The world seems full of lace
Even though the wind tried to tear apart the lovely
Blossoms
The fruit trees stood firm
Against the wind, the hail, and the rain
Bringing joy to the sunshine now filling the land.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Friday the wind became more than over-the-top, it became so concentrated
That the electricity went out for three hours.
We had 65 m.p.h. wind gusts
Full of dirt and flying things.
Terry talked to a friend, at the power company, and was told trees in the Hotchkiss area were blown over causing outages; power poles snapped in our area.
What a mess.
After the wind left we had a hail storm. All these little white blossoms are from the pear tree.
Scattering bits and pieces everywhere.
Then at the end of the day—-the sun shone upon the bruises and fissures the wind breathed on the land.
Putting us all back together with its own unique rhythm of healing.
From my world to your heart,
Linda
Mom and Dad lift up all the siphon tubes out of the ditches, fork out all the trash
Before 7:00 in the morning, Dad calls the Uncompaghre Valley Water Users ditch rider. Our ditch rider rides for the FN Lateral. That is the canal from which we get the water that goes to our place.
Our headgate has its own number and everything. And our farm, just like every farm within the Uncompaghre Valley Water Users area, has its own share of water. This water was decided way back in 1902 — every farm gets its number of shares forever and ever and ever. And that farmer (owner of the farm) must pay for the shares…they are not a freebie. Just so you know, Mom and Dad say the cost of the water for each farm is more than the taxes on each farm. Water is an expensive part of farming.
Once at the headgate he lifts up the dam stopping the water from going into our farm.
After Dad talks to the ditch rider, he heads up to the headgate, opens the dam the amount the ditch rider says he can have (yes, sometimes you don’t get the 100% you pay for, sometimes you only get a percentage—it all depends on the snowmelt.)
The amount of water Dad can have, leaves the canal and heads onto the place—at that point Mom and Dad scoop trash out the ditches, so the trash cleaners don’t get over-whelmed.
Then they move to the first field they are starting the water on.
This goes on from the first day in April when the headgate is first opened until the last day in September when Dad decides the crops are finished taking in water.
Twice or more times a day…
Mom and Dad go out, check the trash,
check the furrows to make sure they are not trashed up,
and move the water to the next furrows on and on and on.
Step Three will tell you more. In detail. I think.
TLC Cai-Cai
Watching the water flow into the siphon tubes and down the furrows is such a huge pleasure to Terry and me.
He, because the ground is soaking up the water; getting ready to plant.
And I for the music of the sound of the water, the little splash as it comes out of the siphon tubes, the slender melody of the bubbles unraveling from the tube
The light as it plays along the tiny ripples and splashes. Glistening brightly in the Spring air.
From my world to your heart,
Linda
The First Step of the First Step is clean the canal.
Then clean all the ditches.
After that Dad goes out and makes the big ditches
Then he goes back out and makes the waste ditches (smaller ditches)
Then before he plants, he marks out the fields
And then he and Mom BEGIN!
That means they start the water on the farm.
Step One!
TLC Cai-Cai
Each day there is something in it
I can be grateful for.
Sometimes I find it when my mind is hanging by a thread
When everything I know and understand has become frayed.
always, and forever, there is something the God(s) will send us to lift us up.
From my heart to your world,
Linda
As dusk turns into night
And the world turns to shadows.
Our minds have also grown calm and muted.
Rest.
It is a very good thing.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
It all begins with snow. Lots and lots of snow.
That snow then melts way, way up there in the high, high mountains. Taylor Park Reservoir is owned and managed by the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users.
(I don’t really know these things, but Mom does, so I’m letting Mom write this for a little bit. TLC Cai-Cai)
The melted snow, which turns into water, flows all the way down to the Blue Mesa Reservoir whereby it then flows into all the canals, which water all the farms along the way from here to there.
Uncompahgre Valley Water Users has one storage dam, several diversion dams, 128 miles of canals, 438 miles of laterals, and 216 miles of drains.
Now that Mom told you that…I’ll tell you, come to Spring. The Ditch Riders open the canal so Dad and lots of other farmers can get water onto their farms and start irrigation.
That means my days of catching mice IN the canal are over.
(Ditch riders burning the trash in the ditches)
Water—this is the life-blood and the backbone of the farm
(cleaning out the trash)
(Trash heading to the bridge on a wave of water)
Lots of muscle to keep from flooding
Through the bridge!
A Big Day is the day the canal is open!
TLC Cai-Cai
Terry and I spent time working in a most terrible wind (60 m.p.h. gusts)
We had to get the siphon tubes out and the ditches, sorta kinda cleaned because it was time to start the water.
Hair flung so high I look like I could take off
Then the storm arrived so the next morning we moved water (running water) with ice on it.
Baby, it’s cold!
BRRR!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 