A Wee Ghost Time—Where Crazy Things Flicker on the Edges —- Thursday, March 19, 2020

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Tuesday, all the Dental Offices the Eye Doctors and whomever else I don’t know about were shut down to patients.

They are open for emergency conditions only.

Thankfully I was considered an emergency.

For you see Tuesday I had surgery to remove a tooth and receive a bone graft to my mouth.

It has been a truly long winter, starting in October with that spider bite.

Thankfully I was able to have the procedure…intense is the word.

I struggled through a couple of long nights with a thundering headache, miserable shivering and magnified bad dreams

I have emerged into a rather cold and brittle March lion/like weather, feeling somewhat better.  All the drugs are now out of my system, (a mouth seems to heal fairly quickly),

And with the knowledge, I don’t want to open my mouth too wide and smile BIG to people I meet for FOUR months. 🙂  🙂

At the end of that time, I will have to decide if I want them to drill into my newly created bone and give me an implant

Or create a flipper.

But that is a spell down the road.  Tuesday, I was blessed. I was the last patient allowed to receive service, the hideous adventure I have been on since October is now winding down toward and end.

From my world to your heart,

Linda

 

 

 

 

On a Perfect Heaven-Like Day —- Wednesday, March 18, 2020

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On a very perfect day

With metal sharp and cold, shining like silver 

Terry started plowing the land

Charming the soil into thick rich rolls

A wonderous dance, which takes place in last year’s cornfields

 

The sent of the fresh-turned earth like none other

Leaving the life-giving cornstalks in the soil to develop into rich loam.

He then flattens all the clods and raised places making sure the corn stalks are there for the little earthworms to turn into the perfect food for this year’s crop.

What a huge gift to be able to live on the land.

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

 

Hysteria and Fear Replaced with Peace and Beauty—- Tuesday, March 17, 2020

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Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, an 1887 painting by Viktor Vasnetsov. From left to right are Death, Famine, War, and Conquest; the Lamb is at the top.

The fear of the Coronavirus…the media seems to be saying that we are experiencing the appearance of the dreadful horseman of pestilence and death.

Possibly. It sure seems so each and every day.

Possibly.  I really don’t know.

 

And like each and every one of you, I won’t know until we move through this time and come out on the other side.

But I can tell you, I still enjoy walking on the farm with Beaglie, sometimes Terry and Mindy.  But always with Boomer

I love the long shadows the clean and silver moon-light throws behind the bushes, the trees, and the equipment

The movement of the clouds tangling with the moonlight, covering the moon

Silvering light which lights up the world

Making the world seem as if we are sailing closer to the moon each and every night

Growing larger, then grower smaller.

Each day a marvelous gift to you and me.

I pray that your God is with you, I thank my God for all my blessings!

Amen.

From my world to your heart,

Linda

 

After the Heavy Rain of Gray Skies Swept Away—-Monday, March 16, 2020

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There in that wonderous blue sky

I saw rainbows filling the slightly green earth with hope

Lighting the sky with the glow of a luminous gift

Blotting out the cold rain.

That evening the circle around the moon

Promised there were still moisture crystals in the air.

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

Under the Lash of a March Rain —- Sunday, March 15, 2020

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The trees are showing glorious signs of starting to bud out

Even though the air was dripping, wet, and ever so cold Friday

The trees gave off such a beautiful sigh of joy

Who cares that the earth became sodden

There is a hint of spring and summer out there in the fields

Tender little shoots

which need the life-giving moisture.

The road looks nice.  Although, it will settle over-time.  Right now a person would not know we had it torn up just a few days ago.

And, even though you stand in the heart of the field, once more, you would never know a tile line runs under it and was dug up and repaired not so long ago.

Of course, those spots will settle and be a wee bit of problem this first year, but by next year the scar will be healed.

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

The Next to the Last Step in the Tile Line Repair and Replacement, Then the Last Step — Friday, March 13, 2020

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All the water pumped into the tile line, which went under the yard, the road and into goat corral, had to be pumped out to begin the next to the last step of the whole process.

It was time to create the new waste ditch and to cover up the old waste ditch

This ditch is necessary to take the water from our place and put it back into the system for those who live on Saw Mill Mesa to have irrigation water

Gradually, everything started to take shape in the corral

Nice.

The old huge swath through the corral is gone and a new straight ditch in place.

Now we move to putting in the ten sticks of blue pipe

The trench is 8 feet deep….who knew

The Yellow broken bits are the broken tile line

Ten sticks worth

Gradually over the long process of the day

We finished!

YAY!

 

Tomorrow it’s Terry and I doing all the little bits of handwork.   Which I won’t show you.

DONE!

New Tile Line.  Broken Tile Line repaired and necessary tile line replaced!

FINISHED!!!

🙂 🙂 🙂

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

 

 

 

Day Five— Repairing the Water Line — Thursday, March 12, 2020

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Since it was another very late day, everyone was was tired.  The general consensus was if you try to fix something this late in the day, with everyone tired, it will not go well.

Terry had turned the water off already so we all headed home for a rest.

Then back early, early the next day to find the leak.

Richard ‘witched’ for the line. I found this really cool.  He let me try.  I could do it.

Neat!

Then it was time to begin.

Yep, there it was. A rock…more than likely, as the boring machine head and pipe moved under the road.

It took some time…a run to the hardware store, repairing the leak, turning the water back on,

Then covering the hole; making the road perfect again,  (Once more it was getting late in the day…you can see the shadows are from the west as they work.)

Since the next day was going to be another HUGE big day — with the need to be rested and refreshed.  The work stopped for the night.

See you tomorrow when we work on the the tile line in the field!

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

 

 

Day Four — Pulling the Pipe Through — Wednesday, March 11, 2020

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Today it was just Terry and Richard.  No extra help.

They first had to attach the huge water boring machine head to the black pipe

I was to go to the corrals and make sure something didn’t go wrong. Richard ran the boring machine

gradually, gradually bringing the black pipe through the corrals, under the road, under the lawn to the fence line where the blue pipe will be attached to the black pipe.

Terry stayed at the entrance to make sure everything went smooth there

It took a long amount of slow steady pulling, but the end finally made it into the goat corral!  Yay!

FINISHED!  The pipe was through!

I looked up and Terry was waving to Richard to stop!  Then Terry was moving quickly to the water meter box.

The pipe had hit the waterline!

Stay tuned for the water line repair!

See you tomorrow!

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

 

Day Three — Creating the Pipe, Tuesday, March 10, 2020

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Bright and early the operator of the trimming and fusing machine arrived on our farm

This is a fascinating machine—it trims the pipe (we have six pipes to trim) then fuses the pipes together in a weld which will never come undone —or so we were told.

Since we had the black pipe stored in the goat corral, the trusty backhoe lifted up one pipe at a time (as needed)

Which was then placed into the fusing machine.  First, the machine trimmed all the rough edges off of the pipe (see the black bits laying on the white box). The digital information stopped the trimming when everything was perfectly smooth and equal.

The pipe was pushed a short way through and the next pipe was placed in the machine to be trimmed to perfection.

Once it was perfect the two pipes were pushed together and heat applied.  It took 9 minutes to fuse the two ends together

The truck was attached to the first pipe to help move the growing pipe stay straight

Until all six pipes were fused together

Then it  was time to move the pipe into the corrals (in preparation to line up to the newly created tile line)

The backhoe moved the pipe little by little.  The goal is to move the pipe under that further corral fence.

 

Then the pipe had to be straightened out

Once it got straightened out

They started pulling the pipe through the horse corral, into the goat corral, and toward the new ditch/tile line

There!  All set to pull through.

But by this time it was late in the day and everyone was tired, tired, tired.

We begin again Tomorrow.

See you in the morning!

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

Day Two — Tile Line Repair and Replacement —- Monday, March 9, 2020

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Day Two started with finding where the tile line crossed under the fence and into the yard

When the Tile Line was first laid (many, many, many years ago) there was a marker placed near the fence line…..that is where the backhoe started digging.

Bingo!  Right on!

Then it was time for the boring machine.  Water was pumped through the drill pipes causing the old tile to be reamed out—all dirt, roots, broken tiles, and tree roots cut and moved out the way

It was fascinating to watch and to feel it move way deep underground. (You can see the puddle of water, which was left as the first drill pipe headed into the tile line.

We chose the boring machine route, to save digging up the lawn, thereby saving all the old trees, bushes, and the fences.

The Orange marks are showing the way the boring machine is moving.  Pretty cool.

It took lots of time, in a slow and steady fashion, but THERE IT IS!  It came through perfectly

Then it was time to move into the goat pen to create a new straight ditch

We had to have him dig out the old waste ditch and create a new straight ditch for the new pipe we were going to be installing.

Now back to the tile line and the boring head.  The smaller reaming head had to be changed for the

Larger reaming head, with larger holes for jetting the water and the capability to pull the new pipe through.

Remember the old tile line pipe was crumbled and broken requiring this very necessary and expensive repair and replacement.

Here is a closer look at the smaller head

The worker changing out the smaller head to the larger head.

Once the heads were changed it was time to pull the larger head BACK through the smaller hole to make the tunnel large enough for the pipe to go through.

Slowly, slowly it was pulled back all the way under the lawn, clear to the beginning.

Then it was sent back through, cleaning and clearing the way, so the pipe would slide through easily.

Well, wouldn’t you know?  There was an old culvert being used as part of the tile line somewhere under the lawn or the road. Out it came with all the metal twisted upon the head.

By this time it was late afternoon and everyone was tired.  The idea of removing that old culvert, getting the new pipe ready, and starting the pull was going to wait until tomorrow.

Stay tuned for the really interesting next day…the PIPE!

See you tomorrow!

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda