The Adventures of Boomer on Friday—Head Held High

Posted on September 18, 2015 by Dayphoto

With my head held high, I rode proudly with Mom to the middle field. It was here she and I and Dad are working to harvest the last of the alfalfa; now turned to hay.

Just going out to help my people is a very moving experience—I sometimes even get tears in my eyes. Of course, it could be because we are on the four-wheelers. Also, if the wind is blowing the little bits of dust does seem to make my eyes water. (Just saying.)

We went out early, then almost early, then sorta early, by this time it was getting hot. After that Mom and I came in and fixed lunch. I got (2) TWO, mind you chicken wing bones! I also got ½ can of 98% beef and a rub on the belly and both my ears scratched. There is always free-to-eat-anytime dry as sawdust kibble, but I don’t figure it counts are real food.

Since Mom and Dad were concerned that a rain storm was due to come in; right after the lunch dishes were done, we went back out.

It was HOT out there!

I mean so hot my tongue hung clear out of my mouth and dropped saliva all down the fender on my side of the four-wheeler.

I mean it was HOT! After the morning, which was sorta on the cold side, getting used to the heat was something else.

So when Mom came in with the second load, (Mom picks up the broken bales and the loose alfalfa –the stack wagon can’t get that stuff) of a broken bale. (There were three broken bales and two loads of loose stuff. Mom’s trailer holds one broken bale.) I STAYED HOME!

The second she drove into the hay barn I jumped off and headed to my water dish and my spot in the shade.

There I stayed even when Mom called and asked if I wanted to go back out with her…I just wagged my tail and laid my body flat in the cool shady grass. I would have gone if she had made me, but Mom didn’t make me. I heard the four-wheeler go out then a little while later, in mid-snooze, I heard her come back in. Then go out………………

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Boomer

The Adventures of Boomer on Friday—Finishing Up

Posted on September 11, 2015 by Dayphoto

Mom and Dad finished stacking all the firewood this week. We have firewood in Mom’s pile by the old basketball hoop, by the machine shed for Dad’s stove, and out by the hay stacks—just in case.

The cats and I always know that the wood pile means MICE!!! It also means Stewart and Stanley have a cool place to hide from me! (That part I don’t like so much.)

Then Dad took out the hay swather for the very last time this year.

(Dad keeps saying this is the last year he is farming-if he can find someone else to farm this place he is re-tir-ing from farming. He says if he can’t find someone he is just going to let it sit idle.—-Hummm I wonder if he really is going to retire from farming!?)

Then Dad and Mom and I…I go EVERYWHERE with Mom! Everywhere!

Went out to take care of the ends on the hay…Dad raked and Mom and I gathered the scattered ends.

After that we ate supper—and changed the water.

Mom always gives me the talk when we get to the water—“No rolling in anything dead, smelly or stinky, Boomer! Don’t run off. You can sniff around, but you come right back when you hear the four-wheelers start”. Then she gives me a kiss on the nose and we are off! Mom and Dad down the ditch bank and me INTO the corn field!

It’s cooler now, much cooler, out on the ditch banks. Also the grasshoppers are BIG and thick and nasty…they like to jump on us as we walk through the weeds, makes my hide twitch. I can hear Mom say things like: “Ew get off me you big ugly thing”! When I turn around I can see a grasshopper stuck on her shirt, or pants, even once in her hair. Dad always laughs about it. Mom not so much.

We are only watering the corn now. The pinto beans are close to being pulled so Dad doesn’t want the ground muddy.

There will be one more irrigation, after the hay is hauled and stacked, then this irrigation season is DONE!

Fall has arrived!

Boomer

The Adventures of Boomer on Friday—I’m Bored

Posted on September 4, 2015 by Dayphoto

There is just so much I can do around here —

Sleep in the dog house, first mine and switch sides and then sleep in the doghouse Fuzzy used to sleep in

Sleep next to the kitchen by the basement wall —its real cool there. Hot in the winter and cool in the summer

Get up and sleep under the rocking chair

Sleep in front of the car on the soft dirt…just in front. I don’t want under the car

Sometimes I well get tired of SLEEPING!!! Just saying…Mom…isn’t there SOMETHING we could be doing?

Just as I was whining this to Mom the MAIL LADY came driving into the yard! YAY! I love the Mail Lady! She always gives me a dog cookie! As soon as I got the cookie I woofed it down. I would have gone back for more, but she was already backing up and heading back down the lane.

Phooey! That didn’t last long.

MOM! I am bored!!!! I sat on the ground by Mom, while she weeded her flower bed. Then I laid down and squiggled up close to her and whined some more.

“Goodness, Boomer. What is with you?” Mom reached over and gave me a pat on the head. I thumped my tail and stared into her eyes. Then I whined, got up, and headed out on to the driveway. Once there I turned back around and whined at Mom again.

Let’s go for a walk, Mom. PLEASE! I am bored!

“Oh! You want to go for walk,” Mom stood up and brushed off her clothes. “Okay, that sounds good to me!”

It sure did!

Boomer

The Adventures of Boomer on Friday—Guard Duty

Posted on August 28, 2015 by Dayphoto

I was sleeping resting my eyes one miserably hot afternoon, when the back door opened and Dad came out heading toward the machine shed. I really didn’t think much of Dad coming out the back door and going someplace. He is always doing something along those lines.

I was gradually letting my eyes fall back into sleep to rest once more, when the back door opened back up again…HUH?! Did I miss something? Did Dad sneak past me and go Back Inside?! I jerked myself awake to a sitting position. (I was sleeping on the futon in the shade, just so you know.)

Nope I didn’t miss anything! It was Mom. She was out of her work clothes and into her go to town jeans…I thumped my tail with joy, on the seat of the futon, then jumped down a HUGE doggy smile on my face, my back end going fifty miles an hour.

Mom bent down and gave me a kiss on my doggie nose and a nice rub down on my back…I quickly flipped over so she could give me tummy rubs.

“Not now, Boom, Dad and I are heading to town. You guard the place while we are gone.” With those parting words she got into her car, turned the motor on and backed up to the machine shed, where Dad was just locking up the door.

By this time I had gotten up and walked to the end of the sidewalk. Yep, Dad got in and they drove off.

Well, I guess the place is mine now, I thought to myself.

Heading toward my dog house a brown streak of something went right in front of me so fast I couldn’t even process what I was seeing. Whatever it was went so fast I couldn’t even SMELL what was going by me. While whatever that was t was running by my face something ran right by my backside and hit my tail as it went by.

I spun around trying to see what whipped my tail so hard. Then I spun back around…and saw “Stanley and Stewart!!! The Squirrel brothers!

“Hey, Boomer! Let’s play hide and seek…We will hide and you can seek!”

With that they were off in two puffs of dust, one puff per squirrel. I gave myself two seconds to decide if I wanted to play or not. “You bet”, I bayed and we were off!

I chased those squirrels clear over to the Butler Grain bins, past the roller and the pile of plastic pipes. They chittered and chirped at me from several vantage points…the top of the tallest grain bin, then they scampered down to the roller and pranced all over to the top of it… (I almost got them at that point)….then they danced themselves right into the gated pipe that was in the middle of the pile of Dad’s transmission pipes he saves, in case one of the pipe in the field cracks or something.

Poking my head into the pipe I let out a volley of barks at them…LOUDS ONES! They just stood way back in the dark of the pipe and laughed at me.

After a while I got tired of seeking, my voice was getting dim and my throat sore so I turned around and just left.

It was a good thing too. Turning away from the pipes I could hear a car coming down the long, long lane…scampering off to bark whomever it was into the drive way, I raised my fur on my back and got a mean look on my face…let the trespassers come…I’m ready to guard the place.

I drew on all the courage of my mighty beagle self and barked up a storm! If Mom and Dad want me to guard the place, then I’m going to do it! I gave deep ferocious barks and ran right toward the bridge, the hair on my back standing tall.

Oh!

It’s Mom and Dad.

I joyfully followed them into the carport.

Hum, I wonder if they brought me something. I ran to the driver’s side with a huge smile on my face, my tail wagging in anticipation!

Nope, just a pat on the back, a ‘good job, Boomie’, then they were in the house.

Shish!

Oh, here they are again. That didn’t take long. “Come on, Boomer! Let’s go. Time to irrigate!”

Hey, now that’s more like it…Boomer … Go … Irrigate!

YES! Works for me!

Boomer the Beagle—bestest Guard Dog irrigator in the world.

A Nice Treat—Sunday, August 23, 2015

Posted on August 23, 2015 by Dayphoto

Our kids in Grand Junction, Colorado, were camping on Grand Mesa for the weekend and asked us up for Saturday.

Now who could turn down an offer like that?

Off we went, Terry, Boomer and I. Once there the kids (and their dogs) asked if we could go to Doyle Lake. Sure!

Cliff and Kimi tried out the See-Saw,

Once there the dogs took a swim…except for Boomer…he doesn’t like water. 🙂 That’s Darby heading into the lake.

Cliff took a photo of Terry and our daughter, Kimberly, Scout and the top part of Gypsy!

Then we hiked around the lake and headed back to camp for a yummy lunch and a couple of games of Dominos.

I must say it was a very nice relaxing day. A real treat!

Your friend,

Linda

The Adventures of Boomer on Friday—Forgotten

Posted on August 21, 2015 by Dayphoto

Can you believe it!!!? Mom forgot to let me blog last week! I was SHOCKED!!!

Oh, well! I still had lots to do.

I checked out the perimeter of the farmhouse every morning and evening and more, if I’m bored.

Sometimes I head out in the night. Because…

Well you see why.

It’s really smoky here. All the smoke from the horrible wildfires going on in California, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Montana and Wyoming has drifted into our area.

It’s caught here…we are full of hills and dales, mountains and buttes, valleys and hollers, mesas and canyons, so it makes for a wonderful spot to stay a spell. Mom says we either need a good stiff wind or a nice heavy rain.

I think I agree with her. I spend lots of time sneezing, right along with Mom and Dad, and the rest of the people who live in our area. (Mom says she bets its much worse where the fires really are.)

We are working down at the rent house again. Mom says she is not fond of rental property. As for me…heck! I love it! Anytime I get to ‘go’ I’m up for whatever there is to go too! 🙂

LOOK! A Gambol’s Quail up high on the electric line!

Gota go! Mom wants me to help her!

Boomer

Stamped Upon the Heart and Brain—Thursday, August 13, 2015

Posted on August 13, 2015 by Dayphoto

Sometimes in the evening (after irrigation is done) we sit, Terry and I, upon the outside chairs.

If we get in Before the sunsets. Last night was one of those nights.

We relaxed and let the evening take over…the little swallow family was busy feeding the tiny mouths for the long, long rest until morning.

The hummingbirds zoomed by us, filling up for their night, Boomer lay on my feet and Sam-Sam our outside kitty sat on Terry’s lap purring. In the bathroom window, Monkey the house cat (because she eats birds) lay stretched out longing to be outside with us. But birds come first on our farm.

It was one of those moments when you are aware of your own heartbeat. A watching. A space in time, which stamps itself upon your heart, brain and soul. A moment instantly recalled in every detail for the rest of your life.

Your friend on a Western Colorado farm,

Linda

The Adventures of Boomer on Friday—Night Work

Posted on July 24, 2015 by Dayphoto

The reality of a dog’s life…a farm dog’s life, that is—is we work at night.

There is much we have to do:

First I go with Mom and Dad to change the water one last time before bed.

Then, when they are inside watch television, I’m outside so I can check out all the places the fox have been. We have a lot of fox. A group of fox is called a skulk, beats me why they call a group a skulk. (Mom assures me this a fact. Weird)

Mom always asks me to come in to spend the night; I go in and try to rest. BUT there is so much going on out outside I head back out. When I’m tired I can always bed down in one of the dog houses.

I’m really always on guard…well, let me clarify I don’t really guard, I sniff out and then I either give chase or I holler for Mom or Dad.

But why holler for Mom or Dad for the common night creatures: fox, owls, cats (Sam and Monkey), mice, deer ….ugh … skunk…those sorts of every day critters that share the farm with us.

Now I do holler when the coyotes come around…so does Mom!

Shudder, shiver…I sure don’t like coyotes!

Mom and I go for a walk around mid-night. After which I usually come in and crash for a spell.

Then come morning…well, you see, I have to get back out there and see if anything came through while I slept.

As my grandpa would say— I’m a very busy feller!

Boomer

The Adventures of Boomer on Friday—NEWS

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Dayphoto

Mom buys me toys to play with…but I don’t like them.

Mom throws me balls…I chase them sorta…Fuzzy and I used to place chase with each other, but not really. We enjoyed chase the fox, or chase the squirrel, or splash in the ditch more. Well, ummmmmmmm, Fuzzy enjoyed splash the ditch; I liked (and still do) GATHERING NEWS!!!

LOL!

News for the day!

Mom moved a couple of the garden toads from under my dog houses to her corral garden.

They really seem to like it out there…works better than getting living under my dog house.

We have frogs in the irrigation ditches! I love, LOVE, to put my nose on them and watch them hop away.

Our yard is full of birds…they sing us awake every morning and chirp sleepy little songs in the evening to put us to bed.

Lots of Gambol’s Quail this year. Dad is really happy we have more pheasants than last year. We lost lots of pheasants a few years back and it’s taken awhile for them to recover.

There are baby raccoons in one of the trees in the yard. Cute little things!

There are raccoons in the yard, in the farm yard, and out of the ditch. There are as many raccoon as there are fox; is seems.

As for the home front—Sammy does a very good job of keeping the mice down. (I’m glad that his job…it’s NOT something I’m ever going to do—Fuzzy would do it, but NOT ME!)

Well, that’s the news for today. I’m off, now, to get ready and bark the mailman down the road…he should be coming anytime now.

Boomer

The Adventures of Boomer on Friday—FOX

Posted on July 10, 2015 by Dayphoto

Boy do I ever miss Fuzzy!!

Every morning, when Freddy Fox would try (TRY) to walk through the farm yard Fuzzy and I would make a mad dash up to the grain bin and give him a good chase!

Pretty much Freddy and his family would wave their tails as us and scamper off—there is no way we could keep up.

Now I have to do it myself!

All by myself.

But I do it!

Sometimes Freddy comes by with his brothers, or his sisters, or his cousins, I’m not sure which…he stops by the grain bins and gives a huge yowl and barks at me!

Once I hear his call the CHASE is on!!!

It’s still fun…it just would be funner if Fuzzy was here to share in the adventure.

Oops!