Tag Archives: April 15

The Adventures of TLC Cai-Cai on Friday —How it all Begins, Friday, April 15, 2022

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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

The “Wilderness” of the Farm — Thursday, April 15, 2021

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If you look close — here in the brief, surreal daylight of early morning is a bevy of Gambel’s Quail 

I love their songs and calls. 

Their darling little feather on their head 🙂

Then further along, just over that wee knob is one of those gorgeous male pheasants

We have several here and there—staking out their own area of the farm

He is silent and careful until 

You stumble upon him then his call is most acute and totally startling to all

It’s courting season right now

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh There she is…His Girl!

From my world to your heart,

Linda

P.S. Of course there is more bird and wildlife, but for now, this is a start.

 

The Top of Our Mesa has Wind, Lots of Wind —- Wednesday, April 15, 2020

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One of the things I had to get used to those many, many, many years ago, when I married Terry and we moved to where we live now

Was getting used to the wind.  For you see I grew up in the middle of an orchard,

Here, where we live, the wind starts in March and stops around the 1st week in June

It’s not constant —as in never stopping, but it is consistent

Sometimes the wind is playful, sometimes whipping the words out of mouths

Sometimes vicious  and mean and ugly, and sometimes just a whisper like lovers’ talk…soothing and caressing, singing a lullaby

I quickly found I love the wind. I love standing outside in the wind and letting it murmuring, or slam into me, hearing it moan, and cry in the treetops.

Wind, water, earth, moon, stars, sun…it’s all a huge part of me.

But I think you already know that. 🙂

From my world to your heart,

Linda

 

On Easter Morning — Tuesday, April 14, 2020

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I went out early to wake up the hens, put our freshwater and feed, open their little runway when I noticed how beautiful the sky looked–the first glimmer of the coming day

Easter day was cold, wind blowing, buffeting man and beast, water and earth in a (most) cold and nasty way.

Big clouds filled the sky, dark with the promise of moisture, which never fell

The last set of the day, then home again, home again where warm comfort waited by the welcoming fire.

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

 

Beneath the Roar of the Harsh Spring Winds—-Sunday, April 15, 2018

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We finally have a calm day.  Well, actually we had a calm day starting mid-morning yesterday.

It was lovely.  Cold, then warming up — to warm enough a coat could be shed, then cold again.
But that is okay.  It’s all about Spring, right now.

In the frenzy of the wind we also fought trash.  Lots and lots of trash.  Trash so thick and massive it would cause the water to flow over the top of the banks flooding into the next field where the water really should NOT be.

But things are being dealt with…the water for the fields.  (Terry wet plants, which means he waters all the field first, allows it to dry out enough he can get a tractor and planter in, then plants the seeds.  Once planted in four-five days the little plants pop out of the ground ready to begin their lives of growing.  Most other farmers dry plant.  Dry plant means you plant the seed into dry soil, then put water into the furrows wetting the soil and the seed at the same time.  The seed take a wee bit longer to emerge, but in the end it accomplishes the same thing…growing plants 🙂 )

April is the hurry and prepare month, the emerging of new green of leaves, small brilliant flowers–perfect for food for the honey and bumble bees,—the days longer, twilight gathering later and later in the day, soft flutter-bys flitting here and there, the awakening of those other flying bugs: midges, and flies!

And always, always, setting tubes amid the simple beauty of life on western Colorado farm,

Unfailingly, Your friend,

Linda