We had WIND!!! Lots of wind. It made a dust like Dada is making dust.
Hurt my eyes, so I had to go into the house.
Then it started to rain—
It was hard working with Mom in the rain
Then the hard snow came. And Came. and Came.
And the temperatures dropped to 23* at night.
It gradually warmed up—-
But staying outside was HORRID!!!
Boo Berry and TLC
The wild apricot trees have burst into bloom!
Maybe apricots this year—
Maybe.
Only time will tell
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
In the coolness of an early Spring day
The work begins in earnest
But that is fine with us
At our ages, it takes courage to get up and go
But we do, enjoying the shadows of the liquid golden sun
The immensity of the sky and earth, a gusty wind, clouds flurried in the air
Each hour action packed
Then once more back to evening, whereby we silently give Thanks for another wondrous day.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
The water came yesterday around three o’clock in the afternoon. I was just finishing up one of my flower beds when I walked past the canal and saw the back hoe and a large pile of moving brush, dust flying in the midst of water
The water had come!
Terry headed up to watch and I dropped everything and headed up the canal to get photos of this very exciting event
The backhoe grabbed huge chunks of weeds to keep from flooding the farms along the way
Gradually the back hoe started to get the water clearer
The arrival of water!
Gradually the water cleared
We gathered up our shovels, and headed out to start the water on the farm! Which meant, of course, we had to clean all our ditches from the trash coming down the canal and into our ditches
But oh my how it was worth all the work.
The New Year has Begun!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
It’s supposed to freeze tonight and tomorrow night! There go the blooming fruit trees…pears and some of the plumbs. But the part that is the worst is the loss of the Lilac blooms again…this year. Sigh!
Still we strung wire to open up a new pasture for Romeo. Worked on a fence or two next to the new pasture for Romeo…yes we are always fencing some place on the farm. Hauled some old railroad ties to the house where I want to make some flower beds with them.
And today Terry started marking out the corn ground. The little pole things you see at the side of the marker are called Scribes…one goes down on one side, then it goes down on the other side after he turns around and starts back. Scribes are to help Terry make straight rows.
We are moving along. Once the corn ground is marked out, he will then mark out the alfalfa field, make a couple of waste ditches and we are good to go to start water.
By this weekend. In spite of rain or snow or freezing wind…we will be officially in the growing season.
So I say to Old Man Winter…No. No more. Fling yourself away and rest somewhere at the North Pole.
It’s time for warmth to stay!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Our ditch rider and other ditch riders opened our canal, bringing with it water for the new season
They must use a back hoe to lift all the trash which comes roaring down the canals, threatening to plug up and split water everywhere.
(You can see the trash in the first photo, being pushed and gathered in front of the water.)
Our water, for irrigation, comes about because of the Uncompahgre Valley Water Project. The project has one storage dam, several diversion dams, 128 miles of canals, 438 miles of laterals and 216 miles of drains.
The project canal runs right by our road and is the source of all water for our crops and my yard and garden.
I love the canal, I love hearing the music of the water as is trips along on its way to the states of Arizona and Nevada and California. I think of it as a friend, one who goes away for the winter and then comes back bringing life to our farms. A watery snowbird! 🙂
Your friend on a western Colorado Farm,
Linda
Yesterday was a very busy day and full of lots of new things.
First rattle out of the box I saw a sundog or sunshine on ice crystals in the sky. Sundogs mean cold weather is coming…and SOON!
Today is cold. It’s supposed to get colder, then by Sunday (Easter Day) we will start another slow warm-up.
Around noon the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users worker bees showed up (Ditch Riders), which meant the canal was filling up with water. The above photo show us the HUGE amount of trash which collects in the canals over winter.
Above this tree is our ditch rider, in a backhoe, trying to take out as much of the trash as he can so the bridge will carry the water.
You can see by this photo that the trash is thinning down.
There clean…sorta!
Then I saw this on a blog friend’s site and thought it was cool. I also thought all you would find it interesting (if you don’t already know).
Sota makes a person wonder if a big change really is about to happen, doesn’t it?
We are supposed to have high winds this afternoon (to blow in the cold front) and then again on Saturday and possibly Sunday to blow out this cold front.
Off now to keep working on my yard…what a huge mess it is this year. I hope each and everyone of you have a really nice day!
Your friend,
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 