Sunlight Glowing; ’tis Summer, My Favorite Time of Year, Tuesday, July 10, 2018

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I spend every waking moment (that I can) outside. Working in the yard, helping Terry in the fields, reading a book on the lawn furniture

It’s terribly hot here this year, 90* (32.2 c) by 9:30 in the morning. Terry wilts after the thermometer hits 90*.

I seem to perk up.

We balance each other that way.

Still, the heat IS more like August; then July.

The plants are reacting to this unusual heat, by speeding up their growth.  Already the corn is starting to tassel out, and the pinto beans are shooting runners.

Early.

Almost two weeks early.  Seems very strange to us.

The weeds are loving it!  Growing rampant and wild and (even in some cases) lovely. Still, they are weeds, and therefore, undesirable.

Of course, they always and forever more pick the worst spot to grow—is there a good spot?

The little birds chatter and sing until around noon when the heat is too much for their songs.   From noon until seven in the evening they sit with wings spread out, tail feathers wide, beaks open, and eyes half closed.  Trying to stay cool.

But my flowers in the yard!! Oh! My!  They are bursting forth in such beauty.  Their scent silken as it caresses the air.

The touch of the sun warm on their breathtaking allure.

Then the evening sun fills the sky with gold, orange, and apricot.

Ahhh….summertime…and the living is good.

From my heart to your world,

Linda

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Two Mini-Storms—-Monday, July 9, 2018

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For two days straight now, the afternoon heat has given way to huge wind storms, with misting of rain.

But before the cooling of the skies, the heat creeps steadily throughout the day, building sweat on bodies and causing animals and birds to pant.

The sun beats down on the plants, the buildings, and the trees.

The lacy shadows spreading slowing on the ground allowing a repass for anything or anyone stopping in the shade.

The myriad of wildfires in the surrounding areas fill the skies with smoke, the smell of briskly burning timber coming in faintly on the wind.

Huge winds push the storms along, moving them to us from Utah, across the Uncompahgre Plateau, knocking branches down and stirring colossal twisters in the loose soil

Then the wee tiny gift of moisture arrives…causing one and all to tremble with delight and relief.

Not enough to really dampen anything, but enough to refresh the air, the mind, the body and the soul.

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

An Update on the Duck—-Sunday, July 8, 2018

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Since the duck was white, everyone decided she needed to be named something from the movie Frozen.  So, Elsa, she became.

I rigged up a wee pond, a pallet fence, gave her all the food and water she wanted and we all settled into watching Elsa enjoy her new life with us.

Then checking my FB messages I found out, that Elsa had a home. About a mile from here, way up the canal with two really big headgates in the canal.  She lived with 8 other ducks, 6 big dogs, two little dogs, several horses, a sheep and two tiny tots.

So Terry and I and our youngest granddaughter loaded up Elsa and took her back home.

When we drove into the yard, Elsa started getting very interested, even excited, she knew she had come home!

Well!  A perfect ending to a rather eventful experience for a really nice duck….we named Elsa!

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

All Fun and Games Chapter Seven A Sherlock Boomer Adventure

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Chapter Seven

King led the way, looking left and right, back over his shoulder,

then facing front again.  Gradually the night started to lighten and the day started to grow.

Ethie hopped along, her claws sore and weary.  I went behind her, giving her fluffy chicken body a push and sometimes a shove with my beagle nose.

The traveling was slow and painful and ever so slow.

Did I say slow?

You have NO idea what agonizing slow really is.

None.

“Well, Beagle, here is where I leave you.” King stopped and turned toward Ethie and I.  “I got you to the Little Corn Field.  That is further than I thought we were going to make it.”

With that statement, King turned and pushed his way into the rows of the corn stalks and was gone!

There we stood, a tired, worn out chicken, and one rather tired beagle. But if I stood on the road and looked way down the road, way, way down the road to the tiny little dots way, way down there I could just make out the start of Dad’s implement yard.

Home!

We were almost home!

“Okay, Ethie! We are close now.” I turned my eyes back and looked at Ethie.  She was so tired her eyelids had closed over her eyes and she was standing there on one foot, the other foot tucked up under her fluffy feathered belly.

Oh!

The Urge!

Oh! That very naughty urge to give her a wee little push with my nose!

I could just see what would happen…a gentle little push and FLUPP right into the soft dirt of the farm road Ethie would go.

I stood there a little spell and let Ethie sleep. As I watched Ethie’s one leg slowly collapsed; Ethie sat down in the soft dirt, of the farm road, and slept on.

The day was starting to brighten, but I figured Ethie needed her rest so I stood guard…..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, erk, snort, blink…I stood gu…………..zzzzzzz.

SQUWACK!!!!

HUH!? WHAT!? I jerked awake!

“WHAT IS HAPPENING?” I barked.

“DANGER! HELP! DANGER!”  Ethie screamed and ran right to me and jumped on my back!

“I’m about to be dinner!”

“Wait, wait!”  I tried to wake up and get my bearings. “Dinner?” I couldn’t make sense of what she was screaming.

Dinner.  What a lovely thought. I licked my lips.  Dinner…I could use dinner. Crunchy bits of cereal, some really yummy something or other out a can….jerky!  Goodness!  ANYTHING!  Dinner sounds….

“HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLP” Ethie screamed in my ear and clawed my back.

“OH, SHUT IT UP, HEN! You are the most annoying bird in the universe.  I don’t think I have even come up against any other bird as loud and crazy as you are!”  Ruth fluttered down; landing beside Ethie and myself.

“I see you made it to the farm road.  Not far now.”

“No,” I sighed. “Not far now…just an eternity with a hen.”

“Hummph!” Ethie grumped. “I’m doing my part.  It just takes me longer to get somewhere than you. I only have two feet and you have four.”

“True,” I replied, looking sadly at her two feet. “Ever so true.”

“Well, I think you got it made, dog, so I’m off for my bed in the old tree.”  Hope you make it home before the sun goes down.  If not, I’ll check the road and see where you are.  Maybe I’ll stop for a spell, maybe not.”

With that Ruth rose into the sky; turning into a smaller and smaller dot as she flew away.

Then once more it was just me, Sherlock Boomer Beaglie Brown, and Ethie the hen. And still, a long-long-long way to go.

Sigh.

 

On the Day of the Fourth — Thursday, July 5, 2018

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On the day of the 4th of July—-

Our kids were here from Parachute, Colorado (YAY!!!)   Kelly, our son-in-law, is friends with one of the Delta Volunteer Firemen who invited Kelly and his whole family (we included) to come and see how the fireworks are set-up for the display that night.

It was fascinating!

Then that afternoon while the grandkids were playing in the canal they found a duck hiding in the grass.

Circling the duck she was saved.  I now have a duck to join my hen.  She was very very thin, extremely tired (the canal is very swift and hard to get out).

Her name is now Elsa.

Elsa is doing very well, ate and ate and ate, then went to sleep.  Got up early and ate some more.

She has her own little pool and a yard and all the food she can eat.

I now have a Rescue Duck!

Then, in keeping with our annual family photo, it was time for the Knee-High by the 4th of July photo.

Complete with the BFF’s of our grandson and oldest granddaughter!

What a good time we had!  (another fun piece is the two ‘new’ kids to the block call Terry and I Grandpa and Grammy!  We think that is a very high compliment!)

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

Morning, Cool Shadows, then Fading Light—-Tuesday, July 3, 2018

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Gradually my yard is changing into different colors,

White, Yellow, red, pink, orange

 

I’ve been weeding the pinto bean field,  It’s a yearly chore that occurs daily until the pinto beans shoot feelers.

 

We go early, early until it’s time to change water, then come back into the ate, late in the day when it cools down…the corn and the cockleburs and the pigweed must be removed

Each one of those plants makes a seed the same size as the pinto bean.  If you have lots of trash seeds going in with the pinto beans the Beanery will dock you (make you pay a large fee) to clean out the seeds.

Therefore we always work diligently to get as many seeds/plants out of the field before the vines set.

Terry is doing better.  Better is a good thing.

Your friend on a Colorado farm,

Linda

The Languid Air of Summer —- Sunday, July 1, 2018

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Our air is hot! Hot and dry.

But here we are.  The middle of summer… the Second cutting of alfalfa!

The smells in the house have been lovely.  Early morning dew on the drying hay, hot summer sun at the middle of the day, and crisp smells of sharp clean scent in the evening.

The whispering sound as Terry and I fork over the end, getting ready for the baler.

Then the rich sound of the baler…while Boomer and I move through the field making sure the bales are sitting on their sides for the stack wagon.

A very hot and BORED beagle riding behind me.  He makes it for about a 1/2 hour, then after that, he is done.  Gets off and hides in the shade.

The second cutting of alfalfa! We are in the middle of Summer!

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

Chapter 6 All Fun and Games! A Sherlock Boomer Adventure

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All Fun and Games!

Chapter Six

 

We walked, Momma Deer and I, Ruth flew way ahead and then back again, and Ethie ran through most of the night.

Sometime way in the very early morning of the next day, Ethie collapsed. She just fell forward, her beak opened, eyes closed and went BAM onto the soft dirt.

The dirt made a soft little puff as she went down.

I was walking behind Ethie so I saw the whole thing.

Momma deer was in the lead.  Mainly because she was MUCH taller than all of us and could scout for danger much easier.

Ruth had just swung back over-head and saw the hen crumple.

“Hey, dog! I think the hen is done for, maybe it’s time for a nap, some scratching around for bugs and a dust bath for that bird.  Otherwise, she isn’t going to make it.”

I perked up my ears and looked around.

Momma deer stopped her forward march, turned around, came back and stood looking very puzzled at the flat as a leaf chicken.

“I think Ruth is onto something,” she murmured.  “I think I could handle a rest myself.  We are close to the farm road to the Rocky Point Hill; I’ll graze on the pasture grass while you and the hen take a rest.”   With that, she turned back around and walked up to the Rocky Point farm road, did a few hops skips and jumps and was in the pasture at the Upper End.

Ruth called “See ya soon, dog!” as she flew silently upward into the brilliantly lite sky full of moonlight.

I sat there looking at the wore out bird.  What a mess I have.  A chicken, of all things, way to heck up here in the yonder of the farm, and a huge need to get her home to Mom.

I laid down with my head on my front paws; staring at the bird/chicken/her, Ethie.

What a me…..I drifted off to sleep.  At some point, I flopped over on my side and stretched out…ahhh sure feels goo….zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

I woke up with a start!  Standing right over me was KING!!  I jumped up wide awake, almost trembling.  A buck deer with HORNS can sometimes mean trouble for canines.

“Hey, Little Buddy! Slow down! I just wanted to see what was going on here, why you were sleeping in the path, so to speak!”

“Tired, King.  Just got tired.  It’s okay. My little-feathered friend and I will be moving on at daylight.  Don’t do anything rash, King.  We aren’t planning on staying here.”  I am sorry to say I almost whined.

King raised his right hoof.  “Just relax. Tell me what’s going on and let me see if I can help you.”

Seeing that right hoof off the ground I must admit I pretty much stammered out the whole story.  Deer have very sharp hooves.

“Humm, I see.” King mused.  “So, Momma has gone onto the pasture, Ruth is in the sky somewhere and you are stuck with a farm-yard bird.”

“Yes, that pretty much sums it right up.”

“Okay, here goes…get that hen up and come with me.  I can at least get you to the Upper End Pasture and maybe down the farm road past the Little Cornfield.  If I can get you that far I think you can do the rest.”

I looked at King with his soft furry antlers, his very sharp hooves, and his TALL body and decided the answer to my worries had appeared!

Giving Ethie a push with my nose (not once but several times) she finally woke with a start, squawked when she saw King, tried to run off, but I held by her tail until she calmed down.

King and I explained our plan, she looked at us with very worried eyes, gave her feathers a shake and said: “Okay, let’s go.”

Then we were off.

It’s a good thing King was with us…King saw two foxes along the way.

One was fairly close,

but the other one up on the road part way.

King ran at both of them; they scattered.

Just as we passed the Upper End—King had to stop and talk to Momma for a spell, which was good, it gave Ethie and me a break, we started up the little rise which will take us to the farm road that went by the Little Corn field….a Coyote appeared!

I almost fainted! COYOTE!  I am mortally afraid of coyotes!

King froze. “Shhh,” he said. “Don’t make a sound.  Stand right where you are and don’t move.”

Ethie and I froze.

King froze.

I could hear the coyote walking ahead of us somewhere, very soft pads of footfalls.   They sounded like death to me.

Gradually the soft footpad sounds faded.

“Okay, you two let’s get to going. The night is fading and daylight is almost upon us.”

We took off again.

Rocky Chaco Man—Thursday, June 28, 2018

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On the day the full moon of June arrived

Rested while being hugged and read too at the Mesa County Library Reading to Dogs program

Eight little kids got to love and hug and read a book to Rocky The Rock Star!


Even the adults got in on the hug/love/pet Rocky part!

Your the best, Buddy!

From Boomer the Beaglie, Sherlock