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
We took off for a couple of days…Misty did the irrigation for us and took care of our animals while we were gone.
When our children were little Terry drove us up this very steep mountain…Pikes Peak.
Tall
it is!
Scary driving…
You bet!
So this time we rode the cog train to the top
Where I promptly became ill
But the altitude didn’t bother Terry
The lady sitting next to me had just been to Peru. Her husband and I were not feeling very well at all. She said she learned in Peru to take the hand sanitizer and rub in on and it will help
And it did!
I was ever so thankful she was sitting next to us.
Linda
Sammy got into some spray that the famer next door was spraying on his weeds
So I gave him a bath.
When cats or dogs get into spray the thing they want to do is lick thier fur. They then get sick from the spray.
Sammy really didn’t mind the bath, but he didn’t think very much of me taking his picture when he wasn’t all pretty.
Better a wet cat than a sick cat, I told him.
Linda
The dogs and I were heading out to check the water in the middle field when I noticed that the shadows were pretty cool along side the ‘corn’ road as the Grandkids call it
So then I had to capture one of Fuzzy, who NEVER looks at the camera if he can help it
Not to out done (even though I already got his photo) Boomer had to show off
Of course he got in trouble for being IN the corn.
Silly dog.
Linda
The grandgirls just couldn’t resist this
I couldn’t resist the photo op!
Linda
