Houston Better Known as Princess

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Dayphoto

Houston a.k.a. Princess is a Mountain Cur dog. She is four-years-old. And papered.

Houston was Buddy’s dog, the two Rottweilers are Shannon’s now with Buddy’s passing, Houston is Shannon’s dog also.

From what we understand, Mountain Curs are a breed the originated in the southern Appalachia mountains. They are hunting dogs used to tree squirrels and raccoon’s and other critters that climb trees. They are known to be able to climb a tree and hold the creature right there. That’s called ‘hard treeing’ —

(Just to set the record straight…I know nothing about hunting, or hunting with a dog. Buddy came from a tiny town on the Texas/Louisiana border and grew up hunting. I only know this stuff because he told us.)

The rancher that rents our place in the winter to calve out his cows has Black Mouth Curs, they are also hunting and treeing dogs.

Princess Houston not only climbs up a tree but she can climb down a tree. The first time the dogs and I saw her do it, we just stopped and stared. Boomer ran up to the tree and put his front paws on the trunk and hallooooooooooooooowd at her. But he could in no fashion ever get up there. Fuzzy looked at her like she was out of her gourd some how. The Rottweilers didn’t even pay attention to her since they have lived with her from her puppyhood.

Since Boomer and Houston are both hounds they love to go searching and sniffing around all the holes and hollers and dales and valleys on our place, but they are both good about coming back and being with us — if we call.

Oh, wait…Boomer sometimes has to play tricks on us and only come way after we call! 🙂

Anyway, I had lots of questions about Houston and if she could also climb down the tree once she was up there…yep, she can!

And she has a heart of gold and is an outstanding watch dog although, she no longer goes hunting.

Linda

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Fall Bath

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Dayphoto

Mom said it was time—I didn’t believe her so I pretended that I didn’t hear—then she said—“Come on Fuzzy, it’s TIME!”

So Boomer and I had to go!

And it was EARLY IN THE DAY!

I mean, like really early. 9:00 in the morning!

Well, too early for me for what we had to go do!

Shudder, shudder, tremble, and shake!

Of course Boomer didn’t have any trouble with going.

He never does!

Just the word GO gets his attention and he is ready.

I’m usually that way, but I just had this feeling this time that Mom was up to something.

I pretended not to hear her.

Finally, I came and we went.

Yep! I was right!

We had to go GET A BATH!!!!

I HATE BATHS!!!!

I HATE BEING AWAY FROM MOM!

I don’t cry or bark or try to bite, I just shiver and shake until Mom shows back up.

Now Boomer, Heck He Enjoys The Whole Experience….the drive there, the new smells, talking to the other dogs, rolling in the water and getting shampooed, his ears cleaned, the doggie blow-dryer, the WHOLE EXPERIENCE!!!

Now me…I LOVE when MOM comes. I then whine and bark little happy yippy barks and RUN to the truck!!

When it comes to going HOME from the GROOMERS I’m first to the truck, you can bet you it!

Fuzzy

And The Rain, Rain, Came Down, Down Down

Posted on September 12, 2012 by Dayphoto

Lovely, thirst quenching rain. Although, Fuzzy panicked and ran into the corn field with all the thunder and the lightening. It took me about an hour to get him to come out. Boomer stayed with him the whole time. Both dogs were wet, and muddy and soaked. They got to sleep on the back porch until they both decided it was way too hot for them and went outside around two this morning.

It is still cloudy here, although not raining. Everything looks so happy and clean outside. Rain is a blessing. It’ s just hard to have it rain during harvest.

(And YES, we do have weeds….)

Whenever it rains I always think of that wonderful little song from Disney—

Linda

Winnie The Pooh And The Blustery Day:

The rain rain rain came down down down
In rushing, rising riv’lets,
‘Til the river crept out of it’s bed
And crept right into Piglet’s!
Poor Piglet, he was frightened,
With quite a rightful fright.
And so, in desperation
A message he did write.
He placed it in a bottle
And it floated out of sight.

And the rain rain rain came down down down
So Piglet started bailing.
He was unaware, atop his chair,
While bailing he was sailing!

And the rain rain rain came down down down
And the flood rose up up upper.
Pooh, too, was caught and so he thought,
“I must rescue my supper!”
Ten honey pots he rescued,
Enough to see him through,
But as he sopped up his supper,
The river sopped up Pooh!
And the water twirled and tossed him
In a honey pot canoe!
The rain rain rain came down down down…

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Helping Dad Harvest

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Dayphoto

On the way to the bean field …..

FREDDY FOX RAN RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!!!!!!

Fuzzy and I took off running, leaving Mom in the dust!

He was so close his fur almost touched my nose!

Boy, was I surprised and shocked!

Fuzzy and I IMMEDIATELY took off after him, giving him the good old, HI HO chase clear to the end of the corn field, where we immediately lost him!

That was Amazingly FUN!

Back at the bean field I kept sniffing out Freddy Fox’s former tracks…

he even went through the pipe at one point now that the water is gone.

Mom and Dad got the bean truck all loaded up….they have to wait until next week as the three fields left to be harvested are still drying.

Here is one of the fields.

See how fluffy the beans are…they have to get a lot flatter and drier.

Fuzzy and I go everywhere with Mom

We rode in the back while we headed toward the Beanery.

Dad was in front.

We enjoyed the whole experience.

I even like to ride now. Fuzzy smiles all the way, I don’t smile, you get bugs in your teeth and dirt from the load, but I did have a great time.

We had to wait our turn to be weighed and then we came home.

Dad is over there today with the last truck to unload and then he will be back.

Farm Living is the Life for me!

Boomer

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — When Smoke gets in Your Eyes

Posted on August 17, 2012 by Dayphoto

Whew!

Lots of smoke here!

Its been here for 5 days and 5 nights already and it doesn’t look like its planning on leaving anytime soon.

I mean LOTS of smoke!

Mom had a blog friend tell her this smoke is from all the horrible, terrible, scary, nasty wildfires in Idaho.

If the smoke is bad HERE—in the western part of Colorado…it must be horrible there.

Fuzzy and I really feel bad for all the animals and people and plants that are being damaged by those fires. We know what fire is like and we know how SCARY it is!!!!

Yesterday we all went to town. We followed Blade as he rode his bike to town, first time to town on his new bike, by himself. He did really well!

Since Blade is spending this week’s mornings with us (and his parents said he could) he really, really, wanted to ride the 8 miles to and from town. We all got to go because, well, it’s a long ways and he is still a young boy, and there are lots of huge trucks and really fast cars on that highway.

He said it was a long ways.

The going down was fun, the coming back w.o.r.k.!!!

(Dad put the bike in the back of the truck with us and hauled him UP the hill, then took the bike out and started him on the way again.)

Mom said—“Yep, that’s how it works, one way fun the other way work.”

That evening Fuzz and I went with Mom to fork ends back on the cut alfalfa and help Dad change water.

Pretty cool!

They only left me twice. The second time I really was hiding so they would think I wasn’t close by and I zipped up by Mom and Fuzzy and then passed them and got to the irrigation place FIRST!!!

HAHAHAHAH! I fooled them!!!

This is the last irrigation of the pinto beans…see how ripe they are getting. Next week or the following week Dad will start the harvesting process—-there a MANY steps to the harvesting of pinto beans!

I LOVE EACH STEP! I LOVE HELPING ALL THE TIME!!

We saw a frog …Mom said this was a first. We see lots of toads, but this is a cool little frog (he had a buddy, but I lost track of him) was the first for our fields.

Smoke makes for some pretty amazing sunsets, but Fuzzy and I agreed…no smoke or fire would be best.

Better!

BETTER!!!!

I was going to tell you about Mom’s bees, but Mom said I’ve been on here long enough so I have to go now.

Boomer

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Moving Water

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Dayphoto

Dad had another meeting last night so it was just Mom, I, and Boomer. We had a great time.

The sunset was beautiful.

We had to move the water from the upper end, from the hayfield, down to the corn field around the house.

The corn field around the house is well….hot! We are all ringing wet all the time and it isn’t because we are dipping in a swimming pool, let me tell you.

I sleep under Dad’s pickup truck and under the lilac bush, the two coolest spots in the house.

Boomer has decided he wants to sleep with me under the pickup truck…I told him okay, there was room enough for the both of us.

The other place Boom likes is under the garden bench right after Mom has watered her flowers right there.

The musk thistles are amazing…they are as tall as Mom. Mom says they are pretty but she sure doesn’t like having them around, especially on the ditch bank. Makes for moving water well, stickery!

Those things aren’t near as bad as cockleburs I tell her, but sometimes Mom doesn’t understand what I’m trying to say.

It took us a little while to get the water from the upper end to the house, so Boom and I played around lots. Mom worked with the water, she had a run away for a short spell….the ditch had sanded up and the weeds were a mess…she dug and dug and finally the water headed on down like it was supposed it.

Did I tell you the sunset was amazing? It sure was.

Well, not lots happening here…just watching the corn grow and the pinto beans and hay. Dad sold the second cutting of hay, every last bale of it. It wasn’t the best hay as it got rained on, but a couple of small farmers wanted it for their two cows and one wanted it for his three cows and his wife’s rabbits. Dad gave them a huge deal and they took everything down to last hay leaf. Dad said this was a win-win for everyone.

Mom is painting the inside of the house since she has everything all weeded up. We like it better when she is outside with us, but sometimes she works inside.

We go inside sometimes, but that can be hotter than outside…like when she is canning. WHEW!

Hope good things are in the picture for all of you.

Just hang’n loose,

Fuzzy

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Dear Diary

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Dayphoto

Dear Diary—

I finally have a few minutes to write a few notes to myself! Boomer and I have been extremely busy this week.

The water is finally starting to work right. It took a while. The ground was so hard and dry and the air so full of hot wind and dirt, oh, yes, and the amount of irrigation water so slim, we had to go change water ALL the time.

But everything is coming together now.

Dad goes out and checks the water often, but we only have to CHANGE the water twice a day, which is normal.

That is because the ground FINALLY got wet. That’s how Dad and Mom talk when they talk about the water…they say: something, something, something now that the ground is Finally wet.

Dad wastes nothing with the water. He sets up a series of dams so nothing is wasted.

The water at the end of the field goes off our farm and back into the canal so then next farm below us gets our water, it goes on like this clear to the Gunnison River.

Pretty cool!

Sometimes Hank goes with us; he likes to check the tubes for mice.

Boomer is off smelling the news somewhere….he reports back what he finds when we all get home.

Me!?

Well, I help the folks out.

I stay right with Mom and make sure the water is the right height in the ditch, (I really like catching the water bubbles, but I don’t tell anyone, they would probably not let me get in the ditch if they knew)

I just jump right in and show them I’m good at irrigating.

Dad has cut baled and hauled hay. The first customers came last night.

That is always cool…..we like to bark the customers into the yard, and then we like to lead them to the haystack with our barking signals—

Bark, bark, bark…THIS WAY—

COME ON– We will show you!

Bark, Bark, Bark!!!

Boomer and I do a really good job of getting them to the hay yard.

By the time we get the truck and the trailer there and all backed up and lined up, Dad is ready to load.

We are a gooood TEAM!

Sometimes Hank and his family walk over in the evening.

Boomer is terrified of the goats!

Terrified!

Did I tell you he is terrified!

Boy is he ever!

Hank and I laugh at him.

Boomer doesn’t care…every time he gets around them one of them tries to butt him so he gets real nervous and barks at them.

Hummmmm

Maybe I would be afraid also if they would try to butt me.

But they don’t.

I get that look on my face and I crouch down and slink close to the ground and they stop.

They look at me and I give a warning growl.

They walk off and I go my own way.

Bullies never like courage!

I tell Boomer to do that, but he says he just can’t.

One day going to town, we saw a devil – a dirt devil.

I thought it was pretty cool.

Boomer said he had never seen one!

Well, Diary. There you have it. Just another day on the farm!

Like I say…changing water is always the best part!

Fuzzy

P.S. Oh, yes! My fur is starting to come back in. I really like having fur.

P.P. S.S. Mom says I have to go to the groomer again NEXT WEEK (SHUDDER) But she said I won’t get shaved.

{{{SHUDDER}}}

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Summer Work

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Dayphoto

Golly Geez, this summer work fun!

This is my second summer here and I love every second of it.

We do ‘stuff’ all the time! ALL THE TIME!!!

Well, I know we do things in the winter, but this is just so much better!

For Instance—-

We, meaning Mom, Fuzzy and I, went down to Shannon’s to work in her yard. Shannon was building some raised beds so Mom went down to help her and to put the soil in the beds while Shannon went to work.

I played with Rock, Balou, and Houston in their yard and Fuzzy stayed out and helped Mom. Mom made me stay in the yard because it has a fence and I have a great curiosity to smell lots of things so she put me in the yard with the others so we could play.

Shannon’s cats helped Mom.

Sunny hung around the old stump where some dried catnip was…he sure likes catnip…rolls in it and eats it and everything. I took a huge sniff of the stuff….it only made me sneeze, so I don’t get the fascination.

Willow just lay down by Mom and Fuzzy he doesn’t get that catnip stuff either. What he likes is to just be next to people so he can get a pet and a rub now and again.

That was cool….we were there for 2 ½ hours.

Then when we got home we went to the pinto bean field to change the water…I always like that!

Mom tells me I can play around the area, but if I hear the four-wheeler start I had better be back as fast as my legs can take me — if I want a ride home.

There were a couple of little girls out in the field with us, so that means Hank was with them…we sniffed around lots of stuff, then I headed off to the equipment area, and Hank hung with the folks looking for mice. Fuzzy stayed right with Mom and helped her chase water.

I was a little slow getting back to the four-wheeler so I ran in right behind them…well, not to ‘right behind’, but really close.

Then later on Hank (he’s in the photo with the others in the truck) came over to build bottle rockets with Dad (Grandpa). He walked over with his family. They walk down the bottom of the bean field, and then up the side between the bean field and the corn field…..it’s a short cut they like to take to get from their house to our house.

Hank and I played run, and chase until we got too hot and tired.

Sammy hung out with us

But Monkey spent most of her time trying to get back inside so she could lay around on the carpet.

Mom told Monkey she could be outside with the family, it was good for her. She didn’t listen.

After that Mom, Dad, Fuzzy and I went back out to set the water for the night.

The sunset was really cool.

I stayed right with everyone so I could ride the four-wheeler back in. I was a little tired after all the running I did today.

I sure enjoyed this day…Good night everyone!

Boomer

Sunday Stills—Beast or Beauty

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Dayphoto

The Sunday Stills assignment this week is — Take something bad and find a way to make it look good/find some beauty in it – at least photographically. Like an invasive weed, dusty cupboard, scummy pond, flies…

This really isn’t bad or ugly…but I thought I would show a before and an after photo of Fuzzy with his haircut!

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When I went in to pick him up I really didn’t recognize him right away, it took me a minute or three. Of course he knew Me so that settled That!

Go here for more Sunday Stills!

Linda

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

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Dayphoto

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.”