Winter Skies
The Northern Star sits closely now
Snowing here! Again. Tiny, tiny flakes with a sharp wind.
But on Friday… We had beautiful Sunshine! It was a pleasure to chop and haul wood.
Tonight it the temps are supposed to drop to -10* (I think that is -23 c, but I’m not sure) and hover there for a spell. Then we warm way up to Zero or a little above.
BUT there is supposed to be sunshine. Lovely, sparkly sunshine (!) and NO wind!
WOO HOO!
Well, off to scrape the sidewalk and mush my way out to the turkey and the chickens.
Your tired of the grey friend,
Linda
I have a little hawk…he/she is an extremely friendly….
He/she sits very close to me looking for mice hanging under the firewood
I’ve never had a hawk be so…hum…NOT shy. But this one is.
He/she even let me go into the house, get the camera, come back and take his/her photo. Of course the wild birds have fled…I would too if I were potential dinner. 🙂
As for the mice…he/she can have all that can be eaten.
Hauling wood is an even most pleasant chore!
Your farm friend,
Linda
Well, here we are! The last month of the year. The older I get the faster time goes…flying by, as they say.
Terry got both hydraulic pumps fixed on the 4010 –over $2,000.00 later and lots of his own man power the tractor is back to work. Sometime this week he will put the loader back on and be good to go with that tractor.
There is always something it seems. Our furnace in the house is now requiring repair. Whew! If and when we get through this repair cycle it will smooth sailing for a while. The nice thing about the furnace is it is just a back up…we heat with firewood, as you know. Still there are times (if we take off for a short trip or the wood burns too fast while we are in Grand Junction) that having the furnace click on if the temperatures in the house drop below 40 is a good thing. Frozen pipes are not a good thing!
A strong cold front is due in here —
(AN ARCTIC COLD FRONT WILL BRING BIG CHANGES TO THE WEATHER STARTING TUESDAY. STRONG SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL DEVELOP MONDAY NIGHT INTO TUESDAY AS THE COLD FRONT APPROACHES FROM THE NORTHWEST. VALLEY SHOWERS MAY INITIALLY START AS RAIN BUT WILL QUICKLY TRANSITION TO SNOW AT ALL ELEVATIONS BY TUESDAY NIGHT. SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL IS POSSIBLE THROUGH WEDNESDAY FOR ALL THE MOUNTAINS OF EASTERN UTAH AND WESTERN COLORADO. THE NORTHERN AND CENTRAL VALLEYS MAY ALSO SEE SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS. SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS COULD CONTINUE INTO THE WEEKEND. FRIGID AIR WILL POUR IN BEHIND THE FRONT. AFTERNOON HIGHS MAY NOT BREAK THE FREEZING MARK FROM THURSDAY INTO THE WEEKEND. MORNING LOWS COULD BE WELL BELOW ZERO IN THE MOUNTAINS AND NORTHERN VALLEYS.)
So having the furnace as a back-up would be nice. It’s not going to happen for sometime yet, but Terry does want it in place if and when we go to Nebraska for the combine motor.
It is lightly snowing right now. Anyway, all things come to an end-once we get through this break-down/fix-back-up period I’m sure we will be good to good for a long time.
Your friend that loves December,
Linda
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
We have reached the place whereby all our gardens are now put to rest,
the freezers are filled and the cellars full,
firewood is stacked in huge piles by the door
as the fire heats the house in a warm cherry glow.
Although, this year has brought tragedies untold,
It has also brought friends through the internet bold,
I thank you all both near and far for the magic of Friendship
Is a one of life’s great blessings on this busy little farm!
Happy Day of Thanks Everyone!!
Your friend in Western Colorado,
Linda
The snowman is about gone
The only spot of white left on the lawn
His stone eyes and wooden arms picked up and carried away.
Leaving only cherish thoughts of that other day!
Happy Wednesday! I’m sure everyone is busy cooking and cleaning today.
Your friend,
Linda
The winter birds have arrived….we are seeing daily crows and ravens (Although, those birds live here year-round they don’t stay close to the farms) and the ever present flocks of sparrows and starlings. We have others but these are the majority of the birds. The owls are back in the tops of our trees sending their soft hoo-hoos into the night.
The air is full of the sound of Sandhill Cranes…we have lots and lots of them —-I mean lots!
They are looking for certain fields, landing in one and then leaving and then landing in another
Where the Canada Geese used to be we now have the cranes.
I’m not complaining…I enjoy both of the bird types.
As winter progresses we will start to see the birds species mixing, but for now…for the beginning of things they won’t share. Most of the Canada Geese are hanging out at the water places, the rivers and Confluence Lake and small ponds.
I hope to get closer to these really shy birds to try and get a really nice shots of the birds.
I also hope they come closer to the house so I can watch them right out the window, that would be fun!
Anyway, we are taking the day off today…no real work..tomorrow we start back up again.
Have a good one everyone,
Your Friend, Linda
I thought it would be fun to post a few photos for our very quick train trip. I so enjoyed the train trip….Terry not so much (way, way, way too slow for him). I could do it again, just to see the scenery. It is scenery you never see driving in a car, especially on the interstates. We met people who were traveling from the east coast to the west coast…four days and three nights of travel. Some purchased sleeping cars and some slept in the seats of the regular cars.
The food was good, but extremely expensive. $12 for a hamburger with chips, $3 for a drink, although water, ice tea, and coffee was part of the meal. We only ate one meal on the train, but if you purchased a sleeper all of your meals were included—breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
I’m always amazed at the engineering feats of those back in the late 1800 and early 1900. We rode on rails laid at the turn of the 1900’s the skills of those men to accomplish such a feat is stunning.
The trip from Grand Junction to Denver has several tunnels in it…I really can’t remember now – somewhere around 40-50, which is sort of cool. And all of this created way, way back when, when the tracks were first laid.
This is Glenwood Springs, Colorado…the river, the interstate and the pool are all in front of that beautiful building
Going to Denver we went to Granby then on to Frazier and Winter Park. At Frazier and Winter Park we had an hour and a half stop waiting for repairs further on down the tracks. Winter Park and Frazier have really grown up over the last 5 or so years…lots on new buildings, mega mansions, and condos. I was surprised. We also had to stop again for thirty minutes which made the train get in 1 1/2 hours late. Coming home we had no stops and arrived on time in Grand Junction.
Leaving Denver we could see the inversion that had settled down over the area. It was extremely cold in the city. We were there only one night, but since we were right on the 16th Street Mall the cold didn’t stop us from having a special time just for us.
There was snow in Glenwood Canyon on the way back, but it only reached the top of the canyon
To be truthful I enjoyed just looking at the highway and NOT driving on the highway! 🙂 🙂
The corn harvest is starting to wind down today or tomorrow we will be finished. HOO RAY!! The weather has been beautiful the whole time. After the combines messed up and all of you put for your collective thoughts Terry was able to fix the thermostat and move steadily forward.
The motor is now using oil so he will have to change it out or over-haul it. That will be the next project…that and checking fences. Thanksgiving is the beginning of pheasant season…we have NOT had any pheasants for several years now (the DOW planted fox in our area so the ground birds became yummy fox food). But hope prevails as he saw two roosters and a hen while he was combining, we hope they are making a come back.
Even though we post the place there are those who don’t care they arrive leaving open gates and tearing down fences in the hopes of MAYBE finding something to kill. With all that in mind we will head out and check and repair and post signs…sometime very soon.
Your farming friend,
Linda
Today is my little brother’s birthday. Of course he isn’t my ‘little’ brother anymore, standing way taller than I do. 🙂
He looks rather startled by the flash, don’t you think.
There are only the two of us…he and I.
Happy Birthday, Dan!
Linda
We took a flying trip to Norfolk, Nebraska as Terry needed some combine parts and a bracket for the suitcase weights for one of the tractors. Since we were both ready for a short trip off we went.
The desert between us and Grand Junction is extremely green. ( You can see Wild Horse Mesa in the background — it is the last green bowl shaped mesa just before the blue sharp lines of Grand Mesa)
We have had and are still having lots and lots of rain. Very nice for making the world fresh and lovely.
We got to Grand Junction as morning was coming into full-light. This is a very quick photo of the Book-cliffs which surround Grand Junction on one side.
Glenwood Canyon was beautiful waking up to a day of full-speed-ahead traffic.
Driving through the Johnson side of the Eisenhower tunnel.
We live 5 hours from Denver. At this point we are about two hours away. This a horrible mess come ski-season. The traffic slows to a 30 m.p.h. or LESS crawl on Sunday afternoon as people try to come back from a weekend of skiing.
Taking the back roads and staying off the Inter State
This CAN BE a bleak trip, but we enjoy the farms and ranches.
It was sugar beet harvest
And soybean and
corn harvest.
All the way from Colorado to Norfolk.
We cheered and clapped and gave everyone two thumbs up for being able to get their crops in.
That night we stayed in Ogalla, Nebraska —
Getting up early the next morning we we found lots of salvage yards
along our route.
Just what we were looking for!
Continued tomorrow….
Your friend on a California Mesa Farm,
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 