Heat Shimmering on the Farm—Sunday, June 5, 2016

Posted on June 5, 2016 by Dayphoto

The heat has arrived! The sun started the day with a promise of warmth..of air smelling like Iris, Columbines, roses, and pink daisies.

I woke feeling ever so creative and full of energy that I took upon myself a staggering amount of work: clean in the basement, mop the floors in the kitchen, bathroom, the back porch, wash all their windows, clean all the cupboards and cabinets, and refrigerator, oh, yes and scour the stove.

Work in one flower bed: weed, prune, deadhead, etc. Painted two of the garden benches.

While I’m at it —why not try three new recipes I’ve been wanting to try for some time

AND….start making paper. (Something I’ve been wanting to do for—ever)

By the middle of the day the heat was sucking down into the earth, causing the soil to glow and simmer and Terry and I to do so right along with it!

It was still hot when we went for the last set of the night, but starting to cool down. (As a side-bar note–I really love the heat; it’s the cold I don’t care for.) When we finally got back home after the last set (9:30 p.m.) I was obliged to admit to myself— I can not work like that anymore.

I have to pace myself…I was way too tired. I may have been able to work like that a few years ago, or even last year. But not this year. From now on I’m going to ‘save’ some things to do later. There really isn’t a time clock on my work. The only real time clock exists with the plants on the farm and in my yard. Everything else will wait.

And if people come and the house needs dusting, or the windows washed, I hope they understand—-somethings will just get done at another time.

Besides…I’m sure it’s okay. I never go see someone’s home, I go to see the people who live there.

From my world to your heart,

Linda

Listen—Sunday, June 28, 2015

Posted on June 28, 2015 by Dayphoto

The heat is ferocious–late July and early August heat. Bearing down and smashing one into the ground. Still I’ll take it any day over the long, dark, cold, and dreary days of winter.

Anyday!

Years ago I saw these beautiful flowers growing in my Mother-in-law’s yard. She was ripping them out and tossing them in the trash heap.

“Oh, what are those beautiful plants”? I asked her.

“Scotch Bluebonnets”, she replied. “You don’t want them, they spread like weeds.”

“Oh, but I do! May I have a couple of shovel fulls to plant in me yard?” I replied with shinning eyes!

“Honestly you will NOT want these things” she said in disgust, as she put two shovel full of starts in a cardboard box for me.

I hugged the box to my chest and placed it very carefully in the trunk of the car. “Thank you!” I cried. “I’m sure I will love them.”

“Don’t thank me”, she very tiredly replied. “I guarantee you will not like them, in the long run.”

I can assure you, many, many, years later…SHE WAS RIGHT! I do NOT want these invasive weeds masquerading as flowers. Horrid plants! Just HORRID! They are everywhere in my yard, in the grass on the lawn, in every flowerbed, along side the ditches—-ugh!

Every morning the earth, the sky, and the air seem so fresh and alive. If one stands still surrounded by the chirps and chitters of all the birds; stands outside and is very still. Still in the mind, not just the body, still so your soul can hear—the voice of the earth will speak loud and clear.

It seems that the rocks and the trees and even the soil underneath your feet is waking refreshed and eager to start the day.

As the day ends and night creeps along our mesa; lengthening it’s way toward the west; I can sometimes feel the sweet song of bedtime flowing down deep within the earth.

Today is Sunday. Today we only do those things that MUST be done…today we rest and enjoy the fruits of the past week, preparing for the new week.

I hope each and everyone of you have a good Sunday, my friends!

Your friend on a western Colorado Farm

Linda

Racing Against Time—Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Posted on June 24, 2015 by Dayphoto

I am sorry about not being able to post yesterday…the internet was down. Sure was frustrating!

Anyway, it’s back up today, for which I rejoice greatly!

We are racing madly here. Everything came together all at once—the pinto beans needed watered, the corn needed fertilized and cultivated, and needs water —the hay needs hauled in from the last field, and the water sat on it. (Not to mention weeding in my yard –two more huge beds to go—helping a tad down at the other house…clipping hedges and other yard work–ironing and straightening up my house, mundane things but necessary.)

The days are just not long enough 🙂 🙂

Although, we get up at 4:15 and then finish around 10 at night, there always seems to be something more needing done.

Don’t read bad into this —————— I LOVE EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!!

We hauled hay until too dark…Boomer and I picked up the loose bales and broken bales and Terry hauled in the loads.

It was miserable hot yesterday…my car said it was 111*f (43.89c) when I ran to buy groceries for the month. That’s HOT!

Around 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. it looked like a hail or rain storm broke over Peach Valley. It was just too hot not to develop some sort of activity in the heavens.

Today we are still in the same race…although, we are gaining on the pinto beans (the beans are up! YAY!) with the water, the small corn field is wet, and cross all fingers, Terry will get the big corn field fertilized and cultivated today-then we start water on it tonight).

Two more days of hauling hay and that will be over. Then, if it rains, all is well.

Although, we are busy; it’s a good busy!

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

I’m BACCCCCCCCCCCCCK!!!!! —Thursday, July 17, 2014

Posted on July 17, 2014 by Dayphoto

Yippee! I’m back! The Skybeam repair guy showed up yesterday, did some of this and some of that got out his ladder, climbed up on the roof….stood up there for some time with his laptop. Made a sort of ‘ho’ sound. Climbed back down, went back to the back of his truck, took a little tiny dish out of the back of his truck, climbed back up on the roof…changed the bigger dish this out for the tiny dish thing and BAM! I had the internet!

YAY!!!

In the meantime Terry got the rest of the alfalfa cut, laying it out in rows to dry. Now we wait as the green alfalfa turns into protein rich hay.

Depending on the weather five to six days. Then it will be time to bale and haul the hay. A man called and talked to Terry for some time about coming down and checking out the hay. He is interested in doing his own baling and, of course, will haul it away. In other words he will buy the field ‘as is’. Now that would be nice!

Since today is Good Fences and Gates day over at Teresa’s Place, I thought I would slip in our neighbor’s a mile away from us. pillar Here is how he fenced off his fields (he doesn’t farm, just owns a farm and rents all the land out).

And the gate to his house. (That isn’t his house, its the Gate House….his way back there!)

We did have a small cool down the last three days (just as the Sun Dogs said). We were in the 80’s—it was real nice. Today we are heading back into the low 90’s. 94-95* or so.

Anyway, it’s good to be back. I’m really far behind on comments and visiting everyone.

Your friend,

Linda

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — The Living is Easy

Posted on November 29, 2013 by Dayphoto

We had snow!

Lots and lots of snow!

Then it turned to rain, which turned to mud!

Lately we have been having fog full of frozen crystals, then the sun comes out, then the fog comes back…days of this.

Fuzzy and I don’t mind!

Really we don’t.

We help Mom out…we decorated the tree, hung some light on the porch, helped cook meals…although that always gets us banished to ‘the other room’.

That is what Mom always says when she starts making those yummy smells from the kitchen… “Out boys, you have to go to the other room now!”

So we do…

Going to the other room is okay doaky also…HEAT!!! AHHHHHHHHHH!

So it’s okay what goes on outside, for Fuzz and I…………….THE LIVING IS EASY!

OH!!
WAIT!!

I just about forgot.

Remember when I was new to the farm and I was terrified of the tractor and loader…

You have GOT to see this!!!

Chaco and Balou meet the COMBINE!!! (Turn your head so you can watch, it was taken with Shannon’s cell phone and Mom doesn’t know how to fix the video so it’s upside right)

Fuzzy and I rolled on the ground! After all it is just a combine!!

Mom told us that wasn’t funny, after all she reminded me I was afraid of the tractor when I first got here!

Oh, well!

Back to all the warm heat from the wood stove!

Just hang’n around and enjoying winter!

Boomer

Hummingbirds July 23, 2013

Posted on July 23, 2013 by Dayphoto

I’m going to post some photos of the huge amount of hummers we have now…at least 40 visit the feeders all day long. We have the Black-chinned Hummingbird, the Broad-tailed Hummers, Ruby-Throat, Rufous so far!

I’ve tried to get a photo of all of them at once, but it is proving futile.

But still I try

I saw a rainbow …

they always give me a good feeling of…well…

I guess HOPE!

Off to water my plants before the heat sucks us down to nothing. It’s supposed to be 101* today.

Linda

June 30, 2013

Posted on June 30, 2013 by Dayphoto

Still in the blast furnace stage of heat — 105* yesterday.

By 8 in the morning we were roasting, but I didn’t turn on the swamp cooler until 9:00 a.m. I was trying to keep as much natural air in the house as possible. After that we just couldn’t do it.

There are lots of fires around us, one is up by the Silver Jack Reservoir near Cimaron. I would say, maybe 30 miles from Montrose. If memory serves me right it was lighting started.

You are looking at all the smoke around us.

I wish the forestry service (or whoever makes the decisions) would cut down all the dead and dying trees. They really need to get rid off all the fuel for those fires.

When we went to Yellowstone last fall the forests there were clean…nothing dead or in a dying stage. I saw new trees growing in lighting started fire burns, which was really nice to see.

It isn’t just humans that loose their homes or perish in these nasty fires animals do also and then many times they lose their lives.

When I was a child the lumber jacks would find a disease tree — go get the forest service ranger, show him the tree…it was marked…then the loggers could come back in and remove the tree, put it in a separate pile, tests were run on the tree to see why it was sick and what to do about it, then the tree was headed to the mill.

That doesn’t seem to be the case now. It looks like the trees are allowed to die so the bug or disease finishes off the tree — jumps to another tree and proceeded to decimate all of the lovely old trees setting up perfect fuel for a fire.

In talking to a ranger a while back and relating what I just said, he told me that the idea (I may get this a little off) is to let the forest take care of itself —so to speak. If one species dies then the fire will clean the land so new can grow. That maybe so, but watching these lovely old trees (here in Colorado it takes a long, long, long time for a tree to grow) die is really sad to me. (If any ranger or forest manager is reading this maybe you could leave us a comment so we can understand—understanding often helps.)

Anyway, the following is an older photo of where the Silver Jack Reservoir resides…beautiful country up there and extremely rugged.

We had a slight rainfall last night. Really nothing to speak of lots of wind and a few splatters then it blew on leaving us behind.

But it left us a touch of a rainbow! My first of the summer!

Well the day is waiting and I must get out there and get my watering done before the horrendous heat saps me and everything else.

Hugs,

Linda

Crop Update

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Dayphoto

This has been the most unusual of years!

Terry is planting the pinto beans right now. He is taking his time — only planting one field, watching how the water is acting and assessing if he wants to get several more acres planted , if there isn’t enough water that would be foolish on our part.

He has left the 20 acres of alfalfa for later on in the year…hoping for more water. When the sweet corn and the wheat starts to come off, those farmers stop watering that field and the field sets until next year.

(Since we do NOT irrigate from an underground aquifer, but from reservoirs, all the water that is used on a farm passes on down to the next farm below it. This is how all farms from Montrose, Colorado, to Grand Junction, Colorado, are irrigated. Nothing is wasted and all is put back into the canals so that eventually the water ends up in Arizona, Nevada and California. That is where our water comes from….we get our water from Blue Mesa Reservoir and the Ridgeway Reservoir….people on the Surface Creek Bench get theirs from Grand Mesa)

The water from the sweet corn and wheat fields should allow us to have enough water to plant the alfalfa. We just might not get the acres we had hoped for into pinto beans, we will just have to wait and see. The decision to plant the rest of the pinto beans will be made by June 1st. after that it will be too late to plant the seed.

The other strange part of the farming this year is the heat…we build heat up until we are smothering around 90* during the day –with 20-25 m.p.h. hot winds ( the heat is very early for this time of year) and then cooling down in the high 30s or low 40s at night, making the corn turn purple. The purple color is leaf injury, although it doesn’t kill the plant.

The last two nights we were warm enough (48*) that this morning we saw the crown of the plant starting to green up, which is a welcome sign.

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Well, hope I didn’t bore you…farming is a huge part of our every day (and sometimes worry at night). Often times people get to thinking it would be easy to be a farmer…just get some land, plant some seed, harvest the crop and make money.

I wish it were so easy.

Still those people are right in lots of ways—it is a good way of life. At 68 and 63 years of age Terry and I can’t think of anything else we would have liked to do (although we both worked in town in really fun jobs to support this way of life) and we can’t imagine doing anything different for the rest of our lives.

Thanks for stopping by….

Linda