Gone is the time when the days of Summer seem endless
The dark of the night is coming swifter and faster and lasting longer and longer
Still, the days offer amazing delights —sweet little eye-candy treats
The heartbeat of our bird friends on the farm, gifting us with bits and pieces of their lives.
From my world to your heart,
Linda
Common Pheasant….he is a great one to scare a person by squawking and flying up suddenly at your feet 🙂
Hunting, hunting, hunting.
And that wonderful little nymph-like spirit
Called
Hummingbird….riding like a wisp on the currents of our air.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
That exquisite
Stunningly beautiful flight
The cute fun little Quail…Tra-la-la-la
Sigh!
Lunch is served.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
A darling little bunny dashed in front of us as we were irrigating
I’ve seen bunnies dashing this way and that in the warming sunshine
Most of the time in the Upper End.
This is amazing because this is also the coyotes’ favorite place to hunt.
Oftentimes in the green-dappled light (I put up a camera to see where the coyotes have been hanging out.)
I see little squirrels…I like to think they are Stanley
And Stewart.
The hawks hunt the land.
In reality, all is peaceful and calm and just perfect.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
It’s cold again…fire in the woodstove cold
Miserable out on the ditch bank cold
Cold enough there is ice on the running water
Which is very cold. Our breath smokes and plumes in the air.
The wind has been a huge mess, days of it…blowing gusts of 40 m.p.h.
I keep hoping soon…very soon we will settle into a soft and lovely Spring.
Soon! Please!
From my heart to your world,
Linda
“Age has given me what I was looking for my entire life…I fit into me now…I have become the woman I hardly dared imagine I would be.” Anne Lamott
Shhhhh…go slowly in the low sun
Allow the light to dazzle your eyes.
Watch the sun blazing through the dip in the canyons way up there on the Uncompahgre Plateau
See the hawk, on silent wings, flying softly —-hunting, hunting
The sky, slowly darkening
Until the first stars start to show.
From my world to your heart,
Linda
There is often more gifts in nature than we realize
Shooting stars are a gift…a flash of light, with a shower of sparks
So is the dim winter sun lighting up the beauty of a little collared-dove
Or to watch the flight of a bird being lit up by bright snowy clouds
Suddenly seeing a hawk flying low over the woodpile
Or to hear the call of the Sandhill Cranes as they wing over the farmyard
Or that flash of red on a Red-winged Blackbird
Lending brightness to a grey sort of day
Hearing an enchanting song
Even in the snow, there is a delight
Full of light, wonder, and song
No matter what is going on in your life…there are always moments of awe.
What a gift.
From my world to your heart,
Linda
Chapter Three
After a good night’s sleep on my chair that I adore, I decided it was time to head outdoors.
Being inside is good, keeps me from getting cold feet, and cold fur, but I get tired of inside.
MEOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. I yelled at Mom, who was fixing breakfast. MMEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOWWW!
“Geez,” Dad exclaimed, getting up from his place by the woodstove. “What is it, Mindy? Oh. You want out. Okay, out you go.”
Out I went, running as fast as I could through the door, ear flat, tail flat. Then I stopped.
It is cold still. Mist everywhere. Not only cold, damp.
Okay, that’s how it is…I’m not going back inside I need to go see if there are any mice anywhere.
Hmmm
I wonder about the hayfield. I haven’t been there for several days.
Off I went, the mist just starting to burn off as the sun grew warmer.
Okay…
Hum
Looking
Looking
“YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!”
What the heck…?
“YEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!”
My goodness! I looked all around me trying to figure out what I was hearing.
“HEY CAT!”
I looked up on top of the power pole
HAWK!
Oh! My Goodness…HAWK!
“Don’t worry, Cat.” The hawk yelled down to me. “I’m full. I had breakfast a short while ago. I just heard the news. Boomer has left the farm for the Rainbow Bridge. Is that true?”
I sat down and peered up at the hawk who was peering down at me— “Yes, my wonderful friend, Boomer lives over the Rainbow Bridge now.” I answered.
“Gosh, this is sad news,” Hawk replied. “Sad news!
I used to see him checking out the news all over the farm.
We would visit sometimes.
Does Oreo know?
Or Freddy Fox?”
“I don’t know” I hollered back to Hawk…but, I’m thinking, if you know, then probably
Ruth the Owl,
Oreo the Skunk, and
Freddy and his family must all know.”
“Maybe so, Cat, Maybe so…I think I’m off to find out.”
I watch Hawk rise up and flap away.
Then just as suddenly Hawk was circling and
LANDING
Not far from me.
I made to run.
“STOP CAT! I just wondered one more thing.
Do the coyotes know.”
“Coyotes! COYOTES? I don’t know, Hawk. I don’t know.”
With that, I ran as fast as I could toward the safety of the house.
Toward DAD!
I Had to Get out of the open of that alfalfa field.
Chapter Two
“Stewart! STEWART!!!” Stanley yelled as he scampered all over the large logs.
“STEWART!!!”
“WHAT?!? Geez, what could be so important to take me away from a yummy pile of peanuts?”
Stewart looked up to see Stanley barreling toward him.
“Stewart, O! Stewart, something so sad and terrible has happened, I’m finding it hard to know what to do.” Stanley wailed.
“WHAT is IT, Stanley! I can’t help you if you don’t calm down enough to tell me what is going on.”
“Oh, Stewart! Boomer has left all of us and gone over the Rainbow Bridge. He is GONE! Never to take us for rides around the farm again. O!, Stewart, I am so sad. He was a good friend to us.” With that Stanley let two great big tears roll down his little squirrel cheeks.
Stewart was just in mid-chew, of a delicious peanut Mom had put out as a fun snack for him and Stanley.
“NO! NO! I didn’t even know Boomer was sick! He didn’t tell us. He didn’t let us know!” Stewart responded in shock.
“Mindy Cat told me just a few minutes ago. Boomer is gone, traveling around with Fuzzy now doing all sorts of stuff without us. OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH BOOMER!” Stanley wailed.
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BOOMER!” Stewart chimed in.
The two little squirrel brothers sat there; heads hung low; hearts heavy.
“Well, what do we do now,” Stanley asked after a very long moment of silence.
“I think we had better go find Chip and let him know. Chip enjoyed Boomer. And Mrs. Bunny.”
“Oh, YES! Mrs. Bunny.”
“Okay, let’s move on down the equipment line and see if we can find Chip or Mrs. Bunny.” Stewart headed toward the end of the log gathering himself to jump onto the hay hauling trailer.
“MINDY!” Stewart stopped. “Hey, Mindy, have you seen Chip or Mrs. Bunny?” Stewart inquired.
“Chip? Mrs. Bunny?” I stopped my pursuit on the trailer; following the scent of several mice, you see, yummm—
a Momma mouse and her bazillion little ones.
“Actually, No. I haven’t really been looking for them.” I replied. “Maybe you can go check on the grain head or down by the roller, or under one of the combines. I’ve seen each of them there at different times of the day. Or you might go over to the stacked wood by the chicken house, sometimes they are over there.” I gave them all a small wave and headed on about my business.
“Okay,” Stewart and Stanley replied in unison…off we go—first let’s do the equipment area, there is always yummy corn kernels by the combines and other types of goodies.”
“CHIP! CHIPPPP!” We yelled as loud as our squirrel voice could yell—“CHIP WHERE ARE YOU!”
“Boys! Why are you screaming so loud?” Mrs. Bunny came hopping from the, now harvested cornfield. If you don’t keep your voices down you could call in the
crows
or that Hawk pair who have decided they live on our farm.” Mrs. Bunny admonished Stewart and Stanley.
“We are looking for Chip”, Stewart explained to Mrs. Bunny.
“And YOU!” Stanley chattered in.
Suddenly a brown ball of fur zipped right into our midst, running right into Stanley and bowling him over.
“I AM HERE! IAMHERE!” Chip chattered. “I’m HERE!”
‘Oh, good,” Stewart replied, helping Stanley up and dusting Stanley off. “We have some very sad news to tell you.”
“SAD!” Mrs. Bunny and Chip exclaimed at the very same time.
“Yes”, Stanley replied. “Mindy cat just told us that Boomer, our Buddy, has left the farm to live over-the Rainbow-Bridge. Boomer is no longer here to protect and take care of us.” Stanley burst out in tears, all over again.
There was stunned silence from Chip and Mrs. Bunny.
“Oh, Boomer,” Mrs. Bunny sadly said. “Oh, Boomer. Thank you for being our friend. Run free.” Mrs. Bunny pronounced to the Sky. “Run free.”
“BAWLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” Chip wailed. “I didn’t get to say Goodbye.”
“Well, no, none of us did”, chattered Stewart. But Mindy told him good-bye and said she would let all his friends know.”
“Mindy. Oh. Good.’ Mrs. Bunny calmy uttered.
“Then we don’t have to let Freddy, his Mom (shudder)
or those very large and noisy raccoons know.
Mindy can do it.”
“Hummm, Chip squeaked… “I wonder where Mindy is now, and what she is doing.”
“I would imagine she is looking for Boomer’s friends to let them know…she has a big job now. Telling the farm our most wonderful dog friend is over the rainbow bridge.” Mrs. Rabbit turned and bounced back into the cornfield.
Chip looked at us, gave a little hand-wave, and said: “Let’s go eat peanuts.”
So, we all ran back to the logs and the nice treats Mom had put there for us.
After my mouse snack, I decided it was time to move on.
There is something so extra special
When something unexpected comes your way
Taking you by surprise
That is what happened to Terry and me yesterday in the mail.
A special hand-made card-sending us strength and love as we move through this time with
Our darling little Beagle.
From my world to your heart,
Linda
