The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Summer Work

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Dayphoto

Golly Geez, this summer work fun!

This is my second summer here and I love every second of it.

We do ‘stuff’ all the time! ALL THE TIME!!!

Well, I know we do things in the winter, but this is just so much better!

For Instance—-

We, meaning Mom, Fuzzy and I, went down to Shannon’s to work in her yard. Shannon was building some raised beds so Mom went down to help her and to put the soil in the beds while Shannon went to work.

I played with Rock, Balou, and Houston in their yard and Fuzzy stayed out and helped Mom. Mom made me stay in the yard because it has a fence and I have a great curiosity to smell lots of things so she put me in the yard with the others so we could play.

Shannon’s cats helped Mom.

Sunny hung around the old stump where some dried catnip was…he sure likes catnip…rolls in it and eats it and everything. I took a huge sniff of the stuff….it only made me sneeze, so I don’t get the fascination.

Willow just lay down by Mom and Fuzzy he doesn’t get that catnip stuff either. What he likes is to just be next to people so he can get a pet and a rub now and again.

That was cool….we were there for 2 ½ hours.

Then when we got home we went to the pinto bean field to change the water…I always like that!

Mom tells me I can play around the area, but if I hear the four-wheeler start I had better be back as fast as my legs can take me — if I want a ride home.

There were a couple of little girls out in the field with us, so that means Hank was with them…we sniffed around lots of stuff, then I headed off to the equipment area, and Hank hung with the folks looking for mice. Fuzzy stayed right with Mom and helped her chase water.

I was a little slow getting back to the four-wheeler so I ran in right behind them…well, not to ‘right behind’, but really close.

Then later on Hank (he’s in the photo with the others in the truck) came over to build bottle rockets with Dad (Grandpa). He walked over with his family. They walk down the bottom of the bean field, and then up the side between the bean field and the corn field…..it’s a short cut they like to take to get from their house to our house.

Hank and I played run, and chase until we got too hot and tired.

Sammy hung out with us

But Monkey spent most of her time trying to get back inside so she could lay around on the carpet.

Mom told Monkey she could be outside with the family, it was good for her. She didn’t listen.

After that Mom, Dad, Fuzzy and I went back out to set the water for the night.

The sunset was really cool.

I stayed right with everyone so I could ride the four-wheeler back in. I was a little tired after all the running I did today.

I sure enjoyed this day…Good night everyone!

Boomer

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Water (Predicted to Shrink)

Posted on May 12, 2012 by Dayphoto

The irrigation water sure has Dad and Mom worried.

They don’t have to go out every eight hours right now because the water is in the corn and the old alfalfa field. See those fields have their plants up and growing so they don’t take as much water, but when the water gets BACK to the pinto bean field they will be back to the eight hour change No Matter What!

Dad is planting the very last of the corn today…this morning in fact. He has given up on planting the new alfalfa field.

He will start planting the pinto beans on Monday. Outside of the alfalfa field (alfalfa seed is like buying gold at today’s prices, so he is not going to chance losing the crop because of the lack of water) he will have everything planted. (Dad will plant the alfalfa seed after the sweet corn farmers start harvesting their crop. Once the sweet corn is gone, more water will be in the canals. Hay is a nice cash crop to have.)

Water is extremely short…they are working with 70% of 100% right now—as they move into the middle of summer the ditch riders have told everyone that water is going to be moved lower and lower until it gets to 40%. That will be a 60% loss of water.

Everyone is hoping 40% is as low as it does get!

We hope so too!!!!

So the race is on!

All the farmers HAVE to get the seeds in the ground, watered up, and growing well ….BEFORE…the irrigation water drops to 40%.

As the water levels shrink the nightmare, of keeping everything wet, will just get worse. But the critical stage is getting the plant UP.

Boomie is doing better about coming when he hears the four-wheeler start…Mom talks to him as soon as we get to the field…”Boomer…you can play, but when you hear the four-wheeler start, you HAVE to be back here ready to go home or you will have to run home by yourself!”

He has done real good, even coming back to check on us once in a while.

But the last evening he said he was clear over in the wet lands smelling out the birds and things when he heard the four-wheeler start. Everything was just getting really interesting so he decided he would run home.

That’s a pretty long run, let me tell you!

We had everything put away for the night when he came dashing in just as fast as his Beagle legs could carry him.

Worked out for me really well, as I had the whole four-wheeler to myself!

Fuzzy

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Corn’s UP!

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Dayphoto

It’s been a shade too hot here for May, temps running around in the 80s*. Fuzz and I pretty much take it easy, not lots a guy can do when it’s already so hot. We were laying around in the shade just the other day wondering together what August is going to bring.

Fuzzy said maybe rain.

I told him I sure hope so.

Dad harrowed off the corn, which means he knocked the dirt off the top of the corn beds so the corn can poke up through the ground and not have to work its way through too much dirt.

We are dry here….pretty much has Dad and Mom very worried about getting the entire farm wet.

The ditch rider came through and locked all the head gates down to 70%! That’s a HUGE amount of water. And Mom said we still have to pay for the 100% even if we don’t get it.

Then she let out a big sigh.

With the loss of 30% of water it makes the folks have to change water more often; instead of twice a day (morning and evening) they are changing it every 8 hours – day and night.

Another headache for this lack of water thing is because it is so dry and hot, the water doesn’t want to go down the furrows in the field.

Not just on our farm but everyone’s around here.

So the folks go out and ‘walk the water through’ — which means they have to help the water down the rows by making sure a corn cob or a dirt clod or weeds don’t make a mini-dam and stop the water from going anywhere.

BIG JOB!

That works for Fuzzy and I as we get to go with them every time they go out. Nighttime is the best, but I like any time.

I was over sniffing some stuff behind the equipment area when I heard Mom holler for me to come. I didn’t, man, there was just so many things to learn about I didn’t want to stop and go wherever they were going.

So they left me!!!!

Can you believe that?

They just left me!!!

I had to run like the dickens to catch up with them at the head gate.

WHEW!

Mom was checking out the fruit trees, it looks like we are going to have apricots and cherries for sure this year.

And the lilacs sure are nice.

Coming in from the last day set of water we saw it!! —- THE CORN WAS UP!!!

Yippee! Makes all the hard work worth it. (Of course now everyone has to keep the corn alive and growing until harvest, but a least it’s up!)

Well, as you can see not much going on around here but everyday work.

Fuzzy and I sure enjoy it,

Every single minute!

Boomer

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — What More Can I Say ?!?

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Dayphoto

The next to the last field has been opened — that means Dad is done doing enough of the tractor work it’s time to put the gated pipe together and start the water on that field. This field is another corn field, but the gated pipe will water the pinto bean field.

Dad and Mom had to put the pipe together for the pinto bean field because the run off from the last corn field goes to water the bean field and the last alfalfa field before leaving our farm and heading on over to the next farm. But since the bean ground isn’t ready yet, the water will run through the gated pipe anyway and water the older alfalfa field then leave our farm.

We moved siphon tubes and got the water flowing. Sure was a good feeling.

The next day, Mom asked us to get in the back of the pick-up and go to TOWN.

Oh, what joy!

Boomer has learned to hop in the back now and he loves to ride with us. Remember when he first came he was very afraid and wouldn’t get in the truck unless I got in first? I think he has made huge strides in being a good farm dog!

Anyway we got to town and Mom dropped us OFF at the Dog GROOMERS!!!!

That was hours of misery. I shook and trembled and moaned the whole time. Boom of course LOVED the whole experience. He hopped right into the bathing tub and sat there while Mom and the groomer put me into the waiting area.

DID

NOT

WANT

THERE!

About 90 minutes of pure hell and torture Mom came and picked us up.

Yep! That’s me.

I can’t decide if I like this new look or not!

Makes me feel —- well naked.

And Mom wouldn’t let me jump into the ditches, said I was just shampooed so I have to stay out of the muddy water.

MEAN

GEEZ!

Then the heat of the next day hit and

Hummmm

I guess this new look is alright.

I feel a lot cooler!

Fuzzy

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — The Canyon

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Dayphoto

Boom and I have been DYING to get to go somewhere, besides just here on the farm….you know—a mini-vacation. By that I mean A RIDE IN THE BACK OF THE PICK-UP!

But it hasn’t been happening!

Yes, we’ve been to the upper end and to the back forty and over to bad burn and irrigating.

We have helped Mom in the yard and even road with Mom to deliver stuff to Uncle Evan’s (although we didn’t get to get out and see Zookie and Bella), but we have NOT got to go for a fun pick-up ride!

A pick-up ride to some place really cool with lots of new smells.

Mom did make her house-cat….Monkey…go outside and work with us in the yard a couple of days.

Boomer and Monkey like each other so they had fun until Monkey went back inside.

Sammy-Sam the outside cat doesn’t put up with Boomer and me very much so he’s no fun.

We just wanted to GO FOR A RIDE!!!!

We would beg and hop up (well, Boomer hopped up, I can’t hop anymore) and put on our happiest faces, even whapped the ground with our tails (well, Boomer whapped, I just wiggled mine).

Nothing was working!

Bummer!

Huff!

Sigh!

THEN IT HAPPENED!

Mom came out and asked if we wanted to go for a ride!

Yippppeeee! Boy did We!

Dad and Mom gathered up a huge rope and a great big chain, put them in the back of the Dodge with us and headed down to the Canyon!

WEEEE! DOWN TO THE CANYON!

Couldn’t be a better place!

When we got there we saw why—Aunt Shannon had gotten her truck stuck in the spring river run off.

Dad got her right out. Just a quick hook-up and pull.

And we went back home.

Boomer and I loved every second of it.

I sure hope we get to go again soon.

Mom, said she hopes the next trip to the canyon is NOT for something like this!

Fuzzy

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — The Upper End

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Dayphoto

We headed up with Mom and Dad to dig ditches to the burn area over on the Back Forty and to the back pastures. They are going to put run-off-water there to see if anything can start growing again. It was lots of work for Mom and Dad but Fuzzy and I had a right jolly old time! We sniffed around to see what is happening up here. The Upper End is where the HEADGATE is. Right now all the cows are around the head gate but they will be moved off tomorrow. These are not our cows, but the south end of our farm’s neighbors. He had to move the bulls when the water came in as the ditch riders and Mom and Dad (and us) have to get to the head gate to keep the trash out. Bulls don’t like to have strange people moving around on their property. The head gate is SCARY! It thunders and foams and roils. It’s really big and has a tiny board to walk across it, which I never do. You have to walk across it, then stand on the tiny board to clean out the trash from the gate with a rake….Mom is terrified, but she ‘gets it done’. We had a sort of mini tornado last evening the wind was so horrible. Dad was on— ON — the head gate (terrible frightening thundering crashing water)…when the storm came through the place. The wind about threw Dad into the roaring foaming mess and even ripped his glasses off his face. We all tried to find the glasses but figured they were swept away in the canal. This morning Dad went on back to clean out the trash and guess what…THEY WERE THERE! Safe in a whole other spot! AND the cows didn’t stomp on them either. We are so joyful! Anyway, as Mom and Dad were working on the burn area, Fuzzy and I found Bunny. We like bunny and he seems to like us. Just hangs around us as we sniff back and forth. Sometimes Bunny even lets us sniff really close to him before he hops away. Sometimes we find footprints…those get really good sniffs. We don’t have wolves here, which we are ALL glad about, but these foot prints will help you see what we sometimes see.

Getting water to one of the burn areas took all morning. Dad said “that will have to do. If this works then we’ve helped part of the burn.”

Mom asked Fuzzy if he was ready to ride back to house.

Man, that dog can move when he wants too. Fuzzy beat both Mom and I back to four-wheeler he was so ready to get home.

The sunrise this morning was pretty cool…there was a cloud that looked like a mini-tornado.

Hummm, maybe that isn’t a good thing!

Boomer

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Back to Work

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Dayphoto

We are back to work! Hanging around and just doing what we want is now over, our work has begun. That’s what Mom told us yesterday as we headed out to help irrigate.

See we don’t farm with Dad. We stay with Mom wherever she is. Our job is helping Mom, always. Sometimes Boomer will go out some with Dad but Dad is always on a tractor or something and that is just not fun running alongside a big piece of equipment.

We ride (like Mom does) and then we work.

Boomer and I really like it.

We really like helping out too. There is so much to do. Sometimes there are mice to snap in two and sometimes not, but there are always smells to smell and for ME there is water to play in.

It’s getting a little harder every year to get OUT of the ditches, but I don’t have any trouble getting into them. Mom doesn’t like for me to get into the ditches anymore because I can’t get out very well. But I still do it — I just wait until she isn’t looking and I jump in.

The day before Dad made all the ditches on the place—first he made the main ditches, these are the ditches that carry the water to the fields from the head gate (the head gate takes the water out of the canal onto our place).

Then he made the waste ditches, these are the ditches that take the water away from the field and drop the water back into the canal so the next farm can use the water.

After that we had to wait for the ditch rider to open the head gate so we could begin work.

Work started at 6:00 last evening. We worked until 8:00 because there were so many weeds and burn trash in the ditches, but we made it.

Boomer and I helped. I even got into the water a couple of times which made Mom yell at me. She said the water was too full of trash and it would stick to my fur so I had to get out.

Geez!

Trash on fur is not a big deal.

But she made me get out.

It was rather hard to get out, so I hung with Mom looking for mice in the tubes while she dug out ends and started the tubes with water.

Dad had to work on the trash in the head gate and the transmission ditch, and then he came and helped Mom set tubes.

The trash WAS bad.

And the wind was bad. The wind kept blowing in other trash so we had to stay out and keep the water from flowing over the sides of the cement ditch for ever so long.

Boom and I really enjoyed it.

Mom and Dad said they were tired.

They worked all morning, then helped Evan move furniture into his new house and set up his new kitchen and then chased water all evening. The second they sat down in their chairs they were asleep.

Boomer and I were still good to go, but since the folks were so tired we decided maybe we wouldn’t chase Freddy Fox or any of the raccoons tonight or even get on the barking telephone system.

Around 11:00 Dad had to go back out in the wind to check tubes again to make sure they hadn’t trashed back up and stopped or the water was flowing over the sides of the cement ditch into the work fields.

We went part way and then turned back. ½ mile is pretty far to run for me anymore and Boomer didn’t want to leave me.

By that time we were tired so when Dad got back we went to bed also.

Anyhow our work has begun.

We love it, couldn’t ask for a better life!

Fuzzy (and Boomer)

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — March, 30, 2012

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Dayphoto

We finally made it through March, well almost made it; we are at the end anyway, just one more day to go.

Mom thought we ought to hop onto the four-wheeler and ride over to see how the fire-burned area is doing.

Most of it is still burned. Nothing really green there yet, but when we got to the hill pasture WOW little sprigs of green showing up everywhere.

Mom said she is not surprised about that since the hill pasture is a mixture of grasses; the fire there just took off the dead. (It also jumped the road and ran through the corn field toward the house, and it also jumped into the alfalfa filed that burned right up to Mom-mom and her family’s barns. But I didn’t remind Mom of that, she was still a little sad to see the whole mess.)

We then headed on down to the back forty,and then over to the west field, then the upper end.

Still pretty black!

When we got to the south end Boomer got off and hiked around a bit

while Mom wrote down the fence post count in a little book she was keeping for the insurance guy.

Mom told us dogs that Dad wanted to NOT have to build fences anymore and look at what he has to do now—the whole west side of the place, the ditch company took out the whole north side and the whole east side. He will have lots and lots of fences to fix now. Although, there is a possibility that maybe the west side will be fixed with help.

The Ditch Company will probably NOT do the work on the north and east side so Dad and Mom will get to do those fences.

Building fences are not easy, it isn’t stringing the wire that is hard, and it’s digging the fence post.

Of course, us dogs get to go help. We really enjoy helping out there, we really do!

Almost back home I wanted off. Boomer found some deer tracks and bayed at me to “come smell.”

So Mom helped me off.

We sniffed around for some time. Mom got tired of waiting and went back in. I came back after I checked out all the news out there.

Fuzzy

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Spring

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Dayphoto

Boy is it ever hot in the house anymore! Fuzzy and I used to love to be in the house, I would lie next to the fire and let it cook me and Fuzzy would lie next to Mom’s chair so she could pet on him randomly!

We try it now, but it gets way to miserable real fast.

Mom has us sleeping outside again, which suits Fuzzy and I real well.

The dog houses are warm, sometimes so warm Fuzzy stays outside of the dog house until the air cools down enough the dog houses feel good. I stay out with him for some time also. I do go into the dog houses much faster than Fuzz, but that is really so I can get the side I want to sleep in.

So anyway we love being back outside…there is so much to do, and to see who is walking through the place. Wonderful!!!

So the last two or three nights we’ve had a ball. We ran barking up to the hay stack area, then we ran barking over to the old bean field, then we had great fun barking at Freddy Fox. Mom was rather upset with us, but she said “Well, there has to be a reason you are barking. Let’s go see what is out here, that you have to warn away.”

Now this was cool. We took off with Mom; she carried a flashlight and shone the light here there and everywhere. We didn’t see anything, but that was okay. It was fun just walking with Mom after mid-night.

Since this worked out so well we barked lots for the next two nights. Mom would come out…look around, tell us to stop barking.

All this barking really does make us tired the next day. But we sleep in.

Then last night Fuzzy and I decided it would be good to get Mom outside and go for another walk. The time was, oh, maybe, hummmm, let’s see maybe 3:30 in the morning… when we heard the Dog Telephone Relay start.

Perfect! Someone to talk to!

Bark, Bark, Bark!

Woof, Bark, Howl!

Sound carries really well in the night.

Bark, Bark, Bark!

Woof, Bark, Howl!

Bark, Bark, Bark!

Woof, Bark, Howl!

In about 10 minutes of this we had all our dog friends in the whole country mile barking and howling and baying.

We had a chorus going on.

Then the light for the outside snaps on!

Both Fuzzy and I start wagging our tails and getting ready for Mom to hit the sidewalk so we could walk out to the gated pipe. (Mom is always on the lookout for coyotes. One thing Mom does NOT like is the coyotes in the yard.)

There—

The back door is opening—

“Get ready to go, Fuzzy! Here comes Mom!”

“YOU DOGS SHUT-UP RIGHT NOW!” Dad belted out to us.

“AND I MEAN THIS INSTANT!”

Whew!

EEEK! Dad was really mad!

Fuzzy and I rushed right back to the dog houses and stayed there the rest of the night.

(Sometimes Dad isn’t any fun.)

Boomer

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Another Fire

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Dayphoto

It happened again! We had a huge fire on Tuesday, two miles long. The fire wiped out everything on the west side of the farm, except Mom-mom’s house, barn, and other outbuildings. The firemen were able to stop the fire five feet from all of the structures.

We were all scared!

Boomer and I stayed right with Mom. We rode on the back of the four-wheeler and never left it. (Boomer is really bad about jumping off and heading out to see what there is to see when Mom gets off. He always gets in trouble, but he just gives all of us a Beagle smile and does it again. But this time he listened.) The smoke and the flames were horrible.

The cows all circled up, with the baby calves in the middle, just like the books say they do when there is danger. The cowboys came up and stayed with them just to be sure.

At several points the fire jumped into the hay fields and the corn fields rushing right over to toward Mom, Dad, Boomer and my house. It was frightening. But just the day before Dad had disked all the ends by the gated pipe and the road to our place. That’s what stopped the fire there, not the firemen.

The very next day, Wednesday, the Uncompahgre Ditch Company sent the ditch cleaners down to clean out the canal to ready it for the water next week.

Dad talked to the guys said he had a very huge fire yesterday and would they be extra careful, they said they would and took off.

They didn’t!

They swooshed their 8” propane weed burner and burned everything in sight, even burned up our over 100-year-old cottonwood tree, that made Mom cry. Mom and Dad saw the guy swirl the burner around the base of the tree.

Mom, Boom and I, Mom-mom and Talley hauled water to the tree for most of the afternoon, but it finally burst into flames and left this earth. Mom told all of us that she felt like she lost a very good friend that day.

Now the whole north side and the whole east side of the farm have the fences burned to the ground.

What a mess!

Dad has been busy, getting the fire report, talking to the neighbor about repairs, and getting the ditch company to fix the fences.

Mom says her digital camera is a blessing.

Since one of the very long time ditch companies board member is our neighbor to the north, (by two miles) and we get up before the sun shines, by 6:30 in the morning, Thursday, Dad and board member were touring the damage the ditch company did.

The tree fell over around 8:30 Thursday morning. The Ditch company people wanted it to burn up so they didn’t have very much to clean up. (They made the mess, they clean it up, Dad says. The board member and the manager of the company agreed)

They also agreed to the repair of all the fences on the north and east side of the farm.

Around three o’clock in the afternoon the tree eased itself into the canal where it continued to burn.

8:30 that night the fire trucks were back out to our place, as someone passing by saw the burning tree for the first time and called it in to the fire department.

The ditch company, which hoped that they wouldn’t have much to do, vanished in several streams of water after the fire department got here.

So this is where we are, the day after the Ides of March. Hopefully we are on our way to mending.

At least the west side fences are still standing.

Knock on wood!

Fuzzy