On a wee walk-about with Mindy…she was more intent on staying ahead of me than seeing that cute little bird.
(Which I was very grateful for. 🙂 )
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
To My Surprise — Thursday, April 29, 2021
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Category Archives: Life on a Colorado Farm
In the Brilliant Morning Sunshine —Wednesday, April 28, 2021
This handsome fellow is often seen. This part of the farm is HIS.
There are at least three more males in different areas of the farm, but I don’t always see them when I am out and about.
I haven’t seen his ‘girl’ or ‘girls’, but I’m sure they are there. 🙂
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
A Tiny News Report — Water, Tuesday, April 27, 2021
Our area—not just where we live and farm
But our whole area, everything below the Grand Mesa, areas fed from the Gunnison River and the Uncompahgre River
Are being rationed for irrigation water.
Some places have already been told they will have NO water and domestic water is also being monitored
You see there has not been enough snow in the mountains for the last two years (longer in some areas)
The snow this year will melt into the ground and fill the underground lakes and streams and possibly the lakes and reservoirs
Hopefully the lakes and reservoirs.
The water managers have begun rationing…
It’s early…very early…usually rationing doesn’t start until the heat of summer.
Water—-it’s on everyone’s lips. A nagging concern in the back of everyone’s mind. And constant management on all farms with all farmers.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
And The Wind Carries On and On and On —Monday, April 26, 2021
The wind is back…great sweeps of gusts up to 50 mph…
It beats everything in its path to pulp
I have always been a person who likes wind, but this year it’s been a tad trying.
Although I know we need the wind to stir the sap in the trees and bushes and to melt the snow
(Caught on the game camera 🙂 )
I’ll be glad when the heavy beating wind changes into broad swathes of gentle puffs of soft breezes.
Soon, maybe soon.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
What We Have Been Doing — Part 2, Sunday, April 25, 2021 (AND A RAINBOW)
One of the gated pipes had a huge crack in it’s side—therefore, we had to go through our extra sticks of pipe and haul one over for the repair
Once there the pipe had to be pulled apart
The broken one removed.
(Mindy is helping. She had to check out the pipe to make sure we got the broken one.)
She approved.
Then we had to put the new pipe in place of the damaged pipe. And hook up all the pipes together again.
Took lots of time–pulling and tugging, then rolling the gates up into position.
You would think gated pipe would make irrigation easier, but the reality is they are lots of work.
So. There you go…the time-consuming repairs on top of all the ‘regular stuff.
And the gift of the day—A RAINBOW!
Oh, the joy!
From my world to your heart,
Linda
What We Have Been Doing, Part One, —- Thursday, April 22, 2021
We spent all day Monday…from 9:00 in the morning until 6:00 in the evening (after irrigation and before irrigation)
Moving dirt.
You see our canal water is so full of dirt that settling ponds have to be dug; allowed to have the water flow into the pond, and the dirt to settle out, then the pond is dug out in the Spring.
Not to waste the dirt, or let it blow away in the ever-present wind
We load and haul the dirt to different spots on our farm. Putting the dirt back into the SOIL of the ground.
A long day sandwiched in between the other stuff.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Did We Leave Spring and Return to Winter? —- Wednesday, April 21, 2021
It’s cold again…fire in the woodstove cold
Miserable out on the ditch bank cold
Cold enough there is ice on the running water
Which is very cold. Our breath smokes and plumes in the air.
The wind has been a huge mess, days of it…blowing gusts of 40 m.p.h.
I keep hoping soon…very soon we will settle into a soft and lovely Spring.
Soon! Please!
From my heart to your world,
Linda
The Sun-Glossed Sky — Tuesday, April 20, 2021
There is something wonderful about this life we live
I really don’t know how to put into words what it is
I think for me—it’s being at one with the land
Being part of the constant shift and care the farm requires
Being a part of those winged creatures who fill our skies
Yes, even the bugs.
The windswept experience —-dirt in the teeth, eyes, and ears
The predators,
The sparks of a bazillion stars
The whole parcel, which makes up our days,
And then there is that moment, of a wild heartbeat, when the glowing setting sun spreads across the heavens.
I know Terry and I are blessed.
From my world to your heart,
Linda
In the Peace and Quiet — Monday, April 19, 2021
“Age has given me what I was looking for my entire life…I fit into me now…I have become the woman I hardly dared imagine I would be.” Anne Lamott
Shhhhh…go slowly in the low sun
Allow the light to dazzle your eyes.
Watch the sun blazing through the dip in the canyons way up there on the Uncompahgre Plateau
See the hawk, on silent wings, flying softly —-hunting, hunting
The sky, slowly darkening
Until the first stars start to show.
From my world to your heart,
Linda
Working with Wind in Your face—Sunday, April 18, 2021
It’s been more than miserable here the last several days
The wind has been as wild and dirty as any time I can remember—-You are looking at the sun going down in DIRT
Not only is your voice snatched away in the wind
It’s also cold. With the ditches and canal full of trash and weeds from the wind.
It’s terribly miserable, with a feeling of menace.
ALTHOUGH! For a rare and beautiful moment
We saw a faint but lovely burst of light, for just a second…But that was enough.
Perfect!
Onward we go!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
