Yesterday Terry decided it was time to cut the hay
Rich, thick, full of blooms Second Cutting of hay
Today our whole house smells of delicious ‘just mown’ alfalfa…drying in the sun and wind
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
I am late today! Very late!
You see my morning raced by in the wind (DO NOT PROCEED THE PHOTOS BELOW ARE HIDEOUS!!!)
Our oldest daughter called saying she cut her thumb, but come Quickly….Quickly!
So I did. Oh My GOODNESS!!!
The morning was spent in the hospital emergency room.
Thankfully she will be okay. The thumb has been saved!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
We are gradually moving through the growing season.
The middle of this week we will be cutting the alfalfa (for the second time this year)
The swallows flit and dart through the air searching out bugs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Keeping the mosquitoes at bay!
We are still having wind…sometimes a light breeze that stirs the leaves in the garden, sometimes a wind, which whips the branches of the trees, and sometimes a wind we can not see; stirring the clouds causing cloud shadows to move swiftly across our farm
This part of earth is truly full of peace.
All people — well, the majority of people—crave peace.
I find peace here…on this little dab of land…where dreams lift off the earth and rush toward the stars,
The swelling morning sun shouts “WAKE-UP”
And the red blaze of the western sun fills the evening sky.
Mother Earth, Father Sky…the infinite Universe…healer/scryer…the gift of peace.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
This morning, as we were sitting tubes along one of the pinto bean fields, when I thought to myself what an amazingly beautiful morning. The sky was so blue it felt like I was standing within the stars— now invisible because of the sun.
Then I notice one cloud seemed to be filled with the form of Angel Wings—wings which drive darkness from our world.
Maybe I just made it up…but the unsurpassable beauty of that cloud filled me softly with song. Like the sound of a beautiful wind chime in the sky.
Then like a breath…a breathing in and breathing out…they were gone. Vanishing and scattering into other shapes and non-shapes, breaking apart into little puffs and clumps of cotton candy.
But for a tiny spell, I saw a gift from Heaven!
From my world to your heart,
Linda
After coming home from getting the last tire fixed. Terry said: “Call Cottonwood Hot Springs, get a reservation — and lets go there for the night.”
So I called…they had an opening. Terry turned off the irrigation water.
Shannon agreed to take care of the cats and to take Boomer home with her to spend the night.
One afternoon, one night; then back home again. A break from work! How freshing it was!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Terry says our daily reality is all about—
“FLAT TIRES! I can’t believe how many flat tires we’ve had since the start of farm season! This is the sixth flat tire!”
“Well, at least they have been on different pieces of equipment.” I replied
“Hump! trailers, stack wagon, tractor, disk, and now the four-wheeler!” he grumped.
“Oh, well…off to get this fixed. BUT…I’m up for changing this reality. How about you?”
“Okay…No more flat tires.” I agreed!
From your friend on a Colorado Farm.
Linda
My world is small. I realize that. But it’s a small I relish and enjoy.
For instance:
I feel great excitement, and joy, in the contented knowledge the pinto beans are up..sprouting forth into warm (HOT) yellow light
And every field of corn is up!
The green of all leaves coloring the world in brilliance!
We set water early, early morning and late in the evening.
Several times of day we are checking the water, making sure the tubes are still running, the rows getting wet, the plants receiving moisture!
Overhead the sun shimmers, baking every particle of everything…scattering— instantly— gobbling up every morsel of moisture into the air.
The irrigation water pushes up little puffs of dust, as the earth feels the exaltation, of the flowing streams; the gurgles of a song of hope!
Then THERE…in the chaos of rushing water I saw a rainbow!
That little gift bringing an sensation of joy!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
From my world to your heart,
Linda
For two days and two nights we got to have our youngest granddaughter.
She is amazing help.
Always willing to do something; whatever we are doing. Always asking: “is there anything I can do to help you—or can I help you Grandpa”?
She goes with us braving the mosquitoes and deer fly, plus those nasty biting little horse flies.
Taking her little red shovel— helping move the water down the rows– making that big warm farmer’s heart in her grandpa swell with pride.
Jumping carefully over the just sprouting pinto beans, we hear her laughing delightedly.
Then just before the dark closes in completely she and grandpa would go for a fast, breath-catching four-wheeler ride, me following along behind….way behind so Boomer and I didn’t eat dust. Clear to the Rocky Point, then home again.
Today we are back to just ‘ourselves’ and our normal routines.
For a little while, we were young once more filling our days with work and play that only a 9 year can bring.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
My father was not what I would call father. He was Daddy. Always! Until the day he died…very suddenly, an extremely long-way from home. It was a heart attack. Leaving Momma stranded way down south.
Now that is NOT something he would have chosen to do. Leave Momma alone to deal with the biggest disaster of her life, but sometimes we don’t get to choose. He was 72 when he died.
(Thankfully they were visiting our son and then daughter-in-law; so Momma really wasn’t without help.)
It’s been years now (eighteen to be exact), still I feel him hovering over me…just over my shoulder, I catch a glimpse of him now and again, and once felt his hand on my back.
I often wonder what his life would have been like if his Daddy hadn’t died very young. (Pete died in 1936—Daddy was just nine (going on ten) years old at the time of his Dad’s death)
Grandma remarried and lived a very long and happy life with her second husband. He brought, into their union three sons; his wife died right after the birth of the youngest boy.
Grandma brought Daddy.
Through the years the ‘family’ photos show the struggle of my Dad’s ‘never feeling like he belonged’.
I I think he never really felt like he ‘fit’ until he met and married Momma. Who came with her all her southern born aunts and uncles. It was at this time he learned to hug and kiss and be swallowed up into a warm, gregarious, fun, outgoing family.
For which I am eternally grateful!
I will always long for them, Momma died just months after Daddy…she missed him too much.
But one thing I know…he really is always with me…I can feel him there—-just beyond my shoulder.
It is a blessing I cherish!
From my world to your heart,
Linda
“The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them — words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they’re brought out. But it’s more than that, isn’t it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you’ve said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That’s the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller but for want of an understanding ear.” – Stephen King
I know this sounds silly…..but sometimes the world, the sky, the very air we breath is so excitingly beautiful!
I give thanks for allowing to be alive, to experience this very existence of such a wonderful earth we live upon.
From my heart to your world,
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 