The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — What More Can I Say ?!?

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Dayphoto

The next to the last field has been opened — that means Dad is done doing enough of the tractor work it’s time to put the gated pipe together and start the water on that field. This field is another corn field, but the gated pipe will water the pinto bean field.

Dad and Mom had to put the pipe together for the pinto bean field because the run off from the last corn field goes to water the bean field and the last alfalfa field before leaving our farm and heading on over to the next farm. But since the bean ground isn’t ready yet, the water will run through the gated pipe anyway and water the older alfalfa field then leave our farm.

We moved siphon tubes and got the water flowing. Sure was a good feeling.

The next day, Mom asked us to get in the back of the pick-up and go to TOWN.

Oh, what joy!

Boomer has learned to hop in the back now and he loves to ride with us. Remember when he first came he was very afraid and wouldn’t get in the truck unless I got in first? I think he has made huge strides in being a good farm dog!

Anyway we got to town and Mom dropped us OFF at the Dog GROOMERS!!!!

That was hours of misery. I shook and trembled and moaned the whole time. Boom of course LOVED the whole experience. He hopped right into the bathing tub and sat there while Mom and the groomer put me into the waiting area.

DID

NOT

WANT

THERE!

About 90 minutes of pure hell and torture Mom came and picked us up.

Yep! That’s me.

I can’t decide if I like this new look or not!

Makes me feel —- well naked.

And Mom wouldn’t let me jump into the ditches, said I was just shampooed so I have to stay out of the muddy water.

MEAN

GEEZ!

Then the heat of the next day hit and

Hummmm

I guess this new look is alright.

I feel a lot cooler!

Fuzzy

Rain Chute Rainbow

Posted on August 3, 2011 by Dayphoto

This morning was cool and damp as we aheaded out to set the water around 6:00. It’s twilight at 5:30 so we have moved setting water to 6:00. As time goes on we will move to 6:30.

There were lots of clouds in the sky and some of the canyons and buttes and mesas around us were getting rain.

On the last set the sun popped over the Paonia Mountains and hit a rain chute over the Uncompahgre Plateau

It was stunning to say the least!

On the way back in the sun also caught a spider web causing it to glow and sparkle.

Linda

http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com/

The Evening Irrigation

Posted on May 20, 2010 by Dayphoto

When I got home from work I found muddy boots greeting me as I walked into the door…first on the outside steps

and then inside;

I guess the ditch bank was a tad bit muddy today after all the rains. 🙂

But I must confess I enjoyed the freshness of the late afternoon. There was still some rain hanging around in the mountains

but it slowly dried up.

As Terry moved the water

and I helped walk the water down the rows

Fuzzy chased bubbles in the ditch

the skies clear somewhat giving us a profound ending to another day.

I am sometimes just plain humbled to know that we have this amazing earth to call our home.

Linda

Moving Pipe

Posted on September 4, 2009 by Dayphoto

The last cutting of the year is done on this field, but we still need to irrigate. Irrigation goes on until a HUGE killing frost occurs. Sometimes fall is very, very dry here causing the hay to be watered until late September and/or early October.

Moving-Pipe-001

Of course you don’t want the fields to go into winter wet, but you do need to have them go into winter healthy. The main irrigation water from Blue Mesa Dam, will be turned off the last week in October. Golly, gee, that isn’t very far away now.

The onion farmers are in the swing of harvest with the cow people starting the silage/ensilage harvest on Labor Day.

Alfalfa is harder to get wet and to stay wet, so we put (yes, I help) gated pipe in the middle of field to water the rest of the way. Next year this field of alfalfa will be plowed under and turned into a corn field. Corn is easier to water so we won’t need to use these pipes.

Moving-Pipe-002

Corn harvest is close now…..very close. Maybe in October, we will just have to wait and see what the weather brings.

Happy Labor Day!

In Spite of the Weather the Work Still Goes On

Posted on June 11, 2009 by Dayphoto

Best-Swather-Photo

The last field of alfalfa has been cut, and we are waiting for it to dry. You can see the showers playing around in Olathe in this photo.

(Come on sun, come on out and play!)

We are still irrigating. We will never NOT be irrigating, right up until harvest.

Watering-Beans

A little sun is peaking through!

Here is what the beans look like right now. I forgot to get a photo of the corn, but it is about calf high.

Watering-the-pasture

Watering the pasture

Oats-and-Hay

The new seeding of oats and alfalfa is looking good, but needs irrigating. You can see the big cracks in the ground. The water will rotate to this spot next.

Grass-Going-to-Seed

Every thing looks lush and wonderful because of the showers, sprinkles and downpours.

Rose-Garden

I shouldn’t complain—it is just hard to get the alfalfa to dry. Otherwise, I guess I just miss the sun.

On a Fast Plane and Step 7 (By Myself)

Posted on April 20, 2009 by Dayphoto

through-the-gate

DH left at 6:00 a.m. on Saturday.

After a day of visiting, and making sure everything is packed (rider truck, pulling a large camp trailer- Dodge Truck pulling a trailer) they left early Sunday morning.

At the time of this posting they are now drawing close to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

IN THE MEAN TIME

fuzzy-helps

The last photos I wanted to show you of irrigation are the photos of the head gate. The magical (scary), roaring, thundering, (frightening) place where the canal water enters into our farm

head-gate

This is the head gate! And that little slit is the amount of water we water with all year.

head-gate-water

Although, you’ve seen the siphon tube set up, you are now looking at MY siphon tube set up in the 25 acre hay field. I wanted to show you this because hay is watered with every furrow, while corn is every other row.

This field’s rows are so long it takes three tubes per row to propel the water to the very end.

siphon-tubes-my-set

And so you know what an imprinted row looks like, you will see that it is sealed over making it easier to get the water down the next time.

Once the field is cultivated we have to start over getting the rows to seal, yet let water through. This is a circle= water, cultivate, water until the plants are too tall, then we just hope the seal holds and the water makes it to the end of the furrow. It usually does, but if we have a horrible drought and the water is cut back sometimes ….

imprint

Fuzzy and I are doing okay. We had a pipe split, but DH can fix it when he returns. Until then we will just move the water to another field and water something else.

smiling-dog

Irrigation—Continued (Step 7)

Posted on April 14, 2009 by Dayphoto

spring-trash

Trash! Trash is a BIG deal, and this year seems worse than other years. Mainly because of the wind! I like the wind; I like the fact that the wind is one of our helpers in that it brings the leaves to the tops of trees. But I don’t like the wind for all the trash and weeds that blow along with it.

Then you couple wind and trash with water (which sinks all the trash) you get a mess! And if you aren’t diligent you will get ditches that are stopped up enough to flood whole fields.

So every couple of hours YOU MUST GO CHECK THE DITCHES for messes like this one!

Look closely and you can see bubbles (white foam) and the each of the cement ditch, which means that we don’t have enough gates in the gated pipe open and a build up is about to occur. The build up means the water flows over the side (NOT GOOD) and creates another mess. We don’t like those types of problems.

imprint-of-water-005

This photo shows you success. The water made it all the way down the 25 acre field to end of the field. YEAH!!!! The furrow with the water will form a crust that will make the water flow down better next time. Imprint the row. This is good. This is the goal. To get the water to seal the row, but at the same time provide enough moisture to sub across to the next row!

You will notice that every other row has the water in it. That is the way you water corn, every other row. So this field will be planted to corn in about 10 days. Beans and hay are watered differently.

tallin-and-grandpa

Talli used a stick to help dig out the trash. She called it her shovel.

The grandkids like to come out and help irrigate. Blade and Linkin were way down the row digging out the stuck corn stalks and other bits of trash but Tallen stayed with us.

helping-grandpa

Irrigation Step 7, Continued

Posted on April 13, 2009 by Dayphoto

gated-pipe

Some of our irrigation is set up with either a dirt ditch or cement ditch, which uses siphon tubes or the easy way….gated pipe!! (My personal favorite)

It is easier to use, costs more to set up, harder to fix if the pipes become broken. The easier to use part is why I like it.

on-no

Here is an example of what you don’t want to have happen. The water gets caught in a low spot and starts cutting over into another furrow until you have a bog hole. The only way to fix it is re-dig the furrow by hand, er shovel.

now-what

Our Water is HERE!

Posted on March 25, 2009 by Dayphoto

Our water, for irrigation, comes about because of the Uncompahgre Valley Water Project. The project has one storage dam, several diversion dams, 128 miles of canals, 438 miles of laterals and 216 miles of drains.

The project canal runs right by our road and is the source of all water for our crops and my yard and garden.

Usually the water isn’t turned on until closer to the 30^th of March, but when a grower calls

for early water (because of raising onions or lettuce) the water is turned on early.

water-001

I love the canal, I love hearing the music of the water as is trips along on its way to the states of Arizona and Nevada and California. I think of it as a friend, one who goes away for the winter and then comes back bringing life to our farms.