It’s time— we needed to go get another load of firewood–
It’s been cold here. Wind, skiffs of snow—Brrrrrrrrrrr.
The wood is the perfect heat for a nasty winter day!
“How beautiful a day can be when kindness touches it.”–George Elliston, American Journalist
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
I have a very messy yard…winter is always the worst.
It’s because I love feeding the birds.
knowing that the bugs have a warm place to hang out over the winter; and can emerge come Spring—is a very good thing to me. 🙂
I never cut back the flower stalks…there is so much food there for the birds. PLUS! The Lacewings, LadyBugs, Parasitic Wasps; and Native Bees winter in the stems of the now-dead flowering plants.
I even have a brush pile for birds to hide from predators and ground-living squirrels and rabbits to shelter in.
I know.
My yard is a mess—but it works for me and all those lovely creatures who share their lives in my yard and on the farm.
Winter— Week Five! 60 Days until March 19th!
Thankfully the days are growing longer!
Sunshine always makes me smile!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Mom always checks the weather on the weather apps. She says it gives her an ‘idea’ of what the weather is going to be.
Then Mom goes and looks at the Uncompahgre Plateau—if there is a line of huge big black clouds over the Plateau in the west…
Then Mom knows a BIG STORM is HEADING OUR WAY!
If Mom sees a mass of clouds already in the canyons, dumping moisture then she knows in a few minutes we are going to get ‘it’.
And Mom is always right! The only thing Mom can’t predict is how COLD it’s going to get, by looking at the canyons or the Uncompahgre Plateau, but she can tell by the feel in the air, the crispness,
the look of the sun, as it shimmers through the sky, and sometimes by seeing Sun Dogs.
Then Mom starts warming up the hen house by putting in a red heat lamp. Red—because if you don’t use red the hens will start picking on each other. Something about seeing everything better, I suppose.
She makes the heat lamp turn on when the temperatures drop way down to 10* and stays on until around 9 in the morning when the birds can start taking care of themselves.
As for keeping me warm, she says I’m smart enough I can go outside if I want, or I can stay inside, or I can come and go. She says I decide since I’m not living in the hen house.
Mom is funny, don’t you think? I would never live in the hen house.
Ever!
TLC Cai-Cai
The sunrise starts a small bit earlier
And earlier.
The day lengthening and brightening
Saying, Wake-Up it’s a Beautiful Day!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Finally!
Crossing my fingers on both hands (my toes, my arms, my legs, my eyes)
This is the THIRD day without jaw, tooth, nose, eye pain!
I still have a dull, nagging roar of pain under my ear…but OH! MY! The joy of the lessening of the rest of the pain!
I am so incredibly grateful for starting to experience ‘feeling good’ again.
Yay!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
I kept checking the moon, every hour on the hour, then every thirty minutes
Gradually the clear light of the moon paled and became shadowed
I stayed watching
And missed the whole thing…I fell asleep sitting in one spot looking out the window, exhausted
How disappointing. I woke only to see the moon sail clear and shining and beautiful in the dark sky!
SIGH!!!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
A big storm blew in last night. The air buoyant with sleet and cold.
Late last evening we took a wee walk-about, buttoning down all the hatches and feeding the equines some carrots, and giving them lots of pets and love
This morning the sky was gray the air energetic with wind so rough it was almost hard to stand up in it.
It’s sleeting now…coming in sideways from the west…tiny little flakes that beat into your skin and feel more like hail than snow.
If you look outside the things in the distance are all shrouded and filled with mystery–the pearl-gray light making known objects look unreal
The many and varied bird feeders swing wildly in the rush of the wind…no birds clinging to the little wires…hunkered down someplace safe I’m sure.
Terry went with me on my late night walk during the night…this time we only went as far as the equipment area; the wind was too sharp and the visible whirling sleet a tad too much to enjoy the steps and strides.
So for the rest of the day we will hunker down, I will make soup, we will watch football, and take a nap…the world is full of winter today. (Which is a good thing)
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
One day last week I opened my email to find a wonderful photo gift from my blog friend in Minnesota … she takes the most wonderful photos.
I asked her if I could share…she most graciously said I could.
“I lived in Duluth and taught school there and attended college at the U of M………….it is totally a magical town… this is my photo of Duluth Lighthouse in the harbor”. Merri wrote to me.
What a beautiful sunset!
Thank you, Merri!
If any of you would like to send me a photo to feature on my blog I would be more than happy to share with my readers. You will always, always get the credit. AND… we will get to see more of where you live! SMILE!!!
Your very blessed friend,
Linda
We started work on the artery ditch that moves the water from the headgate onto our farm. This is our main transfer ditch—the only reason we have to work on this ditch is the headgate to our place is located a few feet onto our neighbor’s farm. The field is where Mr. Sinner keeps his bulls during the off season of farming.
Now bulls- being curious sorts, love to mess in stuff. Cows will do it also, but a field of bulls will get bored fast…nothing much to do you see. Once they find something odd, interesting, unusual, different, they will paw at it until they make a huge mess.
We are putting a top on the last part of the ditch…the ditch is cement, but it makes a curve. We don’t want to put this short ditch into a pipe, because we have to keep trash out and this ‘the taking out of the trash’ spot. It will be flush with the ground and blend in…those very wiley bulls will just pass it by on the look for something else to discover.
The headgate to our place is huge and imposing anytime of the year, but in the winter a person can get a good idea of how really big it is, and how much the water is eroding away the sides of the canal.
That is the take off from the head gate called the artery ditch take out, it’s wood, until it hits the fence line then we made it cement. See the damage the water is doing around the box of the headgate.
We should finish up the top today. One project done before spring work starts!
Your friend on a Western Colorado Farm,
Linda
Well, the skunks are awake. We’ve been warm enough that the skunks have come out of their semi-hibernation. One o’clock in the wee morning, really nighttime, our farm was inundated with skunk perfume.
Gag!
Terry thought the dogs must have stirred one up; not our dogs as they were sleeping inside.
I got worried about the poultry so the dogs and I headed out to see if everyone was fast asleep and safe! They were. I have Night Guard lights on the house, but one never knows what a hungry critter will risk.
The poultry house is extremely safe, locked door, cement floors, wooden walls — still I like to make sure those things that are in our keeping are secure.
They were.
The smell was horrid…lasted until morning when the air shifted as the day warmed up.
That evening, when I was gathering firewood for the night, a string of birds (I couldn’t tell if they were Canada Geese or the Sandhill Cranes) lifted up from a field about a mile from us….very swiftly they flew closer and closer to our farm, forming their v, on their way to some other corn field for the night.
These birds sure do make winter bearable. I love watching them as the stream across the frozen heavens, calling loudly to one another—gather up, gather up, we are heading over there, come fly with us….come fly.
The sounds fade as they get further away. I then load my wood and head back to the house. The winter shades of pink, lavender and shadowy blue fading into dusk.
Your farm friend,
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 