The Adventures of TLC Cai-Cai and Boo Berry —SCATTER— Chapter Six, Friday, September 2, 2022

Posted on September 2, 2022 by Dayphoto

Okay, dokay, Mom and I were at the Upper End where Mom was busy taking photographs of ever so much,

and I was sniffing the air

from the safety of my little blue seat.

Blue for me. Boo Berry Betty. Boo Berry cereal is blue, so therefore Mom buys me lots of BLUE stuff. Besides, Mom told me blue is her first favorite color with lavender her second. So, my name being Boo Berry Betty told Mom she and I were perfect for each other.

Anyway, I got sidetracked.

Mom and I were out on the farm taking photos and smelling all the cool smells on the farm.

Mom saw the little chipmunk, who lives somewhere in the thicket behind the equipment. This little animal likes to run around on the header for the grain combine. Mom likes to hoover close by to see if she can get any photos of critters who want to run around on the grain header.

Yep, she got a good one! (after Mom put out a small handful of treats 😊) Chippy has a fun smell too.

Then Mom and I drove to the pond between the Upper End and the Back Forty where Mom SAW A BUTTERFLY!

(I smelled a Giant wild, HUGE wild, Doglike thing; I wonder if that is what Mom calls a coyote? I just smelled it; the scent was very faint.)

Mom very carefully tried to get a photo of the BIG white butterfly with black trim on its wings. Mom was hoping to get a really good photo because she thought it might be a Snow Apollos or Rocky Mountain Parnassian, or something like that.

Just as Mom snapped another bazillion shots of the butterfly it lifted up and flew away.

Mom reached out to give me a pat when

WASPS!

Every which, where, and even Up!

SCATTER!!!

Is just what Mom and I did (after a few more photos)

and I was getting nervous.

Mom started the four-wheeler, flipped it into gear and we were GONE!

Boo Berry Betty BROWN!

The Adventures of TLC Cai-Cai and Boo Berry —SCATTER— Chapter Five, Friday, August 26, 2022

Posted on August 26, 2022 by Dayphoto

I know, I know! You think Boo Berry Betty and I, Yours Truly, TLC Cai-Cai are the only ones who can make the hens scatter!

Well, I’m here to tell you—Mom can too. (Sometimes, not often, but, yes, sometimes.)

And the big, loud, HUGE machines can make the hens squawk and run.

BUT—-

Those hens have a few tricks in their feathers, let me tell you.

For one thing—NEVER! EVER! Chase Skitter Bug. EVER!! She has a very pointy, sharp beak. Just say’n.

And—Skitter is very much in charge of her flock and her BIRD SEED!

See Mom scatters bird seed out by the hen run so the birds will stay out of the hen house; the birds like to eat the chicken feed.

So Mom puts bird seed or hen scratch outside the run for the birds.

Now, if Skitter Bug sees the birds pecking around on the food on the ground—

Well, just let me say—

Skitter knows how to make those little birds

SCATTER!

TLC Cai-Cai

The Adventures of TLC Cai-Cai and Boo Berry —SCATTER— Chapter Four, Friday, August 19, 2022

Posted on August 19, 2022 by Dayphoto

“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

The Adventures of TLC Cai-Cai and Boo Berry —SCATTER— Chapter Three, Friday, August 12, 2022

Posted on August 12, 2022 by Dayphoto

I get this “Scatter” thing, Boo Berry Betty. I always scatter when there is a HUGE BIG MOTOR somewhere close.

I mean like RUUUUUUUUUUUUN! Is the word.

And RUN to the house is the answer.

Hiding in the house is the only way to go.

BUT—

Sometimes in the house—

MOM does the unthinkable!!!

SHE VACUUMS!!!

When that happens you and I have to

SCATTER!!!

TLC Cai-Cai

The Adventures of TLC Cai-Cai and Boo Berry —SCATTER— Chapter Two, Friday, August 5, 2022

Posted on August 5, 2022 by Dayphoto

“Boo Berry Betty,” Mom called.

“Come now. The hens need to get out and go scratch around.

Come On. Leave them alone.”

What?!?! Stop? I haven’t even started.

I’m just standing here in front of the chicken house, not doing anything.

“Boo Berry,” Mom swooped down and picked me up.

“No herding chickens until I tell you.”

Off we went to the sidewalk.

Then Mom put me down.

“Here you go. Stay around here and play.”

Then Mom went to mow the lawn and I

RAN TO THE HOUSE

BIG MOTORS SCARE ME

“IN MOM! IN!”

Whew, Thank Heavens.

In. Mom can do her thing WITHOUT ME!!!

Boo Berry Betty

The Adventures of TLC Cai-Cai on Friday—-Farm Adventures, Those Who Live with Me, Friday, June 10, 2022

Posted on June 10, 2022 by Dayphoto

We have a chipmunk…

actually, two that live with me in the farm yard. But Mom can never seem to get a photo of them. These Chips are the descendants of two Chips

who were friends with Sam-Sam.

And Fuzzy.

And Boomer. Now their great, great grands are friends with me.

Since Mom can’t get a photo of them, she is posting one she saw out on the farm—where I NEVER go.

We also have several ground squirrels who share the chicken feed with the chickens.

Once more these are the descendants of Stanly and Stewart and their lovely squirrel wives—Shirley and Shelia.

It seems whenever Mom is around and the squirrels are around, she never has her camera. BUT— out on the farm, Mom saw a squirrel hiding behind his tail. So cute-thought Mom.

We also have a family of bunnies.

Momma bunny told me it was much, much safer to hang around the farm yard, than the farm proper. She knows, she was over by the equipment area when she grew up.

It was a dangerous and very scary place to live.

The Gambol Quails have migrated in to share dinner with the hens. They are extremely fast. (and, of course, Mom never has her camera when she is working in her yard.)

The pair of Gambol Quails have BABIES— that run and dart very fast. I have a goal….no! No! NO!!!! I don’t. Never! I can’t even think of that goal! EVER!!!!

One day I was a tad bored, Skitter Bug was close, I was bored so I hopped out from under the peony bush right on her back. (Mom saw). Mom screamed NO!

She didn’t need to scream.

Skitter Bug turned around very fast and pecked the heck out of me, then when I fell over, she flew up and pounced on ME!

Let’s just say—hens are off the grocery shopping list. (Although to be fair to me, I didn’t want to eat her, just play with her.)

We have

birds,

and birds

and

lots of birds.

One day we had a hawk…

WOW, THAT BIRD IS BIG!!!

I had to hide in the wood pile. Mom was outside and saw the hawk. She yelled at the hawk—“SHOO! Go away!

(I’m not sure if this IS a hawk—any ideas?)

These animals in the farm yard are NOT your dinner.” The hawk just looked at Mom, but he did fly away.

So—that’s the working list of animals in the farm yard.

Plus, Me, Dad, and Mom.

(We also have a badger…Mom…did you hear me?)

TLC Cai-Cai

The Adventures of TLC Cai-Cai on Friday—-Corn, Friday, May 13, 2022

Posted on May 13, 2022 by Dayphoto

Dad is planting corn,

He got it all planted

Then he went out and knocked down the rows

Now Dad and Mom wait

( of course, they don’t sit and wait)

After the corn gets a tiny sprout

They will start the water on the cornrows

Soon the tiny seeds will make

BABY corn PLANTS!

As for me—I am busy keeping the farmyard

SAFE!

TLC Cai-Cai

The Adventures of TLC Cai-Cai on Friday —Step Four, Friday, April 29, 2022

Posted on April 29, 2022 by Dayphoto

Water is not only the backbone of the farm.

Water is a tool.

To irrigate properly you not only need to understand water, the needs of the water, and how the water performs on the land.

You need to also understand the land you are using the water on!

For some people, like Mom, watering yard…she just turns the spigot on, moves the hose with the sprinkler head here and there all over the lawn in 30 minutes stretches.

Also, Mom takes off the sprinkle head and puts on a soaker head so she can water her flower beds.

Yes, this takes lots of time, because Mom doesn’t have a sprinkling system.

But for the water on the farm, on this side of the Rocky Mountains, in the high mountains desert…water is moved through furrows.

Other places rely on rainfall—that will never happen here.

Some other places pump water out of a river, or lake, or pond, or an aquifer into huge sprinkler systems that never stop. (Because sprinkle systems only put down a tiny amount of moisture at a time, so the sprinkler has to be moving constantly to get everything wet down to the roots of the plant.)

Some places flood-irrigate…like rice paddies, for instance, or some other type of crop which moves lots and lots of water onto the crop then take it away and let it dry, only to repeat again later.

Here we take our water onto the land in a big head — the head is made up of shares. The Shares are the amount of water allowed for that farm.

Moving water onto the farm takes timing, balance, athletic ability (you have to stand or jump on the ditches), and an understanding of the farm and water.

Mom says there is something so beautiful, soothing, and marvelous about working the water on the land. Just listening to the water is calming; making sure the water is doing what it’s supposed to —

run down each row…the row that amount of water is allotted to is exciting.

Sometimes the water wants to ‘cut over’ into its neighbor’s row, or something jumps into the row—like a clod of dirt, or the remainder of last year’s corn cob/stalk — getting the water BACK into its own row and taking the block out can be a tad exciting (and muddy and stressful.

But seeing the water running nice and even, the sides of the furrow’s turning browner soaking up the water, watching the ground soak up the water all the water to the middle.

WONDERFUL!

At least two more chapters in the backbone of water—Stay tuned!

(See my gift to Mom—MOUSE!)

TLC Cai-Cai

The Adventures of TLC Cai-Cai on Friday —Step Two, Friday, April 22, 2022

Posted on April 22, 2022 by Dayphoto

Mom and Dad lift up all the siphon tubes out of the ditches, fork out all the trash

Before 7:00 in the morning, Dad calls the Uncompaghre Valley Water Users ditch rider. Our ditch rider rides for the FN Lateral. That is the canal from which we get the water that goes to our place.

Our headgate has its own number and everything. And our farm, just like every farm within the Uncompaghre Valley Water Users area, has its own share of water. This water was decided way back in 1902 — every farm gets its number of shares forever and ever and ever. And that farmer (owner of the farm) must pay for the shares…they are not a freebie. Just so you know, Mom and Dad say the cost of the water for each farm is more than the taxes on each farm. Water is an expensive part of farming.

Once at the headgate he lifts up the dam stopping the water from going into our farm.

After Dad talks to the ditch rider, he heads up to the headgate, opens the dam the amount the ditch rider says he can have (yes, sometimes you don’t get the 100% you pay for, sometimes you only get a percentage—it all depends on the snowmelt.)

The amount of water Dad can have, leaves the canal and heads onto the place—at that point Mom and Dad scoop trash out the ditches, so the trash cleaners don’t get over-whelmed.

Then they move to the first field they are starting the water on.

This goes on from the first day in April when the headgate is first opened until the last day in September when Dad decides the crops are finished taking in water.

Twice or more times a day…

Mom and Dad go out, check the trash,

check the furrows to make sure they are not trashed up,

and move the water to the next furrows on and on and on.

Step Three will tell you more. In detail. I think.

TLC Cai-Cai

The Adventures of TLC Cai-Cai on Friday —How it all Begins, Friday, April 15, 2022

Posted on April 15, 2022 by Dayphoto

It all begins with snow. Lots and lots of snow.

That snow then melts way, way up there in the high, high mountains. Taylor Park Reservoir is owned and managed by the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users.
(I don’t really know these things, but Mom does, so I’m letting Mom write this for a little bit. TLC Cai-Cai)

The melted snow, which turns into water, flows all the way down to the Blue Mesa Reservoir whereby it then flows into all the canals, which water all the farms along the way from here to there.

Uncompahgre Valley Water Users has one storage dam, several diversion dams, 128 miles of canals, 438 miles of laterals, and 216 miles of drains.

Now that Mom told you that…I’ll tell you, come to Spring. The Ditch Riders open the canal so Dad and lots of other farmers can get water onto their farms and start irrigation.