Everything and every animal is looking rich and fat
The corn is filling out
Even though the heat has returned, I really don’t mind. I love spring, summer and fall. All parts of each season.
The rains have left for a spell, but just before they left a rainbow landed in the pinto bean field.
All is right with my world.
Have a wonderful Sunday, everyone!
Linda
Two little families of Hummingbirds have built nests in one of our really old sheds.
I keep waiting for the little birds to hatch, but then they do and I miss them. Darn it.
Anyway, I’ll keep watching. The next set of eggs I hope to see hatch and if I do so will you!
Linda
We’ve been cutting and hauling wood. Permits are not expensive and you get 4 cords of wood.
Gradually we (meaning all of our kids and us) are getting our winter supply.
We mostly cut on the Uncompahgre Plateau, which is behind our farm.
It’s for sure I can’t haul out logs this size…. its a good thing our son can. They (meaning Terry/ Evan / Kelly) have to cut the logs down so the rest of us can haul and load them. 🙂
This is a view coming off the top of Grand Mesa. I grew up in that valley down there…which is the Cedaredge/ Eckert area. Lots more people there than when I was a kid. At the time of my youth it was mostly cattle ranches and fruit farms. We had 36 kids graduate out of my Senior class.
Everything changes as time moves on.
We saw another rainbow as we headed in from the plateau
You all might be getting tired of these gifts from heaven, but I sure am enjoying them.
Linda
This morning was cool and damp as we aheaded out to set the water around 6:00. It’s twilight at 5:30 so we have moved setting water to 6:00. As time goes on we will move to 6:30.
There were lots of clouds in the sky and some of the canyons and buttes and mesas around us were getting rain.
On the last set the sun popped over the Paonia Mountains and hit a rain chute over the Uncompahgre Plateau
It was stunning to say the least!
On the way back in the sun also caught a spider web causing it to glow and sparkle.
Linda
We were lucky, the weather held until we got the hay in. Terry stacked it in a whole other spot so it won’t get mixed up in the really good hay.
Since we only had the irrigation to do and Terry needed a part for one of the tractors we took off for Rocky Ford, Colorado. (The home of the wonderful cantalope—–and great tractor and combine salvage yards).
Blue Mesa Dam was beautiful
This is where we get our irrigation water, so seeing if full is wonderful!
It was fuller than we’ve seen in a long, long time.
The shopping center was full of all sorts of goodies
So much to chose from
In the end the perfect part was there. And for a really nice price.
Home again.
Along the way I was given a gift also
Pretty Cool.
We got back to a couple of really big, fast moving rain storms. Everything is rich and green, including the weeds.
So I guess you know what I’ll be doing today. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and leaving comments. I plan on getting around to everyone’s blog soon and hope to get all my comments answered today!
Linda
It rained again last night, around 3:30 in the morning
But the sun is shining and the clouds are moving away. I checked the weather forcaste where it looks like we are now in the 40% chance of rain, with it mostly in the mountains.
The sunrise caught the last of the early morning rain just leaving and I caught the gift with my camera so I could share it with you.
Linda
It rained last night
My yard is beautiful and green, the dust is settled and the drying alfalfa is wet. Just one more day in the heat and then a day to bale and haul and it could rain.
70% chance for the rest of the day and night today, Tuesday with more storms for Wednesday.
I still love the rainbows the storms produce.
Linda
We are hauling the little field now. Up before dawn and out in the field by 5:30. Get the water set and start on the hay. By 7 it’s already hot and the bugs are biting.
If the weather holds, (it’s suppose to bring in more thunderstorms today at noon), the largest field of hay should be ready to bale tomorrow morning. We hope tomorrow morning, if not then Wednesday. Everything is a race against the weather.
At least it is hot drying weather (100+*) and if the thunderstorms stay in the mountains everyone who is doing hay will get done fast. Hot weather helps the alfalfa dry into hay.
Linda
Since school is about to start and we were in a down-time Terry and I, the grandchildren and thier parents decided to take a short vacation.
Terry put the water in the pasture and we headed out.
Cortez, Colorado is three hours away from us, with Mesa Verde (the Visitor’s Center) an hour out of Cortez. So in four hours we were looking, walking, and touring some of Colorado’s most famous cliff houses.
There are two mesas which are open to visitors, each mesa takes four hours or so to completely see.
Some you drive to and get out and look upon as they are waaaaaay
across the canyon. Others like this one just above (Long House) is open for tours
others you walk down to and then get to walk through out.
This cliff is called Cliff Palace. The time space is 600 A.D. to the middle of 1200 A.D.
You can NOT be afraid of heights, nor have bad knees, or get tired of walking
You get to walk in the footsteps of these very ancient people …here you go up the rock in ancient foot holes
It took four hours on the first mesa and about 6 hours on the second mesa
Everything that goes down, has to come back up.
I was walked out! It was hot, also, heat hovering around the very high 90s. You could see it shimmer off the canyon walls.
Lots and lots of people. It costs to get into the park, and it costs per person no matter the size or age to travel into the large cliffs. The group sizes are regulated so you are not crowded or the site over-whelmed with people.
Times have changed. This made my 6th visit to the park. In the beginning you could just go and do and enjoy. It’s now big business, but still very enjoyable.
If you get a chance to go, please do so.
Linda
The monsoon season is also known as the rainy season, coming about due to a shift in wind directions that bring excessive rainfall. Right up from the Gulf of Mexico to us.
July is our monsoon season, some years it misses us all together, but we’ve been lucky. The other side of the Continental Divide in our state (Colorado) is very, very dry.
On the other hand all the moisture is causing havock with the second cutting of hay. If the alfalfa is cut then rained on you can pretty much weep tears. Rained on hay loses much of it’s food value.
Once cut it takes around 6-7 days of hot drying weather, less if you can get hot drying weather with a little wind. Then the good weather has to hold with enough moisture (dew) in the morning to bale. Baling with dew is good for it keep the little leaves attached to the stem of the plant. The little leaves are where the food value is…a dry old stem is pretty much like eating straw.
Terry’s cutting the small field today…it’s suppose to be nice for about six or seven days in a row so he is chancing it.
Then on Friday or Saturday he will cut the large field.
After that we hold our breath hoping the rain stays away until we get it baled and stacked.
One nice thing about the weather…the sky is ever so dramatic!
Then after each wild storm rolls through the sun comes out and there is a rainbow!
🙂
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 