Tag Archives: FIre

A Wee Update—-Wednesday, March 29, 2017

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We went down to see how much fire damage happened on Davis’ Ranch, in the bottom of the Robidoux.   Here is where the fire started…where the campfire was.

What a mess.  Acres and acres of scorched land.

Since that time we have had some rain…not bunches, but some, so I’m thinking it will start to green up again.  As for the loss of the trees….well, not much can be done about it, but cut them down for firewood.

Mr. Davis was up talking with Terry yesterday; all the animals were gotten out of the way in time.  “Sure is a sorry mess,” he said.

I agree.

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

The UnMystery Mystery! Another Sherlock Boomer Adventure

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Chapter Two

After Mr. Davis and Teresa got the cows and calves moved off the place,

Dad started farming more of the land. That’s sorta boring for me, because when Dad does that he takes away MY SNACKS!!!

Oh, well!  Maybe if I go beg at the door Mom will let me in and I can hang out with Mom for a spell.  Mom has been going in and out pretty regular today hanging clothes on the clothesline.

So I stood at the door and waited.  I just wait I know it won’t be too long before Mom comes out with something for the clothes line.

Oh! Good, there she is…letting out the cat and letting me in.

I laid down on my soft comfy bed; drifted off to sleep.  When Mom went by me real fast….

“Oh, my goodness!  WHAT IS ON FIRE!” Mom exclaimed as she headed out the door going toward the big machinery shed.

I jumped up and followed her as fast as my legs could go.

“FIRE!”  I bayed.  “ROMEO! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?”  Mom and I headed to the pasture, where Romeo the horse is spending his days with us!

“Romeo!” Mom called!  ROMEO!  Oh, there you are.”  Mom gave Romeo a pet on his nose.

Snuffle, snort…there is a fire next to my pasture, Grams” Romeo tried to tell Mom.

Mom, myself and Romeo walked up the pasture a ways and stopped. “I’ll be so glad when everyone next to us gets this need to set everything on fire out of their system.  With everything so dry these field burns are starting to make me very nervous!”  Mom said to Romeo and me.

It was a long while back we had snow, then even while we had snow and cold and below freezing temperatures the rains came.  Even before the cows came the rains came and melted ALL the snow, turned everything into mud.

Then the air dried up and the earth dried up and we were DRY.

Then came more winter and then sorta spring and the cows came, then the calves started popping up and once in a while we might have hint of moisture but really nothing.

Now we are in late winter and almost spring, with temperatures hot as June in the daytime, but cold at night so everything has all its moisture sucked right out of it.

That’s why Mom and Dad and I (your wondrous Boomer Beaglie Brown, sometimes known as Sherlock Boomer) have become concerned about fire!  You get last year’s tall dead grass, dry and brittle leaves on the sagebrush, Chico Brush and Rabbit brush, hot days with warm breezes and you have the perfect mix for a dangerous fire.

Then you add, into this crazy mix PEOPLE WHO LIKE TO BURN UP LAST WINTER’S DEAD STUFF and you get FIRE!

The kind of fire that takes out farms and houses….well, you know EVERYTHING!

We stood up at the end of Romeo’s pasture and watched that fire swoosh across the cornfield.  Gradually it burned itself out.

Giving Romeo a bunch of hugs and rubs Mom and I walked back to the house leaving Romeo up there to guard the end of his pasture.  He said he was glad to do so, since there was lots of grass to eat.

We got back home just at the UPS man arrived, so I peeled out and left Mom in the dust.  I feel it’s very important to let the UPS guy know that I am the dog in charge out our place, and he has to have my permission to get out of his truck.  Of course he always gets out of his truck anyway.  If it’s the nice UPS guy I get tossed a bone, if it’s the mean UPS guy he tries to kick me.   No matter the danger (mean UPS guy) I always do my beagle duty and bark at him.

I got there just as the UPS guy was backing up.  I gave my loudest beagle bay ever…so loud and long I actually jumped up in the air.  I could see the UPS guy moving around in his stopped truck, I continued to blast my loudest barks ever!

About that time Mom was getting close to the driveway.

The UPS guy started down the UPS truck steps so I sorta kinda got closer baying all the while when suddenly the UPS driver turned into a HUGE MEAN GODZILLA OF A MONSTER and lunged at me with deadly claws up in the air.

It was at the precise moment I realized that some monster has eaten the UPS driver and was now poised to eat MOM AND ME!!!!

My ears flew up, as far as beagle ears can fly, the hair on the back of my neck and all down my body fluffed up and I summoned the loudest bark I possibly could.

Before I could get my bay out Mom was right beside me and the GOZILLA Monster was flying down the steps of the UPS truck right toward MOM AND ME!

I whirled around and tucked my tail under my hind end, slinging barks at the UPS monster and ran right into the propane tank.

It sorta kinda slowed me down…klunk! I mean, it well, stopped me.  It was while I was in the stopped position I heard Mom and the —huh!? —UPS driver laughing.

Mom walked over to me, while the NICE UPS driver put this amazingly large package down on the glider.  Mom petted me, so I could calm down.  Then the nice UPS driver gave me THREE cookies, chuckling all the while.

Three cookies!  Yum! Slobber, chew!

With a wave and a rev of his motor the UPS driver was gone.

I stood there chewing up the last of my cookies and watched Mom carry that huge package into the house.

I wonder what happed to the Godzilla monster.  I’ll bet I scared it so bad it ran away.  That’s what I bet.

 

The UnMystery Mystery! Another Sherlock Boomer Adventure

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Chapter One

Well, here we are again.  Mom and Dad and I are way over by the equipment area checking out something or other.  I don’t know what they are checking out, but I’m checking out all the leftovers from the cows and calves.

I was snuffing here and there and everywhere, when walking up on the ditch bank; I …..Smelled SMOKE!

I hoped over the ditch bank and ran a short distance into the stubble of last year’s field and gave a big sniff.  First I sniffed in the west that is where fires usually come in the spring.  The neighbor down the way has a BIG habit of burning off his fields.  Sometimes he leaves his fires and goes away…one year he did that and his fire ran up his pasture then onto the hills of our farm then onto the farmed part of our farm! It was a bad deal.

Nope.  Nothing coming from that direction.  Then I sniffed in the North…one time we had another neighbor burn off his land and leave and well…you know the rest of that Story….Nope.  Everything okay from that part of the farm.

Then I turned east!

WOOF!  BAAY!!! HOLLER!!! MOM! DAD!  FIRE!!! THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE!!!

I screamed as loud as I could.  Right about that moment Mom and Dad saw the smoke and flames also.

“What’s happening?!?”  Mom asked Dad.

Dad just shook his head and muttered something.

“Terry, it looks like the whole cornfield right next to the house is on fire” Mom exclaimed.

“It is.” Dad replied. “I just don’t get this need to burn off fields, supposedly the burn puts a little nitrogen back into the land, but I’ll bet it’s mighty little.”

With that Mom and Dad got back to work.  As for me…since they weren’t concerned I just went back to searching out goodies.

“Boomer!”  Mom called.  “Let’s go.”  I hurried back to Mom where she picked me up and plunked me down on the back of the four-wheeler.

“Whew, Boom! At your age you can’t eat like you have been doing.  I think you’ve put on four pounds!  I’ll be glad when the cows and calves leave and Dad gets everything worked back in the soil.  You are now officially on a diet!”

“Shish, Mom!  I’ve been on a diet for two weeks already.  You’ve got me so hungry I HAVE to go find food wherever I can find it.”  I looked up at her and gave her my sweetest, kindest grin and several little tiny thumps of my tail.

“Oh, you cute, dog!”  Mom petted me; gave me a big kiss on the nose.  “We go through this every year…the cows come, you gain weight, I put you on a diet, the cows leave and you get back to normal weight again.  What a routine we have, you and I.”   With that she was on the four-wheeler and we were heading home.

Right after lunch Mom came in from outside….I was resting on my dog bed and Dad was looking through the mail—-Mom was cleaning up after lunch and had taken some trash to the trash barrel….  “Mr. Davis and his girls are here, Terry, and they are getting ready to sort the cows and take away the ones who have not had their calves yet.”

Dad got up and headed out the door.  I made a huge dash right out behind Dad because the COW DOGS WERE HERE!!!

The cow dogs and I always, I MEAN ALWAYS, have a great time barking at each other.

While Dad talked to Mr. Davis, and after I got yelled at to stop barking—“THAT”S ENOUGH, BOOMER” by Dad.  I made the rounds of the pick-up and the stock trailer lifting my leg and giving everything an excellent squirt or two.  Hee hee.

By the time I was done, Mom was outside.  Mr. Davis, his two daughters and ALL THE COW DOGS got out of the pickup, walked to the back and unloaded all three horses waiting patiently in the trailer.  I thought about barking again, but Mom was there and she just patted her leg and told me to come sit by her.

So I did.

Those cow dogs didn’t even give me a wink of their time….as soon as everyone was up in the saddle they were gone.

Phooey!

Then Mr. Davis’ wife turned the pickup and trailer around and she was gone.  Mrs. Davis will wait at the ‘leave the field for the road’ gate and follow everyone home.

A short while later Mr. Davis and his daughters had the all the cows down by the ‘leave the field for the road’ gate and were shooing the momma cows and calves into a little group. This group of cows will leave the farm the next day or so.  You see the cows with the calves go to a different pasture than the ones going to a maternity pasture.  Also each little calf needs to be strong enough to walk the distance to their new home.  So today…just the soon-to-be- momma’s left our farm.

Mom and I watched them go.

I didn’t bark once.  Although, I did watch those cow dogs carefully.

I mean, you never know if one of them might come back to my side of the field and bark at me.

Boomer

 

 

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That—Sunday, April 17, 2016

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Head-Gate-2Here is the loud, roaring (we can hear it two fields away), scary (to me) headgate.

See all the trash the comes down Terry takes it out several times a day!

Head-Gate-1Here Terry is opening the chute so we can get water onto our place.  It’s measured in holes.  Only so many feet of water (holes) goes with our place.  I don’t like walking across the little board (which you can not see) to get to the little chute — I get dizzy and want to topple over into the roaring mass of water.  It takes lots of concentration for me to get there, clean the trash out, adjust the boards (the boards are laying across the cross over board from one cement wall to another, and get back.  Terry just walks over like it’s dry land.

Pear-2

My pear trees are just stunning.

Pear-1

Today the plum trees burst into bloom even though it terribly cold, with a nasty wind.  And a freeze warning for tonight and tomorrow night.   I guess I won’t have to worry about thinning the fruit again this year.  A mixed blessing.

Fire!Terry and I were working on setting water when we saw five fire trucks speed past our place so we jumped on our four-wheelers and headed off to the Rocky Point…sure enough.  The neighbor, who almost burned us out a few years back, had set another fire that got away from him.  Thank heavens for quick response…the fence line you see is our property.  Scary!  But they got it out so all is well.

Mid-night-water-check We have to check the water around mid-night or one, because of all the trash coming down the canal.  Trash backs up the water and causes floods, or breaks through or over dams or ditches.  This time of year the trash is the worst…wind, opening up of farm ground up above us, and opening canals that feed into ours.  By the first of May or so, we should be okay.  (No mid-night walks for Boomer and I, but mid-night rides and water checks instead. 🙂  )

In spite of how all this must read.  Please believe me this is a very good life!  I can’t imagine any other.

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

The Sad Part About Spring—-Sunday, February 28, 2016

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Burn-SeasonIt’s BURN season!

Neither Terry or I get this rather new practice of farmer’s burning off their farmed ground.

fire-003

The quality of air is just not there.  For at least three weeks.

fire

We see it everywhere…all around us.

Disking-2010-009

We are old-time farmers;Terry and I.   Terry still disks the stubble back into the fields; (I do the same thing in my gardens)  adding rich nutrients into the earth, creating a better growing environment for earthworms and our crops.

Burn-Season“Why do they do this?” I asked Terry, as we watched one of the huge plumes of smoke on the horizon.

“I don’t know,” his puzzled voice came back to me. “Maybe burning off the fields helps it dry faster.  I just don’t know.”

I don’t know either.

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

A Storm Rolled in Last Night—-Wednesday, November 11, 2015

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We woke up to snow this morning!  Although it IS melting, it’s still snow.  Sure seems early this year.

Off-we-goTerry and I worked on the fire roads.  We have one that is a pain in the ….well, you know what.

Fire-road-1Yep, Terry is stuck…that’s a chain, whereby I’m pulling him out. This particular spot is a real struggle.  Twice a year we clear and clean and create making it safe to get to the rest of the farm.

Fire is a mighty and very scary thing.

Helping-MomBoomer worked right along side of us, up and down, back and forth…over and over again.

Right now the wind is blowing, sharp and cold; pushing the clouds toward the north and the east, mud is appearing where the snow once was.  Work on the fire roads has ended for the year.

Your friend on a very muddy western Colorado farm,

Linda

Fire Roads—Thursday, February 19, 2015

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Fire-Road-1Terry and I spent yesterday sprucing up the fire roads.  We lived here for years and years and never had to have fire roads, but in 2012 all that changed.

Our neighbor two miles from us started a fire on one of his fields and left for lunch. Didn’t check or stay with it or, well, anything. From 11 in the morning until around 2 in the afternoon he didn’t even know what the fire was doing.

We did!  We knew!  And so did the other people in the path the fire.  The whole thing was frightening.  It took several fire departments to put out the blaze, which didn’t occur until evening…in the process we almost lost a barn and all the farm equipment.  Thankfully, Mr. Davis’ cows and calves were okay.  It was a nightmare day.

Guess what…the next year he sat his fire again…I just don’t get people who use fire to clear the farm ground….put it back into the soil…it’s better for the soil and the air.  Not to mention safer.

After the first fire we built fire roads, because you see, this man STILL burns off his land every spring, he says he likes the results better.  😦

MeThis is the tractor I drive, it has the loader.  The loader and Terry’s has the blade, we make a good team.  After years and years of hand signals, I think I am FINALLY figuring them out.  🙂

CowsWhile up there we checked for calves, nothing yet.  I think those girls are going to all pop at the same time!  One day we will look out and see 60 babies on the ground.  There are 80 cows out there, but surely not all 80 will lay down a calf as the same time.  🙂

Off today to look for a wood chipper and log splitter.  I would like the wood chipper for the two yards for mulch and Terry is tired of splitting wood by hand. We may not find one we like but at least we will start the process of looking!

Your friend on a Western Colorado Farm

Linda

Sunday, February 3, 2013

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It’s cloudy, grey and chilly again here today.

I’ve been sick.

dnoe-dr

Well, actually I got sick the week before Christmas and seem to not be able to get well.  I have a good day here and there, but nothing that lasts.

I’m taking the day off…resting by the fire.

Snow

I hope this finds all of you well.

COME ON SPRING!

Linda

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — March, 30, 2012

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We finally made it through March, well almost made it; we are at the end anyway, just one more day to go.

Mom thought we ought to hop onto the four-wheeler and ride over to see how the fire-burned area is doing.

Most of it is still burned.  Nothing really green there yet, but when we got to the hill pasture WOW little sprigs of green showing up everywhere.

Mom said she is not surprised about that since the hill pasture is a mixture of grasses; the fire there just took off the dead.  (It also jumped the road and ran through the corn field toward the house, and it also jumped into the alfalfa filed that burned right up to Mom-mom and her family’s barns.  But I didn’t remind Mom of that, she was still a little sad to see the whole mess.)

We then headed on down to the back forty,and then over to the west field, then the upper end.

Still pretty black!

When we got to the south end Boomer got off and hiked around a bit

while Mom wrote down the fence post count in a little book she was keeping for the insurance guy.

Mom told us dogs that Dad wanted to NOT have to build fences anymore and look at what he has to do now—the whole west side of the place, the ditch company took out the whole north side and the whole east side.  He will have lots and lots of fences to fix now.  Although, there is a possibility that maybe the west side will be fixed with help.

The Ditch Company will probably NOT do the work on the north and east side so Dad and Mom will get to do those fences.

Building fences are not easy, it isn’t stringing the wire that is hard, and it’s digging the fence post.

Of course, us dogs get to go help.  We really enjoy helping out there, we really do!

Almost back home I wanted off.  Boomer found some deer tracks and bayed at me to “come smell.”

So Mom helped me off.

We sniffed around for some time.  Mom got tired of waiting and went back in.  I came back after I checked out all the news out there.

Fuzzy

Another Rite of Spring!

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We were over at the equipment hillside when we saw smoke coming from the area where our house is

fire

Since one of our neighbors caught part of our place on fire three years ago, the smoke made us hoof it over the old corn field rather fast.

Then we found out it was the ditch company getting the canal ready for water.

ditch-is-burned

What a relief!