hello” and went on his way…there were lots of things to smell out in the equipment yard:

The bunnies have had more babies
Two more ground squirrels have set up home next to the leveler
The badger has two little badgers hanging in the badger hole
Nope, still no coyotes…..yet (we hope they don’t come back…they can live in the draw or the canyon, but not here, please!)
Hummmm, the raccoons and the fox were fighting over the fallen apricots
The big buck deer is sleeping in the middle of the corn field
There are two new fawns

You know lots and lots of news.

A whole bunch of storm clouds blew in around the two o’clock setting that afternoon.

It cooled down real nice.

Then suddenly the heavens broke loose…thunder, lightning (shudder, shiver, pant, panic) and big wind. Boomer and I headed indoors to be with Mom. Thunder doesn’t bother Boomer at all. Nothing really bothers Boom, outside of some men and some boys in caps and the garage other than that…he is always happy!

While we were inside it rained!!

Yippee! Mom and Dad were so happy they sat outside and watched it rain. Lots of rain, really nice rain! (Oh and when they went outside I (and Boomer) had to go outside with them (shudder) because I am NOT leaving Mom when there is thunder in the sky!!!!

EVER!

Then Mom saw it……

A RAINBOW! Just as the sun was starting to set!

“A perfect ending to a perfect day”, Mom said.

Just then the phone rang….it was Mom-mom, seems that Hank Puff met Pete and Polly.

(Taken with a cell phone)

Which reminds me, we did hear Hank sort of barking and yipping down at his house, but since there was so much thunder I didn’t really listen to him.

I keep telling that boy, he can’t chase everything, nor can he bite at everything.

(taken with a cell phone)

Boomer asked me later, just as we were going to sleep…

“Fuzzy?”

“Hummm?”

“Do you think Hank Puff has learned his lesson about trying to catch everything that walks close to him?”

“I don’t know, Boomer. I really don’t know”

Fuzzy

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Grass

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Dayphoto

We don’t have cows anymore.

Nope, Dad sold them.

“This is too bad” — according to Mom, “because we have lots of grass this year.”

Dad said, “Yes, and no fences!”

Oh…that’s right!

Cows eat grass. That’s why ranchers raise lots of grass — because they usually have lots of cows (and sometimes sheep or other grass eating animals).

We live on a farm and Dad kept cows so they could eat the grass on the land that he couldn’t get a tractor on.

Cows love grass.

They eat grass even when they aren’t standing up eating grass; they eat grass when it looks like they are chewing gum. That’s because they swallow their food (grass and weeds) whole and then (this is the really good part) they burp it back up and eat it again and then swallow it again. That’s because they have many chambers to their stomachs.

I would like to burp back my food, but it doesn’t work that way for us dogs. We burp it back up and it just comes on out of our stomachs and mouths and lays there on the ground all wet and gooey. Of course, we eat it again. But it doesn’t work like ‘cud’ does for a cow.

One thing the fire did is burn off all the old grass then the new grass came back nicely.

We got lots of nice thick grass.

And some Sweet Clover! Mom loves the smell of Sweet Clover, the honey bees like it too, so us dogs stay away from Sweet Clover, we just take Mom’s word for it that it smells good.

Dad, Mom, Boomer and I all rode around checking everything out.

Sure was fun.

Crops are looking good!

Beans are getting more leaves…Dad says he will have to cultivate soon, and maybe one more time. After that all the spring equipment will be put away until another year.

Corn is getting tall.

And the alfalfa is greening up starting to grow again after the first cutting of hay.

The wind sure has been bad…hot and windy.

It gets in your eyes and your ears and even up your nose if you don’t lie in a hole. You have to get lower than the wind, ya see!

We have lots of haze here because of all the fires burning in Colorado and Utah …. Everything is just way too dry.

So last evening Dad took us out to the North Delta Ditch…we were all bored…and he drove around on the ‘dobies for a while….Boomer and I loved that!

Really cool smells out there!

Mom says we are officially into summer now…something about the solstices or something like that.

It’s been feeling like summer since the first of May if you ask me!

Fuzzy

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Holes

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Dayphoto

I’ve been thinking….

We need to talk about holes!

Fuzzy and I like holes!

We use them for resting in!

We use them when it’s too hot to breathe!

We use them when we are bored.

But….

Sometimes when it is over the head HOT, we look for other cool places to lay…

Fuzzy likes under the pickup. I’ve tried to lay under there with him, but he gets all grouchy and snaps and growls at me so I don’t go under.

I like this spot…

Especially after Mom has just watered

This beats Fuzzy’s spot all to pieces, but I won’t tell him, he will make me move.

Boomer

P.S. A bear came down and visited. We were DELIGHTED. We barked lots and lots. He stayed the WHOLE night and left around the gray of morning light.

Cool! Neither Fuzzy or I have EVER seen a bear before!

Boomer

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — What is a Farm

Posted on June 15, 2012 by Dayphoto

When I first got here I didn’t know what a farm was, I didn’t know what a ranch was, and I didn’t know how to ride on a four-wheeler or in the back of a pick-up.

See I had always lived in a house and when they were gone they put me in a garage. I didn’t like the garage! I still don’t go into ANY of Mom and Dad’s garages…..they can have the doors wide open and be in the garage and I still won’t go in there.

I didn’t make any noise when I came here either. The vet told Mom that was weird because a happy Beagle likes to express him/herself.

I also don’t like some men or boys with caps on either….I get very, very fearful and try to run away from them.

Now that I’ve been here TWO years…TWO REALLY WONDERFUL YEARS…I can ride on the four-wheeler with Mom, or run beside them, I love to ride in the back of the pick-up, and I talk…..lots!

So when those men and boys with caps come on the place (I never bark at Dad), but I will Blade IF he has a cap on….I BARK! I bark warning barks! I bark until Mom comes out and pets me. Then she feels me trembling inside and gives me lots of hugs and love.

Anywho….

A farm is not a ranch. Nope, No Sireee.

A ranch grows grass…lots and lots of grass and has animals that eat grass living on it.

A Farm is crops.

A farm is ground where the soil is worked up to hold a seed, then the seed is watered until it becomes a plant, and then the plant is watered until it produces something eatable to someone or some animal.

Here on our farm (YIPEEE I LOVE LIVING ON A FARM!!!) Oh, hum, well, yes, I got sidetracked a bit— Here on our farm we grow alfalfa to turn into hay for people who feed it to their animals, we grow corn —the kind that is ground into chicken and cow feed…it could also be ground into meal for people if you wanted to have some, and we grow pinto beans.

Dad does all the ‘tractor’ work, but Mom and Fuzzy and I help Dad water the seeds, then the plants until harvest time.

I LOVE IRRIGATING! That’s what we call watering. If you live in town or just have a house and some yard, you water, on a farm you IRRIGATE!

That is so much fun.

We ride (sometimes I run alongside) out to the fields on the four-wheeler —with Mom. Dad always makes us run long side.

Fuzzy doesn’t go with Dad any more, he says he will wait for Mom.

I know it’s because his joints don’t work like they used to, that’s okay. I sometimes stay with Fuzzy; I would never want to hurt his feelings!

When we are out there, I check out the burn area….everything is still burned, but has lots of weeds growing. The guy who started all three farms on fire just keeps saying he’s sorry, but he really doesn’t know what to do. Dad says the guy will stall everyone out and never fix anything so he will get away with ‘lighting fires’.

Makes my people rather sad, I know how they feel. I was always sad when I had to stay in the garage and got in trouble for talking.

Dad says we will have to fix fence this fall before the cows come, and the bad man will just have to live with his conscience, whatever that means.

Mom’s been painting stuff outside…she said everything was starting to look old and tired, like her! HA!

So what once was blue is now white.

Fuzzy and I and Sam the Cat hang around while she paints. Monkey the other cat stays inside all the time so she misses out on lots of cool stuff.

Mom’s friend, Robin, stays close, but not too close when Sam the Cat is laying around next to Mom. (But still there).

One of the cool things out irrigating are the smells…I learn soooo much! Like what the birds are doing, we have three new ground squirrels and there is nest of Killdeer, not to mention all the bunnies living next to the equipment.

The coyotes have moved someplace else…which makes all of us happy. The fire did that to them, now they could come back……

But we hope not.

Oh and a Momma Skunk has a nest next to kids barn down there…Hank found that and told us about it.

Mom told HANK “You stink, Hank!”

Hank said he thought he smelled really beautiful!

Anyhow….sometimes I forget to come when they call (I always think I have time before I have to leave my smells) then I hear the four-wheeler….and I know it’s too late.

Since I have to run in any way I go ahead and finish reading the news…then I

RUN

IN!!!!!

Hope you have a GREAT DAY!
Boomer

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Dear Diary

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Dayphoto

Dear Diary—

I finally have a few minutes to write a few notes to myself! Boomer and I have been extremely busy this week.

The water is finally starting to work right. It took a while. The ground was so hard and dry and the air so full of hot wind and dirt, oh, yes, and the amount of irrigation water so slim, we had to go change water ALL the time.

But everything is coming together now.

Dad goes out and checks the water often, but we only have to CHANGE the water twice a day, which is normal.

That is because the ground FINALLY got wet. That’s how Dad and Mom talk when they talk about the water…they say: something, something, something now that the ground is Finally wet.

Dad wastes nothing with the water. He sets up a series of dams so nothing is wasted.

The water at the end of the field goes off our farm and back into the canal so then next farm below us gets our water, it goes on like this clear to the Gunnison River.

Pretty cool!

Sometimes Hank goes with us; he likes to check the tubes for mice.

Boomer is off smelling the news somewhere….he reports back what he finds when we all get home.

Me!?

Well, I help the folks out.

I stay right with Mom and make sure the water is the right height in the ditch, (I really like catching the water bubbles, but I don’t tell anyone, they would probably not let me get in the ditch if they knew)

I just jump right in and show them I’m good at irrigating.

Dad has cut baled and hauled hay. The first customers came last night.

That is always cool…..we like to bark the customers into the yard, and then we like to lead them to the haystack with our barking signals—

Bark, bark, bark…THIS WAY—

COME ON– We will show you!

Bark, Bark, Bark!!!

Boomer and I do a really good job of getting them to the hay yard.

By the time we get the truck and the trailer there and all backed up and lined up, Dad is ready to load.

We are a gooood TEAM!

Sometimes Hank and his family walk over in the evening.

Boomer is terrified of the goats!

Terrified!

Did I tell you he is terrified!

Boy is he ever!

Hank and I laugh at him.

Boomer doesn’t care…every time he gets around them one of them tries to butt him so he gets real nervous and barks at them.

Hummmmm

Maybe I would be afraid also if they would try to butt me.

But they don’t.

I get that look on my face and I crouch down and slink close to the ground and they stop.

They look at me and I give a warning growl.

They walk off and I go my own way.

Bullies never like courage!

I tell Boomer to do that, but he says he just can’t.

One day going to town, we saw a devil – a dirt devil.

I thought it was pretty cool.

Boomer said he had never seen one!

Well, Diary. There you have it. Just another day on the farm!

Like I say…changing water is always the best part!

Fuzzy

P.S. Oh, yes! My fur is starting to come back in. I really like having fur.

P.P. S.S. Mom says I have to go to the groomer again NEXT WEEK (SHUDDER) But she said I won’t get shaved.

{{{SHUDDER}}}

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Three Blustery Days

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Dayphoto

It has been ‘wind(ing)’ for a very long time.

Very Long!

We had wind before the really bad wind, then wind after the very bad wind, but Mom said this weekend is looking good. Although, she says we are having August heat in May…no WAIT(!) this is the First of JUNE! So we are having lots of heat for the first of JUNE!

The wind was really bad….3/4 of Utah blew into our farm, on my fur and stuck to all the leaves that live on our place.

Sometimes the wind was so bad Fuzzy and I couldn’t really stand up in it, so Fuzzy stayed under the pickup most of the time. I hung out with Mom; she still had ‘stuff’ to do.

The wind even blew over her flowers…she was not happy about that so staked many of them. It was my first time to smell an Iris. I sneeze for a long time after that first time of smelling the iris.

We worked in the yard

We also babysat Mom-Mom’s cats and their goats, Linky’s bunny came up and lived with us while the whole family, including Hank, went to Nebraska for several days.

Sometimes Fuzzy and I would go stand at the edge of the field and bark for Hank to see how he was doing, but he never came to his edge of the field to bark back. Fuzzy said it was because the wind was too bad and he couldn’t hear us….the wind was whipping our words away from Hank.

Then Mom told us Hank wasn’t home he went in the motor home to Nebraska.

Bummer!

I really like to talk to Hank!

One day it was so horribly hot and windy that Mom and Dad took us down to the Rubidoux Canyon and Rubidoux River for a swim.

I didn’t swim…only Fuzzy. He loves the water…I love the news!

The other thing was we had to go do was take care of the poultry, the two cats and the three dogs at Shannon’s…..The TURKEY is SOMETHING ELSE!!!

I didn’t bark at him once, but I sure was amazed…I sat and just watched him. He fluffs himself up, up, WAY UP and flings his wings down, then makes a drumming noise as he walks around in front of me.

That is some way cool bird, let me tell you!

The sun was amazing too, during this time, YOU could SEE IT!

Now how cool is that?!

There wasn’t even a sunset…just this

On the fourth day the dirty wind left and we just had regular wind.

When we were setting the last of the irrigation rows…..

The little family came back!

Complete with Hank!

I sure love living here. Couldn’t ask for anything better!

Boomer

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Mom Gets a Present

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Dayphoto

Shannon found a rooster! She brought it over to our house. The poor thing is in pretty bad shape…someone cut off his comb and his wattles;

he had no tail feathers

and had been de-clawed.

Mom asked Shannon where she found this damaged rooster. He was running down the highway as fast as his legs could carry him, so she stopped and walked back to where he was hiding under a big weed along the bar ditch and just picked him up.

He is very tame.

He is also in a healthy condition (considering).

“You have just saved this bird from being killed,” Mom said.

“I know he could have been smashed on the highway.” Shannon replied.

“Hummm, no. I think you have a rooster that escaped from a rooster fighting ring.”

“Well, he is safe with me now.”

She put him in her car and took him home!

So that wasn’t a present for Mom

Both Boomer and I thought that was good, we don’t want a rooster here.

The next day…..

We went down to see how the rooster was doing and we found out that Shannon now has A TOM TURKEY AND TWO TURKEY HENS!! (Mom forgot her camera!)

They were living in a tiny, tiny cage so Shannon and Buddy told the people they would give them a home.

Now that is an animal paradise…7 hens and a rooster, one tom turkey and 2 hens, plus three dogs and two cats that had been dumped at their place!

We have three hens and two cats and us…that works for Boomer and me. It is just the right amount of animals at our place.

Dad is working on getting all the pinto beans in the ground, he has decided not to plant alfalfa this year; he is putting everything into corn and pinto beans. That leaves one alfalfa field. Next year he will plant one of the big fields into alfalfa, if the water situation is better.

We went out and changed the water while Dad planted.

No present for Mom out there, but it sure was pretty.

The next day….

Mom went over to visit a friend of hers and see her yard. She has several acres of beautiful plants. The cactus beds were just blooming. Mom says Sheryl’s yard is the local botanical gardens.

No present for Mom there, except the beauty of flowers for the soul.

Two days later

Mom told Dad that she had to use her last two strings of twine on the chicken pen. Two of the strings had gotten old and were hanging down causing the chickens to think they had a couple of new toys.