Thank you all —Late Autumn—Sunday, November 2, 2014

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Dayphoto

A storm blew in yesterday…although the temperatures were warm…75*. The weather people are saying there is a strong possibly of (lots of) snow around the 8,000 feet by this evening and Monday morning.

(Which is good) it’s good to be busy.

I got the house completely finished painting on the inside of the house…HAPPY DANCE!

I will start on the trim on the outside of the house and the fence. Also, raking of the the leaves. The work is starting to end down there…(which is another good thing)

Tuesday Terry will check the corn again to see where the moisture content is…the ranchers are already combining their corn. They feed up the corn, as they combine, so they can use high moisture corn.

I wish to thank each and everyone of your for your heartfelt condolences about my Fuzzy. I hope to get each of you answered as time permits. Please know that I appreciate your thoughts and kind words. I know he was ‘just a dog’ but what A Dog he was!

Your friend on a Colorado Farm,

Linda

October Irrigation — Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Posted on October 28, 2014 by Dayphoto

We started the irrigation water back up. The alfalfa field was just too dry to make it through the winter.

Early morning and every evening is very cold here, although it is warming up some in the afternoon.

Yesterday was horrible with wind and cold and just plain nasty.

Boomer thought he was going to freeze to death so I took off one of my jackets so he could warm up.

The storm blew on by and left us with another killing frost—no ice on the running water though.

Terry had the corn tested yesterday one field was 18 and all the others at 19. We have a long ways to go to get to 14 moisture content. If this cold stays we might get there in two weeks or so.

Two weeks will give me a nice amount of time…I’m just about done painting INSIDE the house. I have the trim/cabinets/doors in the kitchen and the ceiling in the Dining Room. I dread that ceiling as it’s very tall, that is why I keep putting it off. Still I should be able to get to it either today or tomorrow. YIPPEE!

Then I can start on the trim outside and the fences.

Once the corn is harvested we will have to work on getting all the fences on the place cow/calf proof so Mr. Davis’ cows can come to the Brown Nursery. I call our place the Brown Nursery since all the spring’n heifers (first year to calf) calve out on our place. They were babies here two years ago so they are delighted to arrive back. Lots of kicking up of heels and running when they first come in—then they wander everywhere checking out to see what has changed. It takes them about three days to settle down to the place they want to graze first. I always enjoy having them here.

But first………..there is the house to finish and the trim and fences to fix. Oh, and the corn to harvest! (and the irrigation water to change until the ditch is shut off on Saturday).

Your friend,

Linda

The Song of Fall—Monday, October 27, 2014

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Dayphoto

Soon now. The stalks and the ears are getting that ‘look’. Soon.

Sometime today Terry will go out and pick a ear from every field —shell each ear in it’s own test bucket, then take the ear to the elevator to get a moisture test. To harvest our corn the moisture needs to be at 14, any higher than that the corn will mold in the elevators. If you are selling to a feed lot then can take a higher corn moisture….but not where we take it.

Our haystacks are shrinking! Very little left now. The man that is loading out will take that whole stack he is working on, as I took the photo. There is a smaller stack (100) which goes to a horse woman, and the stack that is still covered (we cover all the hay) goes to Delta Elevator. Terry’s goal is for the hay to be gone before winter sets in and Hank’s cows arrive. We have to build pretty good fences around the stacks if we still have hay and cows; preferably we just give them the run of the place otherwise.

In checking the ground in the alfalfa field we realized that it’s terribly dry, so we will start the irrigation water this week. We MUST do it this week since the Ditch Company will turn all the water off November 1st. A week is enough to get the whole thing wet then the alfalfa will go into the winter nicely. The wind is blowing now and it’s cold. A cold front is moving in today and will linger for at least five days. I love walking in the fields with the wind blowing —- here is an old video from a long time back of the wind in the corn…

I find listening to the wind in the corn as lovely as wind whistling through pine trees.

Late afternoon Fuzzy, Boomer and I go for a four-wheeler ride around the farm…up to the headgate, through the Upper End, into the Back Forty, down the road by the alfalfa field, sometimes over to the equipment area and then to the other house, or we just drive into the corn fields and sit and listen to the sounds.

Peace floods my heart, mind and soul. I am so thankful to be able to live and work here.

Life is Good, My Friends, Life is Good!

Wishing you the best of the day!

Your Friend,

Linda

THEY ARE BACK! — Sunday, October 12, 2014

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Dayphoto

Winter is fasting coming upon us!

The Sandhill Cranes have returned!

I couldn’t get all of the Sandhill Cranes in the photo; they were scattered here there and everywhere in the disked corn field. But they are back. And they beat the Canada Geese.

I’m sure it won’t be long now before our skies have the sounds of geese talking to each other as they wing their way from the North.

It’s nice we have winter birds. They help brighten the long winter days.

It’s storming here right now. The wind is blowing, tossing the corn here and there, rain is splattering on the windows. I started a fire in the woodstove. The house was decidedly cold.

Later on today I will need to gather my fire making things, kenneling, starter sticks, smaller logs and then the large logs that keep the flame going. I will have to go down to the other house and do the same thing there. We are making headway at that house, but there is at least another week to go.

Also Terry found out that the furnace system needs to completely be replace. “(If it isn’t one thing,” my Momma used to say,”it’s another!’) That means a possiblya new furnace and new duct work. SIGH!

My theory is: to do one job it always takes at least five other jobs so you can get the original job completed.

Gradually we will make it…one step at a time.

Your friend,

Linda

Socked in- Sunday, September 28, 2014

Posted on September 28, 2014 by Dayphoto

A HUGE rain storm rolled in last night complete with rolling thunder and stunning flashes of lightening. By 9:00 in the evening we were wet. The rain hasn’t let up since the storm rolled in. On one hand the lovely drenching of all the parched and dried spots in the lawns and fields is a very good thing—on the other hand not so lovely. It’s harvest here. Not for us. We have finished our harvest of the two first crops and are waiting for the corn to dry down before we start the third and last crop –corn.

There are others, neighbors and friends, who are in the middle of onion harvest, or their pinto bean harvest, or getting in the last cutting of alfalfa turned hay.

Moisture like this is not good for harvest. 😦

This weekend found us in Craig, Colorado, to watch our grandson play Middle School football and take

Ellie up to play with Linky for a spell. Of course, we also got to enjoy the little Cowgirl and her REAL Cowgirl girl friends.

Craig is home to Tri-State Generation plant. My Dad worked at the station right after it was built- until he retired. Daddy started work for Colorado Ute—now Tri-State–at the Hayden plant, then was promoted to this plant right after it was built.

My parents moved to Hayden, Colorado, the year I was pregnant with Evan. They stayed they for over twenty years, Daddy retiring from Colorado Ute (Tri-State) and Momma retiring form Peabody Coal.

It’s sort of ironic that our youngest daughter and her family are now back in the Moffat/Routt County area don’t you agree?

Anyway we are back to a decidedly very wet fall day. It has the feel of a huge weather switch coming…I wonder if a killing frost will follow all this moisture; I would not be surprised.

It’s all most October…a killing frost is just around the corner, if not imminent.

Your friend on a farm,

Linda

Moving Along-Harvest-Sunday, September 7, 2014

Posted on September 7, 2014 by Dayphoto

Friday and Saturday were super busy!

Terry got the pinto beans bladed and

placed in nice fluffy rows to dry. We are still holding our breath that the rains stay away…(OH! PLEASE STAY AWAY! Just until the pinto beans are in the Beanery!) It might be like wishing in the wind

since we can see storms moving all around us.

Terry has all the hay baled and part of the field in the hay yard…this afternoon should see every last bale stacked and ready for sale. (Fingers crossed)

You can see the storms playing on Grand Mesa in this photo.

Everything seems like a ‘race against the weather’ this time of year.

I’ve got part of the fence scraped and brushed ready to paint down at the other house and I even have all but the two biggest flower beds weeded in my yard. Sure feels good to start getting caught back up.

Tuesday and Wednesday Misty will be back for some training she needs for her new job, Linkin has asked to come with her. It will mean missing two days of school. Linkin is a very good student, so I think she will get to come with her mother. It will nice to have that ten-year-old here again. Her Grandpa has bought her a neat surprise. He will give it to her at this point, if she comes. Otherwise it will wait until a later, or even much later date.

Maybe Linkin’s Best Friend can come out after school on Tuesday and stay for supper. I’ll ask Misty and Ellie’s Mom. Hopefully she can.

Today we only do what we must do…a day of rest. Makes the week go faster.

Your friend,

Linda

Stretch Marks, Labor Day, Monday, September 1, 2014

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Dayphoto

It’s that time of year….

(Third cutting of alfalfa)

When all of spring and summer come together

Third cutting of hay is cut and drying…Terry is raking and turning the rows even as I type away.

Soon, very soon…maybe tomorrow or the next day…it all depends on the weather, he will pull the pinto beans.

The corn has passed the blister stage, moving into the dough. After that it will be ready to ‘dry down’.

We are on the last little bits of irrigation. No more changing water on the pinto beans, only one more good soaking of the alfalfa, after the last bale has been hauled and stacked (possibly two if the fall is terribly dry—alfalfa can’t go into the winter dry or the crop will die.)

All that is left is watering the corn, by the end of September (in 30 days, maybe a few more, but not many-maybe even less) the irrigation water will be turned off to our farm.

We will be done.

After that we wait…until the last of October or the first of November when the harvest of the field corn begins. Those that have ensilage or chopp’n corn, or silage (it’s all one in the same) will start filling the silos this week.

The stretch for harvest has begun!

Then winter’s silence will descend.

But not for awhile.

Not for awhile.

Not just yet.

The gift of the spring and summer’s work will be collected. The work is has begun!

We will stretch ourselves thin, eat on the run, get up before dawn and settle back down way after dusk. It will look easy to those driving by—people who have moved to the country to get away from the crowds.

I suppose it is, after all these years…it’s because we practice all the time. The continuing education credits come when this year’s paycheck comes in. (We are paid once a year for pinto beans and corn. The hay brings in small checks as the bales are sold.)

Harvest! It is what we work for— the accumulation of the year.

Your friend on a farm in Western Colorado,

Linda

Heat! But I’m not Complaining! —- Sunday, July 20, 2014

Posted on July 20, 2014 by Dayphoto

It’s warm here. We had 102* yesterday afternoon. The dogs and Terry languished melting into the house; laying around in the family room while the swamp cooler cooled them down.

I worked at keeping the yard watered then around four o’clock decided I would just have to wait and start all over again as soon as the temps dropped back down to 98* or so. The heat did pound right into me as I walked here and there moving hoses. It was hot enough walking made a person feel like they were moving in slow motion.

The day had started with huge promise of being hot and it kept it’s promise.

Moving through the growing corn to set water re-confirmed that we WERE in July. The biting bugs hovered and dug right in for a lush rich drink of blood as we moved from one spot to another.

Finally we hopped back onto the four-wheelers and drove through the almost to tassel (but not just yet) corn into the wildly green pasture at the very top of the farm…here the mosquitoes and biting gnats gave way to swarms of more hungry bugs…tiny horse flies, deer flies and giant horse flies, no-see-ums, you name it. But the air was cool and fresh in the pasture so it made the flies seem endurable.

Yesterday, was also Delta’s summer celebration –Deltarado Days. We only attended the Parade, the Car Show and the Tractor Pull (I sure you knew we would attend those last two…:) )

By evening and the last change of the irrigation water we had cooled down to a very nice 88*. The night cooled even further down with dew setting on around four this morning.

Terry is out baling hay right now. Although he won’t be out there very long because this day is heating up also.

Normally we don’t really work on Sunday…we treat it as a ‘day of rest’, but now and again somethings must be done…baling the hay when all things come together to create the bale is one of those things.

Thank each of you for your continued friendship across the miles. Having my internet back is sure nice!

Your farm friend,

Linda

Chasing Dragons— June 1, 2014

Posted on June 1, 2014 by Dayphoto

I got this idea from reading Thoughts from the Road’s post on His Chasing Dragons!

A while back Terry and I saw this really cool Dragon. It was way up on a hillside.

Even further up was something strange and orange and like a flick of flame or something.

I have no idea what it was supposed to be…food, dragon flame? Who knows. I’ll let you decide. It was so far up it was really hard to tell…looked just like an orange dot. I had to take a photo of it to see what it was. After enhancing the photo I still don’t know.

The days are warm (hot) and lovely here. Although, we are experiencing lots of wind, I don’t mind. Terry did hook up the swamp cooler so the house could stay relatively free of blowing dirt. When the fine dust/dirt gets into the house I’m rather discouraged, as it means I have to dust…I am not a fan of dusting.

I would rather—vacuum, sweep, mop, clean closets and drawers, wash windows, paint the house inside and out, weed the yard, do anything in the yard, irrigate on the farm…you name it—than dust!

(But I do dust, I hope you understand…it is just right up there with eating boiled okra.)

Terry got the pinto beans in the ground yesterday! Yippee! We are three weeks behind on everything because of the cold wet weather we have had. It isn’t just us behind, everyone is behind.

The corn is up and rowing out, it should make it to ‘knee-high by the 4th of July’—always the goal. If it makes that tall by that time it will make before any killing freezes occur.

“Time marches on” As my Momma would say…here it is the 1st day of June. Happy June 1st everyone!

Your farm friend,

Linda

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Dayphoto

The day’s are shorting now…around 7:30 in the evening we head out for the last check of water for the day.

We also are monitoring the pinto beans. The field is turning yellow, which means the pintos are now ripe and ready to be pulled.

Probably next Friday Terry will pull the pinto’s so they can start drying.

We will need the days to stay hot and dry once they are pulled.

(see the nasty bull thistle seeds)

(The steps for pinto bean harvest is — pull the plants and leave them lay until nice and crispy, combine the plants, which is taking the beans out of the dried plants and putting them into the hopper then the truck to be delivered to the Beanery, have the beans sacked and the sold—DONE for the year)

He is baling the new cutting of hay as I write this. The first of second week of September will be the third cutting of the old hay field. Dry weather needs to prevail for at least a month now. 🙂