“OH!”
“HELP!”
“MOM!”
“HELP!”
“BOO Berry Betty”, Mom yelled,
“Come help me put the chickens away,”
“OKAY, MOM!”
Teeee heee, chuckle, snort!
Boo Berry Betty
We lost Fluffy Hen the other day. She passed on.
Skitter was a mess. Screamed and hollered and screamed.
So Shannon brought me up three hens from her flock
We don’t know the variety of the hens (maybe you do)
But the type doesn’t matter.
Having friends does.
All is right in the hen house now.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
“I am Content! Thankfully I only have four hens to take care of—I don’t want any more”!
Skitter Bug says: “I am grateful a rooster doesn’t live here”.
🙂
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
“Good Morning, Girls”, Mom said. “Ready to outside and have some fun?”
“Hush your worry, Skitter Bug” Fluffy clucked as they headed out of the hen house.
“If you keep thinking of things that are going to get you, you will never get to see the world.”
“Look Skitter Mom has scattered Yummy treats right here!”
“WOW! Even bugs! Fluffy!! BUGS!”
“OH! MY GOSH! RUN, FLUFFY RUN!”
“No, Skitter, come this way…more bugs, more places to scratch”
“I’ll stand watch, you’ll be safe.”
“This is different, sorta hard, butttttt YUM a cricket!!”
“This wind is something else—ruffled butt feathers!”
“Just turn sideways…your feathers will stay down, Skitter.”
“OHHHHHHHHHHH, this is heaven. SKITTER leave the hen house and come play!”
Your friend on a western Colorado farm
Linda
Although times seem pretty dire…where we are all penned up like my rather spoiled hens
Some beautiful things have happened to me
A surprise hand-made card from Connie in Snowy Minnesota showed up in our mailbox. She wrote to us such a sweet and heartwarming note that all the gloom cast by the order ‘to shelter in place’ cleared all the trapped feelings.
And no matter what is happening on a human level, the alfalfa fields are renewing themselves for another season
Once more I had to pause…for there, flung up by a passing tire
I saw a heart…resting gently on the dark wood of one of my planters.
Then speaking of the wonders of friendship, Kate from Australia called me on FACE TIME, whereby Terry and I and Kate and her husband got to meet each other and visit the longest mostest wonderfulest of times!
I love this new world of Technology!
One afternoon last week I noticed shadowed patterns rippling upon Terry’s arm as he got into the pick-up. I told him it looked like the sun gave him a full-sleeve and glove tattoo 🙂
Friday, after we finished up and I was heading in to fix supper I stumbled, causing my camera lid to flip off and a photo to be taken
When I looked at what the camera shot, I saw another heart, resting somewhere on the ground…
I know times are terrible right now…in so many, many ways.
But I do believe, as, in all things, this too will pass.
Love you, each and every one.
Stay Safe, my friends!
My thoughts, my mind, and my prayers are with you,
From my heart to your world,
Linda
While out-and-about, looking at the sky through the tiny lens on my camera
The two hens and Beaglie following me
Mindy choosing to NOT get in the way of two hens (they like to chase her–making her a wee bit unnerved.)
I happened upon a lovely gift of heart…waiting there in the shadows of other rocks
A marvelous gift all dressed in gray!
From my world to your heart,
Linda
Hello! It’s Me, Mindy-Lou, Min-Min, Kit-Cat Brown. Today is MY day to visit with you!
I had a very busy night, last night.
I checked out this and that and all things
around Mom’s yard.
Then I came in and took a very long nap right on my bed on the BIG Bed.
Then I got up and ate lunch headed outside; I had lots of stuff to do before it got dark.
There is lots of work for a busy kitty on the farm.
BUT the best part of the whole day yesterday WAS a walk with Mom, Dad, and Boomer
in the Golden light.
You see when the sun started sitting the whole world turn GOLD!
It was beautiful!
So Beautiful
I had to run and jump and skittered here and there and everywhere.
Mom said the Golden Light made her feel the same way.
(Dad and Boomer said they don’t get it…it just felt cold to them and time to head back inside.)
But Mom and I got it…so I guess it must be a girl thing…loving that Golden Light.
Mindy
(From Pinterest)
A few leaves have fallen off the freeze-dried branches of the old Cottonwood tree
Scattered here and there; stretching loosely across the farmyard
The chickens adding their delighted wing-stretching excitement to the downward slide into full-blown winter.
But what thrilled me the most (while on a walk with Boomer)
Was the swirling and darting of the leaves in a wee little breeze
Standing upright on their stems dancing, dancing, dancing creating a brilliantly choreographed ballet of green and golden leaves.
I was supremely delighted to have been gifted with this amazing event!
From my world to your heart,
Linda
Mom and Dad get up before the grey light starts to show over by the mountains, eat breakfast, then put on my coat, load me up in the back of the pick-up truck (or up front) and head up to the far reaches of the farm.
By the time we eat breakfast, gather up all the wood gathering tools, put my coat on me, the sun is up and the frost is THICK on the grass.
You see we have to go early before the mud appears, or we would never make it up there and back.
Dad isn’t fond of being stuck and Mom is even more un-fonder since being stuck enough the four-wheel drive doesn’t work means a long walk back to the house to get the tractor and chain, then a very cold ride back to the stuck truck, and THEN Mom has to pull the pick up out, which she HATES to do.
So up we go, every day this week, then it’s back to the yard where Mom sorts and Dad cuts until today when they both announced: “This should hold us for a spell”!
Now….for me it is lots of fun. I can ride up front or in the back, whatever I want. I usually pick the back. I have a coat on you see.
We drive through the cows and the Sandhill Cranes—I don’t bark or whine or howl at them I just watch.
Then Mom sits me out of the truck and I go exploring. I go here and there and everywhere. I go where ever I want to go.
Then when I hear the chain saw stop or I hear Mom holler for me I head back to the truck and get loaded up again.
Back home
I usually go around smelling who or what has been visiting the farm while we were gone.
Then when Mom lets the hens out and heads back into the house,
I always go with her…nap time.
Mom works upstairs on her computer and I take a long nap.
Dad does Dad stuff, I don’t know what that is because, well, you see, I stay with Mom, always.
Boomer Beaglie Brown
I have always had lots of birds here. Most times they could be a nuisance…by flying into the chicken house trying to steal the chicken’s feed. A chicken raiser really doesn’t want wild birds in the chicken house with the chickens; birds transfer diseases to each other so it’s best to try and keep them separated.
My chickens lived in a great house with a covered pen that kept them safe from the many predators that abound. But every afternoon my hens ran free until the sun started falling and they put themselves to bed. They had the best of both worlds, protected house and run and free range from noon until bedtime.
Over time I learned to feed the wild birds so they would stay out of the hen house. I created a place just for the wild birds so the hens would stay out of the bird seed. It worked very well.
Last winter (after my last hen died) I decided that I didn’t want to raise chickens anymore. Maybe later, but for now I don’t. Anyway, after making that decision I expanded my bird feeding stations inviting as many wild birds that want to dine with us that is possible.
Today I have many, many different types of birds (I am not very good with the bird species so I won’t go into listing them) but I do have a few favorites. A huge flock of Red-Winged Black Birds has left the cattails in the Back Forty to peck and scratch at my little bird station. I love their calls.
Then there is the Western Meadow Larks….that have left the fence lines to come partake of the rich goodies out there.
Of course the wonderful Robins… wake us up and sing to us all the day long. Right now they are feasting on the mulberries and the sour cherries that are ripe, or trying to ripe. The Robins really don’t give them a chance to turn really red.
We have many others, Ringed-Necked Doves, ( I miss the Mourning Doves of a few years ago), sparrows of all sorts, and the other little brown feathered birds that fly with them.
I have feeders out for the House Finches so they don’t have to share with the many other little brown feathered birds.
I relish these warm days full of bird song. Winter is rather sparse with only Starlings, Crows, Ravens and the brown feathered hoard. I leave my winters open day and night even if it is extremely hot…I want to soak up every day of Spring, Summer and Fall that I can. Winter is extremely long to me.
Today is a day (Sunday) we only do what is necessary. This evening our oldest daughter, Shannon, is have a pot-luck cook out. We will all slather on bug stuff and enjoy visiting with each other. It won’t be long now before Kelly and Misty and the kids leave for Craig, Colorado, so we must experience as much as possible before they move!
I hope you have a great Sunday!
Your friend,
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 