The day is still cold enough the remnants of last night’s small snow is staying on the ground
We have been so terribly dry that even this small snow is a wonderful gift.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Yesterday was my annual visit to the vet!
And my birthday is NOT 13, that Mom thought it was it’s my 12th birthday!!!
MOM WAS WRONG!!!! I am much younger a whole YEAR younger!!!
YAY!
Boomer
Mom’s computer broke…well it really didn’t break, nor did it die, but the nasty “Time to Update” happened—after which Mom’s computer would NOT OPEN.
So Mom called her Computer Repair guy. He was out on a call and would come by late afternoon to see what he could do.
So there was nothing to be done on the computer—-all day. Which didn’t mean Mom did nothing.
She and Dad worked on removing nails from a building they salvaged,
cleaned up around the hay stackyard, loaded out another load of hay, cooked lunch, patched a roof on the tile house…
and in general, kept really busy!
Then late, late in the day! The computer was repaired and good to go again!
Mom, Dad, and I (also Mindy and the two chickens) all danced with joy.
But more than all us…Mom was more than delighted!
Off to bed now. It’s been a long day!
Boomer
Mom, Dad, and I were out working around the haystack yard when Mom looked up and said: “We are heading toward colder weather—sundog in the sky!”
I looked up with her and sure enough…there it was all sparkly and purdy!
Anyway…back to Rocky Chaco Man—
He has the best job…he gets to have lots of hugs and pets and pets and hugs…you see Rocky is a Reading Dog for the Mesa County Library System.
Rocky says he LOVES his job, but he HATES having to have a bath before he goes!!
HATES IT!
But Rocky Chaco Man’s mom insists—she says little kids can be allergic to dog fur so Rocky has to be as clean as possible.
Rocky says once he gets there he doesn’t even remember the horrors of the bath. It’s all about kids and hugs from that point on.
(I agree with Rocky…baths are NOT my favorite thing!)
Boomer Beaglie Brown
Mom and I took a walk in the moonlight…that beautiful wonderful silver moonlight!
Mom LOVES walking in the moonlight.
Mindy didn’t go, she was sleeping next to Dad when Mom and I got up and went outside around one in the morning.
It’s still warm here, but cooling down rapidly in the night. It’s quite cold by morning.
But one o’clock is not bad…work jacket cold.
So off we went…just Mom and I.
On our way past the cornfield, we ran into a buck…well, actually we scared him. He was sleeping at the edge of the field, near the irrigation ditch. Up he jumped! Mom’s camera caught him in the light of the moon and a little star next to the moon.
“Cool!” Mom exclaimed.
I just kept on sniffing around and down the road. Although, I do stay close to Mom anymore…elderly now you see.
Mom doesn’t make me stay close, I just want too.
We walked around the big cornfield then crossed down the ditch between the little corn field and the big corn field and ran into TWO bucks.
MOM was very careful to be very still so she could get a couple of photos of them.
I was very still also. That camera thing is really important to mom.
Flash!
Good job!
Of course, the deer scrambled away.
We started back home, just Mom and I, nothing much happening when Mom stopped took a photo and started RUNNING!
I ran with her, all big grins and floppy ears.
I wonder what made Mom run?
Oh, well, I will probably never know.
Still, the running was fun!
Boomer
Mom and I headed over to the other equipment area to ‘do some work’. Mom goes over with Dad to help Dad do something hard…like change out a fuel pump, work on the chain on the pickup header, you know ‘stuff’; things I don’t have to do EVER!
So, while they were working, I took myself off to see what I could see, learn what I could learn, and find out all the news on that part of the farm.
I was sniffing along
when suddenly from out of no-where came Quade’s wife Quick and all the little Quails…cheeping and chirping as they scuttled along…they came so very fast and in such a large group I nearly jumped out of my dog fur!
As they scuttled away Quade appeared.
Quade and I visited for a spell, then he was off…he didn’t want Quick to get too far out of his sight.
Closer to the old (filled in) ensilage pit I ran into Stewart and Stanley.
They chattered with me for a long time, but I found listening to them rather hard…full cheeks and communication do NOT make good partners….
Stewart kept spitting little chunks as he talked…kinda interesting and gross all at the same time.
I had headed over to the little asparagus patch, down the tiny draw there when I hear the high-pitched whistle of …. HAWK!
I jerked my head up to look into the branches of the very ancient willow tree and saw….a wind-blow hawk surveying the place where Quade and his little family had just vacated.
I raced back up the small rise in the land, ran over to Mom, turned around and, raised my right front paw, straightened out my whole body so I was an arrow from the tip of my nose to the tip of the tail, lifted my head up and HOWLED!!! Pointing with all my might at the tip of the old Willow tree and the hawk!
Mom and Dad stopped whatever they were doing looked at me, looked at where I was pointing and saw that hawk surveying the farm for lunch!
“Good Job, Boomer!” Mom came over to where I was standing, took out her camera and took several photos of the hawk. Just as she finished the hawk took off; flying up high into the sky, then way over onto the back of the farm on the Back Forty…a long way from where Stewart, Stanley, Quade, and the chipmunks live. Thank Goodness!
Mom and Dad did a little bit more of whatever they were doing.
Then Mom called me and put me on the four-wheeler, gave me a pat and a kiss on the nose; we were off.
Heading home
where Mindy Cat is safe from the likes of at big bird predator in the sky.
And Mom and Dad and I can do ‘stuff’ around the farmyard, instead.
Boomer Beaglie Brown
Boomer and I went for wee walk last night (and a couple of nights ago)
Mindy following along behind, besides, in front, sometimes hidden, sometimes right at my feet
We went when the moon was just a sliver, followed by a shining star
I got it in my head to try and take a photo or two of the stars shining down on us as we walked along…the orange lights at the bottom of the photo are the house lights way over the mesa and down in the holler from our farm
It was surprisingly fun to soar up above the earth with my camera
This is Venus shining gloriously in the west.
Someday I would love to have a camera which could take better photos of that wonderous sky at night.
But until I am very rich…I will enjoy the camera I have…
and my wee walks
with very good friends
As we explore the beauty of the night!
From my world to your heart,
Linda
P.S. That is the pinto bean header on the pinto bean combine at night. I thought it was rather neat looking!
Hugs
Where we are now…the pinto bean harvest is over. Although, Dad says he isn’t selling the pinto beans right now…he wants to wait for a spell.
There is still irrigation water to set and change. The corn is still in need of water and the alfalfa fields also.
Look at this! It’s a Foam Ball—pretty cool. This Foam Ball was made from the foam on the ditch water going around and round and round. As soon as Mom and Dad removed the dam it was gone.
Mom watches out for me lots now. She says she does NOT want me wandering off searching for news and stuff…
next month I will be 13 years old and she says my age will get in the way of me staying safe out there in the wilds of the farm.
I rode every day and every second of the whole pinto bean harvest with Mom. Even in the broiling sun! Then I rode in the back of the pick up to town and back to go to TRACTOR SUPPLY (that’s MY store) and went with Mom to get parts when the combine broke down.
I was really busy!
But I do stay close to Mom.
Especially out on the ditch bank.
I can still hear well and I can see better than some dogs at my age, but sometimes I wonder if she might be right.
For Instance—last night—way in the dark, when I went out to relieve myself…. I SAW SPACE SHIP LIGHTS!!!
That was scary!
I know about real SCARY things on the farm like, coyotes and stuff like that, but SPACE ALIENS I don’t know anything about and I don’t want to LEARN!!!
So that’s where we are now. Harvest of the pinto beans is over—the corn harvest is yet to come. The days are growing shorter and shorter.
And the nights colder.
The hummingbirds are fewer and fewer. Mom only sees them in the early morning or late in the evening at the feeder. This morning there were actually 4 drinking. Yesterday there was only 2.
The Barn Swallows have left; all the summer birds are gone now. Makes Mom sad…but I tell her there is no reason to be sad. SHE HAS ME!
WAIT! What was that?!? I think I had better so see!
BYE!
Boomer Brown
This is Mindy Min-Min Cat-Cat Brown
You’ve met Mindy before. She has been with me for a spell now.
We are good friends.
Actually, I’m good friends with lots of animals, but Mindy and I live in the house together.
Well, we come into the house and go out of the house and hang out and do stuff together all the time.
Mindy is a feral cat who decided she wanted a family. She came to us when she was somewhere around five years old. So, Mindy must be around 6 or 7 now, Mom isn’t sure. I’m not sure and Mindy says she doesn’t know or care how old she is…she is just glad to have a family.
Mom lets Mindy into the house when she sits at the door and yowls…which isn’t often, but it does happen. (Like if it’s raining outside.)
Most of the time Mindy prefers hunting. Or going with Dad to irrigate, or hang by Mom when she is working in her yard.
Most of the time Mindy wants to be outside!
Sometimes Mindy and I take walks together, but not often.
She thinks I have some pretty strange friends…friends she considers ‘un-safe-for-cats’.
She also thinks I have some friends that might be good for her tummy. I don’t let her come with me when I visiting THOSE friends.
So anyway…Here is My Best Cat friend…Mindy. She is lots and lots of fun!
(Oh, by the way…that cut on her lip was from when she was a lot younger and a big bird in the sky tried to eat her. Mindy said she got away by the skin of her lip.)
Boomer Beaglie Brown
Well, here we are …Dad has pulled and bladed all the pinto beans and they are drying in the field. Now everything depends on the weather for how long it takes the pinto bean pods to dry.
So that is enough about that!
Now about the birds…. the little Barn Swallows are starting to try out their wings. Every day they fly just a little bit further than yesterday.
Still coming back to sleep in that very crowded nest at night. FOUR little ones in one nest! Beats me how they do it.
Sleep in the nest, I mean. When I look up there they look C.R.O.W.D.E.D!
They aren’t big enough to go out on their own…the mom and dad birds are still feeding them. 
Even when the kids are sitting on the rooftop.
The hummingbirds are becoming less and less here. Makes Mom sad, but she told me (while petting all over my belly); “They have to leave, Boomie or they could never make it through the winter. Winter is coming.”
While out doing the ‘stuff’ we always do on the farm
I ran into a couple of pheasants! Boy! Those birds sure can scare the heck out of me…if I run into them they squawk really loud, flap their wings and fly right up into the air. Sometimes it scares me so bad I lose my scent on the ground!!!!!
Oh.
That reminds me. I saw Quade the Quail yesterday!
Quade was checking out the neighborhood on top of one of Dad’s pieces of equipment. He didn’t run off or jump down or anything, so I stopped by and we had a wee chat.
Quade agrees with me…. Fall is here! Quade also predicts a hard winter. I asked him if that means lots of snow…he just shook his head and said Hard. Very hard. Then lifted his wings and flew way up into the nearby tree.
Well, I guess hard is hard. Either too dry or too much snow. I guess only time will tell.
Boomer Beaglie Brown
Life on a Colorado Farm 