Home is the Nicest Word There Is—Sunday, April 24, 2016

Posted on April 24, 2016 by Dayphoto

“Home is the nicest word there is.”—Laura Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie

I finally got a series of the Pink Full Moon in April…

after downloading the photos I was surprised that there is a faint pink to the moon!

Also, one day last week we saw the most stunning view of the San Juan Mountains—the sky was cloudy accept where the sun had broken through and was shinning just on them.

We live in the original land of the Ute–the Shoshone–and the Blackfeet Indians–they called the San Juan’s the Shinning Mountains…when I saw the sun breaking through the clouds and lighting up the mountain range I SO had to agree with them!

The San Juan’s lie to the south of us, to the south west is the Uncompahgre Plateau, the west is the Canyons and the desert called The Stinking Desert, to our north is the Grand Mesa, and to the east are the West Elk Mountains. We are surrounded by shinning mountains on three and half sides and stunning canyons and desert on the other half side.

Since we live and farm on a mesa we have the joy of seeing so many vistas of great beauty.

I just know, where each one of you live, you also share in this perfect wonder land called the earth!

From my heart to your world!

Linda

April’s Full Moon—Thursday, April 21, 2016

Posted on April 21, 2016 by Dayphoto

We are cloudy and cold again.

I so wanted to get a photo of April’s full moon, but alas…it isn’t to be.

SO I have some old moon photos I will re-share with you.

April is the Full Pink Moon and it comes from the herb wild phlox with is pink and starts to bloom in April. Other names for the beautiful celestial orb is Full Sprouting Grass Moon, The Egg Moon and the FIsh Moon (shad spawn at this time, I’m told)

Love the silver light of a full moon!

Wherever you are I hope you can go outside and enjoy April’s full moon,

Your friend,

Linda

As Evening Fell—Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Posted on April 20, 2016 by Dayphoto

Last night as Terry and I were working on the last set of the irrigation last night. The storm clouds were whipping around us, pushed by the wind—the air so cold it felt like January again.

The night was starting to rise around us, bring with it a glaze of cold and a promise of more killing frost.

As we loaded up to head up to check the weed catchers and the head gate at the Upper End I notice a starburst of light shimmering over our farm

The light was stunning, the sunshine breaking through the western clouds shadowing the farm in a gold that seem enchanted even though already blue shadows were forming along the rises and furrows of the irrigation rows.

A rainbow! A beautiful rainbow…I followed it from one field, to the next, to the next, clear to the Head Gate.

A rainbow saying anything is possible. All is safe!

Heading home I felt a deep contentment with the company we call the sky!

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

A Gift from the Sky—-Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Dayphoto

We had an unusual surprise yesterday morning…or possibly sometime in the night

A Weather Balloon

Now how cool is that!?!?

Of course it doesn’t take much to please us. We are simple people really.

I’ll get it all fixed up and run it into town later on today.

Sometimes gifts really do fall from the skies!

Your friend,

Linda

Across the Void—Monday, April, 18, 2016

Posted on April 18, 2016 by Dayphoto

Way back when, when I was born, I was lucky enough to come to a family full of FAMILY and friends so close to my parents and grandparents they also were considered FAMILY!

On my father’s side, his mother had a best friend…one she made after she moved to Eckert, Colorado after the death of her first husband (the father of my Dad). Iva and Grandma shared many things together, including their sons.

Although, Iva’s son was a little bit older than my Dad they became excellent friends.

Both of these friendships–my grandmother’s and my dad’s lasted their lifetimes.

But the gift I received was the joy of the two daughters of Dad’s best friend–Judy and Dixie. Judy was a year older than Dixie and I, but Dixie and I were just two weeks apart. From the time of our birth we were best friends forever…she was the sister of my heart. I still miss her. Judy and I, Dixie’s children and the rest of the world lost Dixie from cancer when she was still a young woman.

I still feel her heart across the void — that huge gulf— called the Other Side.

My oldest granddaughter has had that same kind of wondrous friendship, although theirs started in the First Grade.

They have grown so much! We are lucky because the girls like to stay with us!

There is something to be said for taking your heart, giving it a huge toss and hoping the person you are tossing it to will catch it and keep it forever more!

When they do…you are more than blessed!

Sending love to each of you, my friends!

Linda

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That—Sunday, April 17, 2016

Posted on April 17, 2016 by Dayphoto

Here is the loud, roaring (we can hear it two fields away), scary (to me) headgate.

See all the trash the comes down Terry takes it out several times a day!

Here Terry is opening the chute so we can get water onto our place. It’s measured in holes. Only so many feet of water (holes) goes with our place. I don’t like walking across the little board (which you can not see) to get to the little chute — I get dizzy and want to topple over into the roaring mass of water. It takes lots of concentration for me to get there, clean the trash out, adjust the boards (the boards are laying across the cross over board from one cement wall to another, and get back. Terry just walks over like it’s dry land.

My pear trees are just stunning.

Today the plum trees burst into bloom even though it terribly cold, with a nasty wind. And a freeze warning for tonight and tomorrow night. I guess I won’t have to worry about thinning the fruit again this year. A mixed blessing.

Terry and I were working on setting water when we saw five fire trucks speed past our place so we jumped on our four-wheelers and headed off to the Rocky Point…sure enough. The neighbor, who almost burned us out a few years back, had set another fire that got away from him. Thank heavens for quick response…the fence line you see is our property. Scary! But they got it out so all is well.

We have to check the water around mid-night or one, because of all the trash coming down the canal. Trash backs up the water and causes floods, or breaks through or over dams or ditches. This time of year the trash is the worst…wind, opening up of farm ground up above us, and opening canals that feed into ours. By the first of May or so, we should be okay. (No mid-night walks for Boomer and I, but mid-night rides and water checks instead. 🙂 )

In spite of how all this must read. Please believe me this is a very good life! I can’t imagine any other.

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

Living Each Moment in Joy— Thursday, April 14, 2016

Posted on April 14, 2016 by Dayphoto

“The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.”–Henry Van Dyke

I have mentioned more than once that I want to live this last time of my life (however long it is going to be) experiencing joy. Joy in ever moment of every day that is left to me.

I said this to a friend awhile back and she asked me: “Just how do you plan on doing that”?

I replied, “Just take one moment at a time.”

She just shook her head at me and went on her way.

Since that moment I’ve been thinking about what my answer really should have been to her: “Take each moment, each and every moment and make sure to only allow joy to be part of the moment.”

Oh, yes, I’ve had some hard moments this year, some moments where I’ve been panicked, and even had a sit down good cry. I’ve had some over-whelming moments when I’ve even been depressed, or any-of-those-things that make up everyday inter-actions with others.

(Killdeer)

But on the whole I do believe I am getting the hang of this experiencing of Joy every moment of every day of the rest of my life. How I am doing it is this—– I am NOT allowing myself to focus up those things which do not feel good. When they come into my life, or slip into my thoughts I mentally go: snip, snip cutting out the thought. So far it’s working for me.
Life is just too short for me (now) to not experience the Joy of each and every day, within each hour and moment.

This is an amazing, beautiful, wonderful world we live in! Beauty abounds everywhere. There are outstanding people to visit with and ‘experiences’ to experience to waste my moments in ‘bad thoughts’ or to harbor bad feelings.

And yes there are terrible things happening to other humans and animals, those things break my heart. If there is something, anything, even a small tiny thing, then I try to do it. To help heal the misery and hurt of animals or others.

If I physically can’t help, then I mentally send hugs and prayers in the hope and belief if the world would all get to place of care —and leave this place of I HAVE TO DOMINATE YOU—everyone and everything could also experience joy.
Well, there it is…how I am experiencing joy in my every moment of the rest of the days of my life. I’m sure I will get some hate emails, that is the risk I’m taking to put this out there. But I’m equally sure I will get positive emails which will over-power the ugly. It’s those comments of goodness I will focus on and the other I will spam! 🙂

With love your friend,

Linda

Spring Fever—-Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Posted on April 13, 2016 by Dayphoto

“It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. ANd when you’ve got it, you want-oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!”—Mark Twain

We’ve started moving fences; making the ‘farmed’ fields just a little bit bigger. Since we don’t have cows anymore and Mr. Davis’ cows have the run of the whole place Terry decided it was time to enlarge the fields and shrink the pastures.

So in our spare time we’ve been rolling wire and removing posts. It was a lot of work putting in to fences, but not so much taking them down. 🙂

We also have someone coming onto the place and shooting into our hills and into our neighbor’s hills.

Beats me why people have to cut fences and drive onto your place….and shoot! Shooting into the hillsides is really a bad thing.

While changing water the last two evenings we heard rifle shots.. we.headed up to the Rocky Point both nights to see people shooting into our neighbor’s hills right by their yearling calves and shooting into our Sage Brush Hills and our BlackBird Haven.

We headed down to the Flats to see who these people were and to ask them to leave—they saw us and jumped into their truck and took off across another neighbor’s fields. Goodness. The lack of respect astounds me!

To take off like that proves they knew they were NOT supposed to be down there and NOT supposed to be shooting. Sometimes I just don’t get people! Rather sad isn’t it?

😦 😦

I guess spring fever has them, also, but they need to go to a legal shooting range…not on someone else’s property whereby cows, dogs, little children could get hurt!

Your friend on a western Colorado Farm,

Linda

Where I Write—Wednesday, April 12, 2016

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Dayphoto

Celi from the Kitchens Garden issued a wee challenge to those over 5, 000 strong followers to do a post about—- Where You Write. As you can see my little office is upstairs with our spare bedrooms–one of the things I love to do is research for Genealogy so I have tons of material which I have collected on both sides of the desk.

Besides two bedrooms there is a small sitting room—whereby I love looking out the window.

The grandchildren love this upstairs space…spending hours up here when they come. The interesting thing about all that is it took YEARS for them to even want to come upstairs let along SLEEP up here–I don’t know what changed for them, but they love it up here now. (Sometimes too much…running and jumping on beds is NOT a good thing 😦 )

My little office is private, calm, and personal. Allowing me a small bit of quiet to fuel my imagination. A place to get away from it all.

Love,

Linda

We’ve Started Water—Monday, April 11, 2016

Posted on April 11, 2016 by Dayphoto

Hard work but every so necessary. Without water we would not have crops. And here we must water with syphon tubes or gated pipe.

First we had to clean out the ditches—these ditches are terrible for collecting trash from our fields and neighbor fields, that Colorado wind, you know. 🙂

Then while Terry marked out the fields I picked up all the syphon tubes I so carefully put away last fall and placed them in their proper slot on the ditch.

After which it was time to start the water…Terry does the head gate thing, I’m a tad ‘feared of the head gate. Scary roaring powerful thing that it is.

Then we both start digging out the ends so we can lay the tubes into them. The tubes suck the water from the cement or dirt ditches and channel the water down the rows. Gated pipe is much easier, you just open a gate. BUT trash gets in the pipe, plugs up the gates, you can’t get it out without tremendous work…a stick took both us four hours to get it out…it was just out of reach and we couldn’t get it…then it trapped all the weeds….ick.

We do this over and over until all the furrows are full….we set about 40 tubes per field.

In eight hours that set has the soil wet enough we can move on up the ditch. Right now we have two fields we are working in. Two areas to dig out ends, walk the water down the row to make sure it keeps going straight and doesn’t cut over into a neighboring furrow.

Lots of work…but you know what!? I love it! I love the smell of the water when it first hits the bone dry soil, and I love the rich, moist smell of the fields after the water is removed.

We check constantly making sure everything is working well. The first irrigation of the season is the worst, (in the terms of work), but once the rows seal, the plants are up, it’s just a matter of setting tubes and making sure the water makes it to the end (so the next field can get some.)

Sure is a nice life…if Terry had dirt in his veins, then I have irrigation water in mine. Tee Hee.