Photo Gifts from Long-Time Blog Readers–Thursday, December 18, 2014

Posted on December 18, 2014 by Dayphoto

It is raining here. It’s also snowing…the flakes are huge and beautiful and wet. We are warm for a snow storm so when the flakes make contact with something they burst into a wet drop.

KageDog a long-time blog reader, lover of Sandhill Cranes and all things Australia lives at the base of Grand Mesa in Cedaredge, Colorado. She sent me a beautiful photo from her deck showing the clouds covering all the basins between Cedaredge and Delta.

Among all the wonderful Christmas cards Terry and I have received, we also got this pretty cool Black Guillemot in Winter in snow

Black Guillemot in winter plumage at Bangor from Margaret Adamson.

Thank you each and everyone of you for all of your Christmas Cards and Good Wishes. We feel very lucky to have such wonderful blog friends in our lives!

Your friends on a Western Colorado Farm,

Linda

Update–Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Posted on December 17, 2014 by Dayphoto

THANK YOU! THANK-YOU One and ALL!

The lady took the cat! I am so grateful and thankful for each of your prayers, magic thoughts and crossed arms, legs, toes, hands and fingers!! YIPPEE!!!

She also will take the female cat, if I can find her and trap her. Oh the joy of good friends and people who love animals!

As for the other cat…I can’t find her. I’ve been watching for her for three days now; she seems to have disappeared. It is possible she worked her way to some other house along our country road; searching for a male.

Or….this big bird took her for lunch.

I tried to blow up the photo to see what type of bird it is

It just turned fuzzy on me.

Does anyone have an idea. It looks heavy…is it carrying something I wonder.

IF this bird made lunch out of the very sweet little cat…there is nothing I can do about it.

Predators…another reason people really need to NOT DUMP ANIMALS!!! If it wasn’t a bird it could very easily be a fox or a coyote . I guess those who dump don’t really care…out of site out of mind. It’s gets eaten…Oh well, that’s how it goes.

I will keep looking for her, but I’m thinking I really don’t have to any more.

Your friend,

Linda

NO EXCUSE—Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Posted on December 16, 2014 by Dayphoto

There is absolutely no Excuse for dumping out an animal! EVER!!!!

I DO NOT care who the person is that does it or the reason why…if I could have caught them in the act THEY would have caught the bad side of my tongue AND I would have turned THEM into the sheriff’s office!

Grrrr and sigh all at once!

Someone dumped off this very beautiful older male cat. I have been trying to capture him for several weeks now…finally last evening I did!!

He is AT LEAST 6 or more years old, has been declawed (how did they expect him to catch his food and eat?!?!??!?), and is so thin I can feel all his bones, also he is extremely shy.

He has been running wild now for some time so I’m having a hard time calming him down. But this morning after a huge cat fight with me (if he could have hurt me he would have) he and I sat for an hour and just relaxed…almost, almost I felt a faint purr starting to develop, then the phone rang! All bets were off at that point!

My oldest daughter knows someone who wants a house cat and is willing to take this ‘fixed’ and declawed kitty to live in the house with them. (Cross your fingers, toes, arms and legs that she takes him!)

On top of this cat being dumped off whomever the jewels of humanity were also dumped off a young female at the same time whom must have had kittens. I suppose they kept the kittens and got rid of her! GRRRRR Anyway, I now have to catch an in-heat female. She is tame enough I can pet her, but she skitters away when I try to pick her up. (Magic thoughts that I can get her caught and to the vet SOON!) I also hope to have a family for her, so help in that way would be good also. I’m not sure if she is declawed or not, she certainly hasn’t been fixed so I doubt if she has been declawed.

What a nightmare for the cats! A pox on whoever dumps animals!!

Linda

A Sunny Day—Monday, December 15, 2014

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Dayphoto

The storm clouds are leaving our mesa, being pushed toward Grand Mesa and the towns surrounding the base of that huge massive plateau.

It’s cold here today. I’m not complaining I can take cold; if I can see the sun…and I CAN see the sun!

I am sure you have all heard that Colorado get 300 days of sunshine a year. (I have never counted, but the propaganda says that is what we have so I suppose it is true…)

What ‘they’ don’t tell you is some of the sunny winter days are COLD! Really cold! But once more — cold is relative…I’m sure cold in Alaska or Iceland or Siberia is (hummm) MUCH COLDER than here!

Oh, well…I’ll take the cold, if I can have the sun, and we do have the sun today.

The morning sunlight reflected off the transmission lines marching along the edge of the Uncompahgre Plateau (Un-come-pah-gray). That is the edge of our corn field in the foreground, our mesa then drops down to some house along the flat, which then drops changes into Roubidoux canyon. The canyon separates that tiny flock of houses from the transmission lines on the west side of the canyon.

Time is starting to dwindle (now) in a head long rush toward Christmas. Just for Christmas day we will have all our children, their mates, and our three grandchildren for noon dinner.

I will work myself to a nub, hope and pray the food tastes okay, and spend hours before the meal and after the meal in the kitchen.

It will be nice.

The time won’t be long enough, it never is, but for a few hours I will have them here all gathered around filling my heart.

The time is getting closer! I can feel my heart starting to swell with joy–a cliche I know, but cliches do exist for a reason.

Your friend on a farm in Western Colorado,

Linda

Finished until March! Sunday, December 14, 2014

Posted on December 14, 2014 by Dayphoto

YAY! We are done!!! A Happy Dance around the farm!

One of the things about growing corn, and selling it by contract, you MUST have enough corn to fill the contract, or you will be penalized. So far (for about four years now) we have hit the marked with the amount we are supposed to deliver. The Elevator will take a few tons over, but not huge amounts.

This year we had 50 tons over the amount for fall delivery…we can deliver in March but not now. (That gives the elevator all winter to disperse of the corn).

So…..as much as we don’t like working with the corn at THE BOTTOM of the Grainery we got the largest Butler Bin ready and continued combining corn.

It was my job to manage the truck,

the auger,

the bin and the tractor….Terry finished combining.

My helper searching for corn kernels to munch on.

Two weeks into December and we are finally finished! Also we beat the winter storm, which pounded the California region and is now spreading rain and snow along the Rocky Mountains. This storm will move out of here today and head toward the bread basket of the United States pushed along with a very fast wind. Tomorrow until Thursday we are slated to have sunshine (BEAUTIFUL SUNSHINE).

Once we got the combined cleaned up and put to bed, the dump truck swept out and parked (he has ordered the booster for the brakes–he will work on them next week),

the auger (thats the auger with the green) slid back in it’s spot by the bins,

and the top on the grain bin we gave a HUGE SIGH of RELIEF!

Then yesterday afternoon we headed to Grand Junction to do a bit of shopping. I buy most of all things in Delta, but sometimes I need to go to the Whole Foods in Grand Junction for some stuff I either can’t make well, or I can’t make at all.

Today is Sunday…always, always we take this day off before the week starts again.

Thank you each and everyone for your support, cheers of encouragement and interest in our life on a western Colorado farm.

Your much relieved friend,

Linda

The Other Big Birds—Thursday, December 11, 2014

Posted on December 11, 2014 by Dayphoto

The Sandhill Cranes are starting to make our area more and more their home. Three miles away is a slough they have found and grabbed as their own (although, they seem to be sharing very happily with some ducks)

I tried to take a decent video but….well, you see. Still it gives you and idea of their calls.

This is a close-up! Beautiful birds…but VERY SHY!

We have a few in the pastures at the upper end

And hiding in the harvested corn stalks!

Here they are getting ready to land in our corn field Terry harvested first!

Aren’t they beautiful? Lucky, lucky Us!

Your friend on a Western Colorado Farm,

Linda

X Marks the Spot—Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Dayphoto

Looking out my kitchen window this morning I saw the crossed trails as two jets winged their way to places I can only imagine.

Looking further down the sky I saw the mirids or Canada Geese flying in to spend the day with us. Quickly grabbing my camera and coat I slipped out the back door….carefully, carefully so that little Boomer dog would stay inside by the fireplace. (I didn’t want a delighted baying to set in and scare away the birds! 🙂 )

The mist was heavy on the corn fields surround the house so the shots aren’t as clear as I wanted, but you can still see the bounty of Canadian Geese we are enjoying.

Carefully I crept along the fence line…careful, careful…one, just one odd sound and they will rise in a great mass honking in alarm.

The sky and the earth was over-flowing with the joyful sounds of the geese!

As the day brightened, and the mist lifted, even more Canadian Geese arrive…so many it looks like leaves off that wild plum trees.

They stayed for two days then moved on up to another field about 1/2 mile from us…but lucky for me…I was home when they chose to grace the next door field.

Somethings just must be shared…the bounty of beautiful geese is one of those things!

Your friend,

Linda

I’m Late, I’m Late—Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Posted on December 9, 2014 by Dayphoto

I’m late today! Very late!

But we have been up and at’em since 5 this morning. What a joggle of a day.

The brakes went out of the LOADED grain truck —this time the booster. This time the truck stays parked until the brakes can be fixed. (This is exactly WHY most people do NOT want to deal with old equipment…but I digress!)

Thankfully the truck was in the yard and parked under the car port…blessings abound!

We covered the completely full truck up with a tarp and tied it down. Then while Terry ran over to a neighbor who works on semi’s, to see if there were parts he could get to fix the truck, I got the house straightened up ready so we could go get the other truck. Hines said Terry could use one of their trucks to finish up our fields (two to go—well, really 1 3/4 to go). If everything holds together we hope to be done by next week…fingers and toes crossed and magic thoughts and prayers…even a knock or two on wood!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂

I have two beautiful photos from a long-time blog friend, OneFly...the first is a stunning rainbow he sent awhile back

and the second is a photo when he was going to San Jose…he loves the tropical places and travels somewhere warm and lush every winter. (This was taken in 2012—I thought it was fun to share it today, being how it is winter and brown and drab here 🙂 )

This winter he is in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico where he shot this stunning photo of a very magenta dragonfly! How Cool is THAT! 🙂

I thank each and every one of you who send me photos to share! What a joyful gift these photos are, brightening my life and those who read my blog!

Your Friend,

Linda

The Music it Sings—Monday, December 8, 2014

Posted on December 8, 2014 by Dayphoto

When I was a child many years ago we had a lesson in the 4th Grade about space and light and the distance it took to travel from here to the moon. My teacher tried to illustrate light years by using a flashlight and pointing it into the heavens at night (anyway this is what my memory is telling me today). If a person were to turn the flashlight on and point it toward the heavens (at night) then turn the light off…the light from the flashlight would still keep going and going and going until it would hit a solid object. Then it would disperse.

*****

Every evening Daddy would bring home the Daily paper, my brother and I were NOT to touch the paper until he was through reading it. Mother wasn’t very interested in the paper, but Dad was…he read everything, including the ads. The second he was done one of us got the comic section —if it were Christmas time–the other of us started with the serial Christmas story until the comics were available.

About the same time as the lesson on the flashlight and the thought that light traveled until it hit an dense object I started reading a serial space comic about an all white woman who came down to earth to do great harm.

From that point on I was terrified of the darkness and space and being outside alone IN THE DARK!!! (shudder)

When all that changed I really don’t know. But the fear is gone, and has been for many, many years. I love walking at night, even late, late at night. To walk in the silver moonlight seems to fill my soul with it’s shimmery light. To walk without the moon, just a canopy of brilliant stars on a crisp and cold mid-night is … refreshing.

Today I wonder if the people of the world are pulling away from the call of land, sinking into technology and losing contact with the earth. It’s a fleeting wonder, for it’s not something I can do anything about.

As for me…I enjoy the internet and it’s gifts of friendships flung from here all the way around the world. But the land and the sky call to me the most and the longest and loudest—I hear the music it sings.

Your friend,

Linda

Quick Trip— Sunday, December 7, 2014

Posted on December 7, 2014 by Dayphoto

Friday night…no wait!!! Early Saturday morning –3:30—neither Terry nor I could sleep…worrying about getting the corn in…the brakes went out of the grain truck…everything was wet from the rain…just stuff. The kind of thing that bothers you at night but doesn’t in the daytime.

Around 4 o’clock Terry said: “Let’s get up and go to Craig and watch Blade’s basketball tournament.”

“Sounds good to me. If we leave here at 4:30 we should make it to the gym by 7:30. Blade plays at 8:00—won’t he be surprised when we walk in?”

So we did.

The drive was beautiful..randomly we could see the moon, but mostly it was cloudy, traffic was light (not many people up at that time of day), the deer, elk and antelope stayed somewhere safe for them and for us. Right at 7:30 a.m. sharp we walked into the gym…there he was! Lined up with the team…he saw us! A smile and a tiny wave let us know! Around 7:55 the rest of the family came through the ticket booth … huge smiles all around…it was a great surprise. We enjoyed this so much.

In-between Blade’s games we went up to see their Christmas decorations and to then to see the pigs, Linky is ‘sharing’ with their neighbor. (They are his pigs, but this very lonesome for the farm little girl, was asked by Mr. Chapman if she would like to help him gentle down and take care of his latest pigs). Every day she trudges up the hill to the pig barn and plays with the three little pigs–I forget their names. When she gets tired of them she then walks along and pets and brushes down all the other pigs in this very clean and friendly pig barn. There is no smell in this set up because of how the pigs are fed and taken care of…they have their own pellet stove for the winter and nice fans for the summer. These are special pigs raised only for showing…all the little pigs are sold only to those places that want show pigs. It’s a great life for a pig!

Then back we went to watch the basketball hustle. Bladen is a good basketball player! it was ever so much fun.

The only sad part in the whole day was Tally lost her backpack—hopefully someone found it and will return it to the school or to Kelly or Misty. One can always hope, I suppose.

We were heading back home right after the games, but the kids asked us to stay for a bite to eat and a short visit. We did…it was nice.