“The first fall of snow is not only and event, it is a magical event. 
You go to bed in one kind of world
and wake up in another quite different,
and if this is not enchantment
then where is it to be found?”
J.B. (John Boynton) Priestley
Through the eyes of child….
The excitement and wonder fills your soul
Really, who could ask for more?
Your friend,
Linda
Our storm arrived….bringing with it the most delicious, gentle, kind drizzle of rain you can imagine. It started just after sunset with tiny sprinkles here and there.
By 8 o’clock in the evening Terry came in from working on the 4010 and announced the skies were weeping! I went to see, both dogs following, then choosing to stay outside. (It was a warmish evening and Fuzzy wanted to be outside…Boomer doesn’t like to be somewhere Fuzzy isn’t)
All night the delicious gentle rain fell causing a mist to surround us and all the trees and bushes and plants. This morning we were wet, but not so wet it was miserable. The dogs came in and laid down, Fuzzy by me and Boomer as close to the fire as he could get. It wasn’t long before they were panting but reluctant to go back outside. It’s hard to do something when everything is dripping.
Gradually they went out…first Fuzzy and then Boomer…WHEW! The fresh air must have felt good for them.
Today I will be helping Terry put his hydraulic pump back on the 4010. He fixed the back pump first and now we will do the front one. We had to wait for a pump to be delivered from Abilene, Kansas, which came yesterday. It will take both of us…and a jack and other things for those pumps are are heavy, heavy, heavy.
Sometime after we get this fixed we will take a very fast trip to Bridgeport, Nebraska to get a motor for the combine — the one that he cobbled together by drilling holes in the thermostat.
It’s been a farming season of things breaking in a huge way, then having to be fixed…the 4010 with the hydraulic pumps, the bean combine with the auger, the diesel combine’s motor and the gasoline combine’s major chain under everything, which not only broke but ripped up the bottom metal and sucked into the loading chute. Once these are fixed we should be ‘good to go’ for several more years…anyway that is what Terry is saying. 🙂 🙂
I found the sky amazing last night…that long strip of …whatever … shows up close as a spot in another cloud.
The storm is here until Sunday…with rain supposedly turning to snow tonight. I guess we will see in the morning won’t we. The mountains all around us are showing snow…it can stay up there, which would be perfect.
Off now to help with the tractor and the hydraulic pump,
Your sometimes mechanic’s helper friend,
Linda
We have another storm coming in
It will probably be here tonight sometime.
The weather people say it will be another series of storms coming to us clear from the Hawaiian Islands
So….that means I have lots to get done before night fall.
Today is clean out the chicken house day…not a job I enjoy, but ones the hens delight in. When I’m done they will have lots of lush and rich hay to peck and scratch around in if the weather is too bad to go outside.
I use the hay from the baler. Terry always cleans out the baler every time he uses the baler….blows the dust and leaves off of it, greases everything up, then parks it under it’s very own shed until the next cutting of alfalfa. The hay that is taken out of the baler is mine to use around the farm. We used to feed it to the pigs, and the goats and the sheep, when we had them. I always gave a nice batch to the chickens and the the calves (if we had orphans) There isn’t tons of this lovely green leafy stuff, but over three cutting a summer I can gather up a nice little pile. We put the pile in the same building with the baler and then cover up the pile with a tarp to keep the loose pile together.
Sometimes I’ll find a yummy bone or two buried in the deep reaches of the pile just waiting to be brought out for a nice chewing. 🙂
So off I go to get some things done before the weather blows in here wet and nasty. The Farmer’s Almanac says “As November 21st is, so is the winter”. Looks like wet and nasty just might be predicted for our winter. (I say this because the storm is here until Saturday, then leaves and we have nice weather for a few more days. — Just storms for the 21st)
Your interested to see how the winter turns out friend,
Linda
Yesterday we had a huge mine accident in Ouray, Colorado.
Once more my heart goes out to all the friends and family and loved ones!
Accidents are always hard at anytime –during the holidays they always seem worse!
With heartfelt sadness,
Your friend,
Linda
My heart goes out to everyone who was caught in those horrible storms in the mid-west!
I know that there really isn’t much I can say that will help
Know one really understands or even knows what it is like unless they walk in your shoes
But I care! And I know many, many others care!
Your friend,
Linda
While working outside Friday a huge Sun Dog lit up the western sky, foretelling of a cold front soon to be arriving in our area
The day was rather warm for a November day so we kept on
checking the fences and rebuilding where they had been torn down
That is Terry the tiny dot on the gray looking hill. He will check the fences between our neighbor to the south
Here he is again almost to the top.
While he is doing that the dogs and I headed down to the west of the place. The most damage will come from those two areas and the north.
Yep! Right on time! Saturday the cold front came in…rain, bitter wind, and snow in places. We only had a sprinkle of rain and the sharp wind, but it looks like the mountains collected lots of white stuff. Come next spring we will be able to water our crops with melted snow! 🙂
Today the clouds are lifting and a small chill breeze is pushing them away clearing the sky.
It looks like a promising day!
Your friend on the western side of Colorado,
Linda
The winter birds have arrived….we are seeing daily crows and ravens (Although, those birds live here year-round they don’t stay close to the farms) and the ever present flocks of sparrows and starlings. We have others but these are the majority of the birds. The owls are back in the tops of our trees sending their soft hoo-hoos into the night.
The air is full of the sound of Sandhill Cranes…we have lots and lots of them —-I mean lots!
They are looking for certain fields, landing in one and then leaving and then landing in another
Where the Canada Geese used to be we now have the cranes.
I’m not complaining…I enjoy both of the bird types.
As winter progresses we will start to see the birds species mixing, but for now…for the beginning of things they won’t share. Most of the Canada Geese are hanging out at the water places, the rivers and Confluence Lake and small ponds.
I hope to get closer to these really shy birds to try and get a really nice shots of the birds.
I also hope they come closer to the house so I can watch them right out the window, that would be fun!
Anyway, we are taking the day off today…no real work..tomorrow we start back up again.
Have a good one everyone,
Your Friend, Linda
DONE!!!!
FINISHED!!!
The last load ground up and sent with the neighbor, Sam.
Supper was eaten at 8:00 p.m.
That was okay! Sam has feed for the winter and we are through with the corn!
YIPPEE!!!
Now we move into the maintenance and repair season…known as winter!
Your friend,
Linda
I thought it would be fun to post a few photos for our very quick train trip. I so enjoyed the train trip….Terry not so much (way, way, way too slow for him). I could do it again, just to see the scenery. It is scenery you never see driving in a car, especially on the interstates. We met people who were traveling from the east coast to the west coast…four days and three nights of travel. Some purchased sleeping cars and some slept in the seats of the regular cars.
The food was good, but extremely expensive. $12 for a hamburger with chips, $3 for a drink, although water, ice tea, and coffee was part of the meal. We only ate one meal on the train, but if you purchased a sleeper all of your meals were included—breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
I’m always amazed at the engineering feats of those back in the late 1800 and early 1900. We rode on rails laid at the turn of the 1900’s the skills of those men to accomplish such a feat is stunning.
The trip from Grand Junction to Denver has several tunnels in it…I really can’t remember now – somewhere around 40-50, which is sort of cool. And all of this created way, way back when, when the tracks were first laid.
This is Glenwood Springs, Colorado…the river, the interstate and the pool are all in front of that beautiful building
Going to Denver we went to Granby then on to Frazier and Winter Park. At Frazier and Winter Park we had an hour and a half stop waiting for repairs further on down the tracks. Winter Park and Frazier have really grown up over the last 5 or so years…lots on new buildings, mega mansions, and condos. I was surprised. We also had to stop again for thirty minutes which made the train get in 1 1/2 hours late. Coming home we had no stops and arrived on time in Grand Junction.
Leaving Denver we could see the inversion that had settled down over the area. It was extremely cold in the city. We were there only one night, but since we were right on the 16th Street Mall the cold didn’t stop us from having a special time just for us.
There was snow in Glenwood Canyon on the way back, but it only reached the top of the canyon
To be truthful I enjoyed just looking at the highway and NOT driving on the highway! 🙂 🙂
The corn harvest is starting to wind down today or tomorrow we will be finished. HOO RAY!! The weather has been beautiful the whole time. After the combines messed up and all of you put for your collective thoughts Terry was able to fix the thermostat and move steadily forward.
The motor is now using oil so he will have to change it out or over-haul it. That will be the next project…that and checking fences. Thanksgiving is the beginning of pheasant season…we have NOT had any pheasants for several years now (the DOW planted fox in our area so the ground birds became yummy fox food). But hope prevails as he saw two roosters and a hen while he was combining, we hope they are making a come back.
Even though we post the place there are those who don’t care they arrive leaving open gates and tearing down fences in the hopes of MAYBE finding something to kill. With all that in mind we will head out and check and repair and post signs…sometime very soon.
Your farming friend,
Linda
Way back here I promised to show you the photos and tell you a little bit about the Diversion Dam.
The Diversion Dam is where our irrigation water starts (and out potable water for our homes) out of the Gunnison River flowing through the Gunnison Tunnel. This is the dam and the little house is sitting over all the ‘workings’ that move the water from the Gunnison to farms along the Uncompahgre Valley (Un-come-pah-gray…accent on the pah). We live in the lower part of the Uncompahgre Valley…the irrigation water starts flowing through farms in Montrose, then Olathe and finally Delta. The water is used many, many, many times before it flows back into the Gunnison River on it’s way to California, Nevada, and Arizona. Water in our neck of the high desert is not wasted. Water in Colorado protected by law…we can not even catch rain water as all water must be allowed to flow back into the land. This link will show you other people’s photos of the dam and the tunnel.
Anyway, our water starts at Taylor Reservoir flows into Blue Mesa Reservoir and then starts it’s way down the Gunnison to Delta, through the Black Canyon.
Only a portion of the river is diverted at the Gunnison dam. The above photo shows you the water flowing onward after the dam.
The Uncompahgre Valley Water Users manage the water with senior water rights on the river. This house is where the people live who take care of the Dam and the tunnel on this end of things.
The Uncompahgre Valley Water Users and Delta Montrose Electric Association combined forces to start a hydro project on the canal…
You are looking at the gate that takes the water to the hydro.
Water…always a fascinating subject for me… Since I grew up at the foot of Grand Mesa (my father and grandfather had big orchards) water was always a topic of discussion. After getting married to a farmer we continued the water discussion …the one of — is there enough to farm with this year? Always a concern.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy your short trip. It’s always a treat to take people to see where the ‘water’ comes from, water for drinking and for irrigation in our tiny spot of the world.
You Western Colorado Friend,
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 