In working on one of the old buildings here on the farm,
We found an old steam iron. It must have been put out there to prop up a door or even to store, but over time it fell into the dirt and was buried.
How cool this is. And what an amazing thing to iron with!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Mom and I are very tired of winter…Very.
I want to go out and about checking on my friends out on the farm. Although, Mom keeps telling me ‘no more running around and staying gone, Boomer’.
I don’t get why she tells me that I know where I am and what I’m doing.
So…
Mom and I wander around where the mud is starting to dry out, which isn’t very far. And Mom takes photos…mostly of birds.
Not much going on. Pretty much housebound.
Sigh!
Boomer
Mom and I went out last night sorta kinda early. Mom wanted to go before the snow came in, so out we went.
Just Mom and I. Mom told Mindy she had to stay inside.
We saw a raccoon. That was all.
Then when we started to come back in it started snowing.
Mom built up the fire then we headed to our beds.
It’s still snowing today.
Mom says Spring is still coming because she saw TWO (2) different flocks of Rocky Mountain Bluebirds in the last three days—
first the Red-Winged Blackbirds and now the Rocky Mountain Bluebirds…YAY!
Mom danced a jig. I just twirled around her while she danced…jigs are too hard on old dogs. Just say’n. (Mom also told me that THIS YEAR she wants to get a photo of the Bluebirds…I hope she does.)
“And still the earth is cold and white,
And mead and forest yet are bare;
But there’s something in the light
That says the germ of life is there.”—Jane Goodwin Austin
Spring is coming Soon!
Boomer
It acted like it wanted to snow last night late, well, actually early this morning
But nothing is really sticking although the snow is coming in sideways and the wind is sharp
But yesterday was beautiful…warm and lovely and just delightful
So I hung out at the feeders
Trying to get a good photo of the Red-winged blackbirds in flight
They are actually rather hard to get a good photo of…
So I tried to get some photos of the other birds
(They wanted in the blog also 🙂 )
And then, of course, I had to get some of these magnificent birds
Then as the sun was setting
and the sky turned colors I got the Sandhill Cranes as they were circling to come in for the night!
From my world to your heart,
Linda
Mom and I went for a walk night-before-last. IT WAS COLD! Even colder today…when Mom and I got up at 5:00 a.m. it was 7*f! (-13.8889c)
WE ARE COLD!
Anyway, Mom and I went for a midnight walk, or so, we really didn’t see anything. Mom took a photo of a car coming up the side road, that was all.
Then as we were walking back, I think we saw KIT!!! I bayed at him, but he was too fast if it was him. Mom tried to get a photo, but he was way too fast.
So we walked back to the house and went back to bed. Mom loaded wood into the woodstove first…just so we could all stay warm.
Warm is good.
Anyway, the next day, yesterday, Mom and I went out to feed the birds…chickens and wild birds, Mom took her camera with us and tried to get some good photos at the feeders.
While Mom was busy,
I checked out the news on the farm, I wanted to see if Kit really rushed by us, or if it was someone else.
After a spell, Mindy went with me.
Mindy is a really playful cat. She loves to run and jump and romp everywhere we go.
So…here we are…
birds,
dog,
and cat…
and a very cold morning.
Mom and I and Mindy went out and did all our chores early then back we came…Mindy to lay on the carpet right next to the wood stove and me in my very soft bed on the other side of the wood stove.
It’s just too cold to do much, but sleep!
Boomer Beaglie Brown
The month is January…still.
I look at the calendar daily waiting for the moment when we turn into February.
Each day is winter, long and drawn out and cold, but filled with routines that mush us through each dark and dreary day
But if it is long for me…then it is longer for the wildlife. The coyotes are brazen and bad, coming right into the yard, searching for food…not good.
They need to search someplace else.
The rancher said he will be coming any day now to gather up his Momma cows and take them to his ranch home…he wants to have them closer to monitor the births.
He is wise. With the coyotes so active there is nothing so vulnerable as a cow in labor.
Inside the very worst of winter, there are still things to find of great joy and beauty…so outside I go—
Each day there is something so wonderful that I need to record it with my camera
The bliss of each day is just right there, waiting for me to stumble into it
So, yes, life moves forward
But as each day passes
I realize that being outside stabilizes my need to by-pass winter
Into true happiness for the healing magic of the day/night captured on camera
Nothing mediocre/drab/or unexciting exists if I just open my eyes.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
I have been hanging out at the bird feeders lately
Trying to get some good photos of birds in flight…
I love how their wings leave a soft sigh in the air, or swoosh as they takeoff
I have to be careful as this little fur ball loves to come with me…and that is never a good thing. The birds leave the area in a wind churning frenzy.
This little bird was way up high, listening to the silence of the sky
Last evening, as the sky started to purple and fade a female Great Horned Owl and her mate stopped by
They were delightful to listen too and then to watch leave…silently lifting up from the branches; floating away like a breath of wind
During the day the air is alive with the shimmering sounds of the Sand Hill Cranes
Their thrilling call is beautiful.
They spend the night on the farm also, but are so silent one doesn’t know they are here.
The Canada Geese do not seem to like to be where the cranes are. Rather sad, I tell them all the time they are welcome.
Still, they fly on their calls adding to the trills of the cranes on the ground.
What lovely creatures add to our long winter days!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
It’s melting here…great swaths of earth now call MUD forming here there and everywhere
It is the season of MUD!
But I am thinking it won’t last. This, after all, it is January.
There are several more weeks to go until March
But for a short spell, I will enjoy this small melt
Wipe up the mud and water as we come into the house
And continue to count the days until the new season of farming starts.
(These photos of snow and birds were taken three days ago…we are melting fast)
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
For I believe everything….and I do mean everything has a life and a soul and a purpose here on earth
And each and everything has a relationship with us…
Even if we can’t see, feel, or understand the relationship.
So often the human population walks around completely deaf and blind to the complete world surrounding us.
But once we understand that our lives are more
And made up of greater or additional things besides brick and mortar, food and the eating of food, or drink and the entertainment of such
We start to understand that we are all connected to each and every living thing through the essence of ‘ourselves.’
Everything on this earth (and maybe our Universe) are right there at the edges of our dreams
Living complete and mysterious lives so beautiful and wonderful it boggles the mind.
BUT
Once you see and acknowledge the magic of our earth something inside you changes
And you start to receive little gifts…little insights
And promises of a return to that time of innocence
Called youth.
Very humbly from my heart to your world,
Linda
Our earth is very old, but to me, it doesn’t seem so. There are so many, many things of wonder I stand in awe every day.
For one thing…the Red-Winged Blackbirds didn’t leave this year. Why I don’t know. But their joyful songs make every day of winter a miracle unfolding.
Even the wind touching on the land, in the bare trees, and blowing cold upon our faces is a remembrance of how old and marvelous this ancient earth really is
The feel of the wind is a reminder of all the places the wind has been…all we have to do is listen
And within the wind, if you stop and ‘feel’ (don’t concentrate.)
You can hear the Angels breathing
From my world to your heart,
Linda
