Confused Weather–Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Posted on January 13, 2015 by Dayphoto

Look at this weather! Typical of summer, but not the middle of January!

And…it really isn’t all that cold—it’s 35* (I think that is 1.66 in celsius ???) right now. The ratty and tired snow is now gone and huge mud puddles in it’s place. There is no really working outside in this. (Although, I will still need to haul wood for the fireplace.)

Yesterday Terry and I did some maintenance jobs around the yard involving the chain saw, we were able to do them without moisture—snow or rain.

We still have a list of chores that needs to be done and soon…one of them is to put a new roof on the tilehouse, another is to finish hooking up the wood stove in one of the shops, and of course the fences all need to be walked and checked. The ditch company is very bad about just cutting the fence, if they want in …drives us bats. We have gates—sure they might have to walk a short distance to get to the gate (we leave them open during farming season) and then walk another short distance to get where ever it is they want to be. But no…they just cut the four strands of barbed wire – down the fences go and in they walk. Sure is disrespectful and (basically) lazy.

Anyway… (this is a summer rain photo with a Boomer nose on the side)

I will enjoy this sorta–like summer rain and do some baking. It will be nice to get caught back up on my house stuff.

Your friend,

Linda

FOG — Sunday, January 11, 2015

Posted on January 11, 2015 by Dayphoto

Fog rolled in just before the snow hit! (It’s snowing here now)

Nothing is a beautiful as fog.

Of course we don’t have fog like the other parts of the world, we have fog in a very random way. Fog is Not a staple here, nor is it a common occurrence. It isn’t rare, but it is unusual.

When we do get fog it’s caused from the large variety of canals and rivers, which are in our area; the water becomes warmer than the air then we get fog!!! I adore the fog!

Of course it never lasts long. So having it descend on the farm is really nice!

Your friend,

Linda

A Little of This and a Little of That—Thursday, January 8, 2015

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Dayphoto

This is a photo was taken by our oldest daughter while she and Jason were up on the Uncompahgre Plateau (Un-come-pah-gray, with the accent on the pah). Winter on the plateau!

It’s melting here! Bright sunshine and warmer temperatures are quickly destroying all the footprints in the snow.

I am not sure if this is a canine with a bum leg or a lame deer. My vote goes for the deer–although, I’m really not sure. A dog could drag a leg, but more than likely they hop along on three legs.

Little birds…of which kind I’m not sure….we have quail, pheasant, plus many little song birds. There is also a possibility that mice have scampered over the birds tracks.

I have even brought out my EVERYDAY shoes! Feet need to see the sun! 🙂 That’s my theory, anyway! 🙂 I can only wear these ‘shoes’ when the snow is still frozen, the rest of the time–I wear boots.

Under the big cottonwood tree in the yard, the snow has melted and turned to dry dirt—makes a joy to haul wood. I even raked around the wood pile yesterday!

Another storm is due in here in a few days, but for right now! I’m enjoying this warmer weather and the sunshine! YAY!

Your friend,

Linda

Traffic Jam—Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Dayphoto

You honestly don’t see this much here anymore. Most of the time the shepherds and the cowboys truck their animals from one pasture to another.

BUT if the need to move to a pasture just a short distance the animals are driven there.

Terry and I were on our way to Grand Junction, Colorado, when we ran into about 300 sheep around Camel’s Switch! It was a hoot to watch the dogs working the sheep.

To give you a tiny idea of cowboys herding cows here is an older photo of the cows leaving our place for a pasture just down the road. Moving cows has the romance of ranch life all wrapped up in herd—cows, horses and cows boys!When I was a child sheep and cattle drives were very common. Often times children were let out of school to help drive the cows up to the pasture on Grand Mesa (I went a few times) or to gather the cows in the fall and bring them down.

Sheep were moved from one orchard to another in the winter…(Shepherds Walk WITH their flocks), many a time my brother and I would leave for school in the morning and come home that evening to sheep feeding along the trees in our father’s orchards. Overtime we would head out to school then come home to find the sheep had moved on…to a back orchard or to a neighbors. Sheep were perfect for mowing down all the weeds between the trees and along the ditch banks in orchards. They were short enough they didn’t eat twigs from the trees and always hungry enough the orchards were void if ladder binding weeds when it became time to start pruning the trees before spring buds appeared.

Watching the animals move ALWAYS makes me think of that old song RAWHIDE!

Keep movin’, movin’, movin’,
Though they’re disapprovin’,
Keep them doggies movin’ Rawhide!

Move ‘em on, head ‘em up,

Head ‘em up, move ‘em out,

Move ‘em on, head ‘em out Rawhide!
Set ‘em out, ride ‘em in
Ride ‘em in, let ‘em out,
Cut ‘em out, ride ‘em in Rawhide.

Wasn’t it Clint Eastwood that starred in that tv series?

Anyway, most ranchers and sheep people move by truck now days. Head over to the post about this happy photo. (I came upon this cattle truck one day way back when I was still working. Just click the blue lines to go to the post. 🙂 )

As a side-note…the guardian dogs were having a great time DOING NOTHING!!! Hahaha, tehe! It was all up to those hard working border collies.

There were three guard dogs and there were EVERYWHERE! They checked out every smell, peed on many a bush, walked down the train tracks…trotted into yards. They were having a DELIGHTFUL TIME!

Just so you don’t think the border collies (four of them in the back, two in the front) had their noses out of joint (my maternal grandmother’s saying 🙂 ) they DID not! They were having the time of their life pushing those sheep along!

I think it is safe to say…I enjoyed every minute of being ‘stuck’ (I use this term very loosely) behind a fast moving flock of sheep!

Your friend on a Western Colorado Farm,

Linda

Housebound—Monday, January 5, 2015

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Dayphoto

Feeling a tad housebound Terry decided that a short walk to hook-up the fence down by the head gate (for the next farm) would fix the problem.

Starting at the electric fencer each strand of wire was checked and re-hooked–working around our farm yard; gradually making it to the gate at the end of the pinto bean field. This is also the head gate (for irrigation water) to the next farm.

Sunday we try to only do those things that MUST be done. But, sometimes the air inside starts to feel closed in an way too warm.

Still feeling like we just DID NOT want to go back inside Terry and I finished up the cleaning of the grain bin. We swept up two buckets of corn, cleaned out the tubes and hooked up all the doors and vents. (Boomer wanted very much to help…but doggie toes on the mesh floor was NOT a good idea.) Then we took the two buckets of corn and flung it out into the ditch to feed the quail and pheasants—the mice and song birds—and yes, any deer that might trot along looking for a nice winter treat.

When we finished our slight chores I noticed that the sun was setting; breaking through the clouds in a tiny rim along the Uncompahgre Plateau. What a joy to see even that tiny bit of sunshine.

This morning the sun rose causing the thin clouds to turn a brilliant red…another joy for a winter’s day. This color is rare, rare, rare in the pale frozen time of winter! I sang a song of happiness when I saw it!

Now, as I sit upstairs in my little office, looking outside I see the thin clouds have become thicker and typical white/blue colors that mark each day have arrived. Today Terry and I will continue to work on the fences and do all those every-day things we each must do.

I am also sending to each and every one of you warm thoughts for a perfect Monday, filled with pleasures and happiness!

Your friend,

Linda

The Pause—Saturday, January 3, 2015

Posted on January 3, 2015 by Dayphoto

Winter colors are always so soft and muted. They lend no warmth to the land…none.

While the colors of summer blaze forth and simmer in intense bold shades of red, orange and purple

Springs hues are all fresh and new…the new green of leaves as they unfurl, the sprigs of bright green grass showing up among the dry shades of winter brown, Either-Way Fall’s golden flames shine forth from the brilliant trees to the bright blue of the sky

But winter…pale and cold and frigid.

Surrounds everything in the color and feel of snow

Wind relentless in its fury picks up the snow and flings it burning and biting into anything it touches

The colors of winter…blue, lavender, pink and white. The colors of silence, of waiting, of hunkering down, resting….

Your friend on a very frozen farm in western Colorado,

Linda

Right on Time–Winter’s Chill–Friday, January 2, 2015

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Dayphoto

The Sunday after Christmas a strong winter storm made it’s way across the Utah border and onto the the Uncompahgre Plateau (Un-come-pah-gray accent on the pah). We watched it slowly fill in the canyons and draws, skimming the tops of the mesas until it started to push it’s way into the Roubidoux Canyon. Once in the canyon it’s just a matter of a fast wind before it hits us. We are the first mesa after you leave the canyon…you can see the flat lands below us (we are the last farm on California Mesa – just before the flat lands which drop off into Roubidoux Canyon.)

Monday morning the kids headed back in a snow storm, leaving well before the storm stopped.

By afternoon the Uncompahgre Plateau was white and we had about an inch of snow. Today we we have about and 1 1/2 inches— not a lot of snow. But what we do have is COLD!

That typical cold, which freezes your skin the minute you head outside. Your air puffs white and steamy as you breathe in and out, in and out. With conditions just right you nose even freezes shut. Sure is a nasty feeling.

Boomer and I still go walking late at night. The moon is almost full now, which allows me to walk without a flashlight—-although I do take one with me.

The air is crisp and full of sounds. Sounds carry far in cold air…I can hear the coal train going through Delta on it’s way to Utah, I can hear the neighbors cows from over in the hollow, and the sound of cars and trucks passing way over there.

Boomer and I walk along …he smells all the news along the way, I see the foot prints…bunny, mice, birds, deer, Sammy the cat’s paw prints, and other canine prints…dog? Coyote? Wild dog packs? Cy-dogs? I don’t pause to decide what I’m looking upon. Lots of our neighbors allow their dogs to roam the farms (never a good idea–a dog chasing livestock is sure to be shot).

When the chill starts to be too much we head back toward the house and the heat of the wood fire. Boomer settles back down for a long winter nap. After filling the wood stove I like to sit by the window watching the frozen world full of white/silver moonlight; the cats sit with me–Sammy on top of the sofa and Monkey in the window. We all stare outside marveling at the mid-night beauty of ice, snow, and sparkling white moonlight.

Your friend on a very frozen farm in the western part of Colorado,

Linda