Tag Archives: cement ditch

I Love Shadows —- Tuesday, May 12, 2020

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I love shadows, they brighten up the sunlight

Cooling down

Even ‘colding’ the earth

They lighten and play across the land

Telling time, if we take (THE TIME) to read them

All through the day, (and even on moonlit nights)

The shadows whisper time

The early morning light (called Dawn) accents the shadows as the sky brightens

Then again, when the sun sets in the west, the shadows emerge growing up from the land instead of retreating, like they do in the morning.

Shadows, never random,

Always present,

Telling time…always

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

The Adventures of Boomer on Friday—-Re-arranging the Ditch

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Mom told me years and years ago she always liked to clean the house by re-arranging the furniture.  Move the sofa here, place the dining room table there…you know…shake it up a little.

Gradually over time she stopped that nonsense, finding just the perfect spot for the piano, the lazy-boy chairs, the beds in the bedrooms…they fit perfectly, so there they have stayed forever.

I told you this little story, because now Dad has taken to rearranging the ditches.

Well, really only one ditch—it’s slightly crooked, you see.  And he wants to ‘square up’ the field.

It’s the MUD ditch!  Mom’s least favorite ditch to work from.   But in order to have the Mud ditch moved a few feet we had to get the ditch ready to move come March.

picking-up-the-tubes

First we had to pick up all the syphon tubes, remove the gated pipe and the dams.

Then we had to move the one stick of gated pipe…hard job.  It’s still out there waiting for Mom and Dad to go get it.

breaking-cement

But nothing was as hard as removing the culvert between the cement ditch and the gated pipe.

ditch-work

The carefully cemented in culvert had to be chopped-out.  One smack at a time.

I hung around while they did the syphon tubes, but that cement stuff seemed to take forever.  Therefore, I checked out the deer, the pheasants, all the Quail…rabbits….you understand.  NEWS!

waiting-to-go

When I got back they were ready to haul two loads of the broken cement up to the head gate. (Dad is trying to shore-up the banks so they don’t keep washing away.

to-the-head-gate-we-go

Up we went —  back we came, and up we went again.

I didn’t jump off; just waited there guarding the four-wheeler and the cement chunks from angry badgers or something.

hot-work-waiting

Boomer…the best Guard dog on the farm!

 

 

The Land Calls—Monday, February 29, 2016

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Oh! Jolly!  This the LAST DAY OF FEBRUARY!  YIPPEE!!

Combine-ready-to-goTerry and I have been working on the corn combine…little repairs here and there.  Yes, I help, invariably we come into the house with cuts and bruises, but it’s getting finished.  Ready for next years harvest.  As I write this he is putting in the last couple of bolts.

Truck

Saturday afternoon he started on repairing the heater in the grain truck. It’s very cold sitting down at the elevator withOUT a heater.

farming-starts.jpgWell, I think you have now guessed the answer to the million dollar question—Terry is going to farm.

“Are you sure?” I asked.  Worry in my voice and concern on my face.

“I’m sure. There are still things I want to do on the place, stuff I want to improve on, things that need my attention.” he replied with a huge smile.

morman-creasing-the-corn.jpg

“Only stuff I will do, not someone else.”

Planting-alfalfaI need to tear up the old alfalfa field and reseed a new field, take the dirt ditch and turn it into a cement ditch….fix fences so Hank’s cows can come again—if it’s rented out Hank has to take his cows someplace else.

Hubby

“I really can’t see myself sitting around.”

“But you won’t sit around, you have tons of projects you want to work on, not related to farming.”

kick-the-dirt

” I know.  I truly think I have dirt for blood.”

Sunset and combine 1So there you have it!  We begin again.  At least for one more year.  As long the body and mind can keep going.  We will keep farming on this farm created many years ago by Terry’s grandfather (purchased by us), until time demands stopping.

Changing-Water-at-Sunset-2Your friend  on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

 

 

Thursday, May 9, 2013

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It is still raining here.  I’m still not complaining, just stating a fact.  The weatherman says it will be in here until Sunday and then turn off hot.

Walking-water-with-Mom

Even though it is raining irrigation goes on.  The water is set morning and evening.  Although we have rain the rain has only soaked into —  maybe 1/2 inch of soil —so we continue irrigation.  I know it seems illogical but that is how it works.  Seeds are planted 2-21/2 inches into the soil, they must be wet to sprout and then after that they must have water to the roots, which are even deeper than where the seed started.

So the irrigation continues rain or shine.  The ditch banks are sure slick, I fell twice jumping over the cement ditch with a load of siphon tubes, nothing hurt but wet clothes and more mud.  🙂

Sitting-in-the-tire

Fuzzy was really funny when we went to get gas for the 530…we had a tire in the back we needed to take to dump  which he delighted in sitting in.

Tire-sitting

Silly, cute dogie.

Today I am off for a treat!  I am going with my oldest granddaughter on a second grade field trip to Pioneer Town in Cedaredge, Colorado.  We will ride the bus together, tour the town together, then we eat lunch at the park and ride back to the school in Delta.  Then I will get to take her out and we can have the rest of the afternoon together.

Rather cool, don’t you think?

Hope your Thursday is just as fun!

Linda

Fall Maintenance Work

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Terry and I spent yesterday switching out the broken gated pipes for new pipes,

putting in new seals in the pipes that needed them.

He also decided that he wanted to not replace the four broken pipe but extend the dirt ditch further into the field.

If he likes this he might (MIGHT) turn the whole ditch into a cement ditch…heavy on the might.  The cost will be high, but the work load (after the ditch is made) lots easier.

Fall Maintenance work just makes spring work that much easier!

Linda

Adventures in Irrigating

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We opened the last ditch on the place yesterday…what a mess.

The cement ditch had tons of trash in it, but that was to be expected.

The new dirt ditch (which we made after deciding not to buy more extremely expensive gated pipe) is holding water and sealing up nicely.

Where we had the problem was under the old apricot tree that escaped the fire.

We didn’t even THINK about there being a problem with that ditch….it’s the last ditch on the place, taking the water to the alfalfa hill and then on down to the next farm.

So here we were working away on getting the trash out of the cement ditch, starting the tubes, digging out the ends…..everything going along as expected.

We rode down to check the new ditch out.

Good.  The water was going on down to the alfalfa hill, the ditch was sealing and imprinting.  We got the trash out …

Looking good

Evening was starting to come on in a hurry so we headed on down to check the alfalfa ditch and start the furrows (earth dams here and digging out ends)

When we saw a LAKE in the road!  And the water starting to sub over into the potential pinto bean field!

Who would have thought….a ground squirrel had made a wonderful, delightful, very nice home in the side of the alfalfa ditch!!!

It took some doing but we finally got all 8 holes filled in and covered up.  The squirrel was seen chattering at us a couple of times.  Floods are bad news for anyone to have to live through.

The squirrel is alive and well, it moved on over to a thicket and started a new house in a much drier area.

We have been rather cool to cold here for the last three days.  Temperatures have dropped into the low 20s, it was 24* this morning when I went out to let the chickens out for the day.  I think its supposed to start a gradual warm up tomorrow.

April sure was an up and down sort of month for temperatures….reaching 92* one day.

May for us is usually warmer, and a little steadier weather wise…I try to plant my garden the week of Mother’s Day. (Although, it can still freeze here, even as late as in June.)

Thanks for stopping by!

Linda