The Year of the Wind

Posted on November 30, 2010 by Dayphoto

Wind became our constant companion starting this spring. Not just a now and then breeze but a real honest-to-goodness wind. After our really long, last forever and ever winter ended, the wind began.

Now wind is normal for our spring….it takes the wind to melt the snow in the mountains and in the canyons surrounding us, and because we live on a mesa, we are subject to wind.

Our wind comes out of Utah.

Five miles away in the town of Delta, while we are blowing away, they have nothing, nada, zip, no wind.

(I took this at 4:00 p.m. last evening)

But this year, after the spring winds left, the winds continued on into summer, then fall, and now winter 15-35 and sometimes 45-60 M.P.H. wing-dingers.

Even though the corn stalks, and the corn leaves, and the corn tassels are dry…the ears with their lovely little knurls are not.

The tops are now broken, lying helter-skelter along the furrows and there is nothing we can do but wait.

A warm up is suppose to start today and get all the way up to 45* by Friday with the nights bottoming out around 16*. But the best part is the wind is only going to be around 5 M.P.H.!

Say a little prayer for us that corn dries down to 14% or lower. Once that happens we can begin the harvest. A couple things rely on harvest…the cows are turned into pasture, which cuts down on the hay usage, and we get paid! One paycheck a year per crop is how a farmer gets to stay in business.

Sure has been a funny year. Terry said in all his years of farming, or his father farming corn, has the harvest ever been so late. We aren’t the only farmers hurting, so hopefully a corner has been turned and the corn can get out the fields into the elevators.

Linda

Baby Its Cold Outside

Posted on November 29, 2010 by Dayphoto

We are topping out at 21* and dropping to 6* at night. It’s suppose to be here for awhile longer.

Thanksgiving was good, but since the corn is still sitting out there waiting to be harvested (it gained moisture) I had time to cook.

Gluten Free Onion Rings and Gluten Free Tomato Soup

3 cups all-purpose flour (regular or gluten free)

1/2 c rice flour

1 c cornstarch

1 teaspoon cayene pepper

2 teaspoons salt

2 large onions sliced thin

Dip onions in the flour, cornstarch, cayene pepper and salt. Work the mixture on the rings until they are thoroughly coated. Shake off any excess flour before frying the onions.

Fry until crispy. Pat off excess oil and toss onion rings in wicked spice mixture:

1 tablesppon ancho chile powder

1 tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon cayenne (or to taste)

(Wait until all the foaming action in the fryer dies down. That means all or most of the liquid in the onion has cooked out, which is what makes them crispy.)

Tomato Soup

Saute 2 tablespoons chopped onion in 2 tablespoons butter

Blend altogheter all-purpose flour (regular or gluten-free), 2 teaspoons sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teasppon pepper, 1 dash garlic powder and stir into the butter and onions.

Removed from heat and slowly stir in 2 cups of tomato juice. Boil for 1 minute.

Stir hot tomato mixture into 2 cups cold milk

Heat to almost boiling and serve.

It is important to stir the hot mixture-slowly- into the cold milk to avoid curdling.

Add a toasted cheese sandwich and the onion rings.

Tomorrow I will give you my gluten-free cracker recipe.

Linda

A Gift from a Friend and Happy Thanksgiving

Posted on November 23, 2010 by Dayphoto

Heidi from http://haffnewie.wordpress.com/ made some of the cutest little mice.

Out of the goodness of her heart she sent me five of the critters. One for each of my grandchildren and one for me. She even tells you her secrets for making these delightful little clay art mice.

Since Thanksgiving is a time to focus on what we are blessed with and what we are Thankful for I wish to:

Thank each and everyone of you for stopping by my blog. Many of you have become wonderful ‘blog’ friends. I have delighted in getting to know you, where you live, and the challenges and excitments that fill your days. My goals of some day I’ll— (or also known as the bucket list) –travel to many places and many lands is being fullfilled by your photo blogs and your comments have allowed me and you to get to know each other on different levels.

So this Thanksgiving I wish to send to you the blessings of Thanksgiving and the sweetest of the holiday season with friends and family near and far.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Linda

Summer’s Good-Bye, Winter Arrives

Posted on November 22, 2010 by Dayphoto

We headed to the city yesterday

Although, the wind was blowing I saw a rainbow! Just lovely for a November day.

On the way home

(the rainbow is there, you just have to really look for it.)

On the way home another one appeared. Summer’s last gift to us.

January arrived over night!

It’s cold here right now. 21*. So far the corn is standing. Maybe this cold will bring the moisture content down. Maybe.

Linda

Corn Harvest…..Not Yet

Posted on November 19, 2010 by Dayphoto

(Snow clouds blowing in)

We had the corn tested and the moisture went UP…it’s so damp here. It’s now at 15.6% ….in order to harvest it the moisture HAS to be below 14%. We have so hoped to start Monday, but that isn’t going to happen.

The weather channel has this to say:

…STRONG PACIFIC STORM TO IMPACT THE REGION FROM SATURDAY NIGHT
THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK…
EARLY INDICATIONS ARE THAT THIS STORM IS LIKELY TO BRING PERIODS OF WIDESPREAD SNOWFALL TO THE MOUNTAINS OF WESTERN COLORADO AND EASTERN UTAH…WITH RAIN AND THEN SNOW FOR THE VALLEYS. THIS STORM HAS THE POTENTIAL OF PRODUCING SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS OF SNOW IN MOST MOUNTAIN AREAS…WITH STORM TOTALS OF 1 TO 2 FEET BY LATE IN THE DAY WEDNESDAY. IN ADDITION…STRONG SOUTHWEST TO WEST WINDS MAY CAUSE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW.

Harvest is just going to have to wait.

We have a couple of worries now, besides the weather and the moisture and if and when we can harvest, that the wind will blow the corn off the stalks, break the stalks and in general dump all the kernels on the ground where they will be lost forever.

The other worry is that the moisture content will stay so high that the ears will mold. It they mold we are done, you can’t harvest moldy produce.

This has been a pretty bad year for wind anyway; it started in March and has stayed pretty consistent. This will give you an idea of wind tossed stalks. We can still harvest these, but once they twist to the ground it’s over.

So we’ve bedded down the combine and brought the truck back into its place in the yard. It would be wonderful if this storm would just stay on the ski slopes and miss us and dry sunny weather would return.

Linda

Before the Paying Workday Begins

Posted on November 18, 2010 by Dayphoto

We had the calves loaded and ready to head to market just at the sun got up.

Good thing the ground is frozen, as there is nothing worse than a fresh cow pie to step in. Then add that gooey thing into thawed slush of manure and …well…you get the picture.

Our little herd of three calves is all we had to worry about so the old homemade trailer worked fine for us. Nothing like my blog friends who move large heads of cattle, but still something that needs to happen in a timely manner.

The leaves from the apricot tree and the lilac bush crashed as soon as the air warmed up. The willow tree is still fully leaved but I’m sure it won’t be long now until it is de-leafed.

On the way back from Paonia I ran into a country style traffic jam. Cows heading down the moutains to winter pastures.

Linda

Cows and Cornfields Do NOT Mix

Posted on November 17, 2010 by Dayphoto

Last night was an adventure. One of these got left behind as the main herd was moving down the road in front of our farm.

She knew what she was doing as she headed right for the corn fields.

NOT A GOOD IDEA!

You can get lost in a corn field (of which we did—we lost her).

We could hear her thrashing around breaking the stalks tromping up and down the rows. She would get to one end see us and take off running back inside.

Cows are NOT graceful, nor are they careful where they put thier feet…they just RUN!

What a mess. It was spitting snow, rain and sleet, and the wind..I sure wished I had something over my ears.

Finally between all of us we got her caught and stablized until the cowboys could come get her.

The corn field is a mess. The wind we are having is pretty much twisting up the stalks and the cow helped crush some of them the rest of the way.

I didn’t have a chance to take and photos…the chase was on and shooting a photo would have been in bad form, let me tell you.

Anyway…maybe soon…everyone keep your fingers crossed…we can get the corn harvested!

Linda

Snow, Corn, and Art

Posted on November 16, 2010 by Dayphoto

The snow is gone! Yea! It’s 53* today so now we have MUD! But with the freezing and thawing that should get the ground dry enough so we can get into the fields. (Which will be a wonderful thing, I’m here to tell you!)

The corn is down to around 15% and should continue to drop so starting next week you should find us in the corn fields!

The motor for the GTO is finally here, so after corn harvest I guess you will know what Terry will be doing :).

See how the snow didn’t knock off the leaves of the apricot tree and the lilac bush. They will probaly start falling now that we are having warmth during the middle of the day. But it sure was strange to see leaves in all the snow.

Linda

Winter Has Arrived–and the Corn is Still Waiting for Harvest

Posted on November 15, 2010 by Dayphoto

We left Saturday to go to Greeley, Colorado to visit Terry’s sister, her husband, and his Mother.

Terry’s Mom is in a nursing home recovering from a broken hip, femur and wrist.

We drove in this

Both directions

And all the way home.

Today looks just the same as Saturday and Sunday. You can see the corn standing in the fields. Harvest has stopped, although it’s been so wet it really hasn’t started yet.

The weatherman says it will be in here until Wednesday and then cold weather will settle in. Cold weather isn’t too bad if it is clear…combines can get down fields if the ~~dirt~~ mud is frozen. Also cold weather isn’t bad if the corn moisture drops. Before this storm hit we were at 15% and wanted to start combining today. I guess that didn’t happen 😦

Oh, well…. we got to see Terry’s Mom and that is a good thing.

Linda