Chapter Seven
“SHHHHHHHHHHH! Wake up, TLC!” Hobbie whispered.
“Don’t make a noise, just wake up.”
I opened my eyes. Looked Hobbie in his eyes — he was worried!
Now THAT woke me up!
I jumped up, ready to scram.
“SHHHHH”, Harlequin whispered. “Don’t move or make any sort of a sound.”
I looked at Harlequin — she also had fear in her eyes.
“What-ttt-tts wrong?” I muttered.
“Coyote! SHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” Hobbs replied.
“Coyote!” Harlequin mouthed.
Chapter Six
It seemed we walked forever. I was starting to get tired and sleepy, and well, tired.
“I need to rest, Hobbie. I’m tired. Ever so tired.”
“Me too, TLC. Let’s curl up over here under this Rabbit Brush hollow. Things will look much better in the daylight.”
So, we did just that, curling up in a hole that was already perfect for a kitty body to sleep in. Hobbie lay a little way away from me, and I took a spot closer to the base of the Rabbit Brush.
It was just as we were drifting off to sleep when SUDDENLY another cat came into our den! A black and white tuxedo cat!
“YEOWL”
Hobbie and I jumped up, ready to put paws to the dirt and get out of there. But the opening was full of CAT!
“Who are you?” Tuxedo demanded. “What are you doing in my hollow?”
Hobbie sat down and stared at Tuxedo. “Harlequin? Is that you? I’m Yellow, remember me?”
“Yellow! You are back here? You vanished one day. I couldn’t figure out where you went. You’re back?”
“Just for a little while, Harlequin. I have a home now, all the food I want to eat, a house to go inside and get cooled down, and a soft bed to sleep on. I also have a new name. One I really rather like –Mellow Yellow, Mr. Hobbs. Or Hobbie as I am generally called.”
“Okay,” Harlequin puzzled. “A real home! With real food. Who is this you have with you?”
“This is TLC Cai-Cai, known to everyone as TLC. He is my new fur brother.”
“Pleased to meet you, TLC”, Harlequin softly replied. Looking right at me.
“So, okay, you are back, but why?”
“Dogs! A pack of 6 or more dogs running around on the farm, causing untold damage to the farm and all the wildlife living up here.” Hobbie explained.
“We also lost our dog, Boo Berry. She was with us, then she wasn’t. Now we not only have to figure out the pack of dogs, but we also have to find our Dog Brother.” I explained.
‘I can tell you the pack of dogs is gone.” Harlequin announced. A bunch of coyotes came up over Coyote Hill, saw the dogs and took off chasing them, from there to clear past the dark forest, to way over there beyond somewhere.” Harlequin started giving herself a good wash down before nap time.
“I think, now. Before we find your Fur Brother, we all need to clean up, take a nap until we recover from our wandering this night.” Harlequin finished washing her back leg, curled up in a ball, and promptly fell asleep.
Hobbie and I looked at each other, finished out baths, curled up and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
KNEE HIGH BY THE FOURTH OF JULY!!!
Yep! That’s me in the middle! Corn and I are the same height! 5’5″ tall! 🙂
Word of the day: Petrichor (n): The pleasant smell of earth after the first rain.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Terry drove the Corvette in the Fourth of July Parade—we had to get it all spick and span
Tallin and Grandpa head to the parade.
WAVE BIG TALLY!!! We Love You!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Corn! I love the sunlight on the corn!
I even love the sunlight Under the corn. The Corn is covered in shade from the trees, but still
Yep, we are hot! We do as much as we can in the morning…stop at noon, and begin again later on.
Hot! But—no matter what! IT IS SUMMER AND I LOVE IT!!!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
We had a bit of wind
It was messy and strong—
Then suddenly it stopped.
Honestly, having the wind stop was rather nice
Although, the heat arrived after the wind died down
Oh well!
We can always refresh ourselves with a wee cool down.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Chapter Five
“MEOW!”
“MEOW!”
“MEOW!”
“MEOW, MOM/DAD I WANT IN!”
I’m done with all this waiting.
With that, Mindy stomped off the cement step, down the cement sidewalk, across the red bricks, back onto the cement sidewalk.
WAIT!!!
WAIT!
I think I need to take a little break here and …………….ummmmmmmmmmm enjoy myself for a spell.
Meanwhile—
“Henny lets go see what sitting on the cement step is all about.”
“Sounds good, wait just a minute, Penny, let me catch up with you. We will stand and peck at the door together.”
Peck, peck, peck
Peck, peck, peck
“This is dumb, Penny. I have better things to do.”
“HAHAHAHAHA” I bayed at those silly hens.
“There is no one home.” Chuckling to myself I took off to do a little checking around.
I looked over here and sniffed out the news. Nothing.
Then I went down the road a spell,
Humm, Raccoons. In the night. Late.
Then I walked back to the lawn…nothing passed through here late last night, or early this morning, or after lunch.
“Hey, Mindy! Do you want to do something like anything…
I mean SOMETHING? This is BORING without Mom and Dad.”
BAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
HOWLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
“COME ON MINDY! MOM AND DAD ARE HOME!”
The air was heavy a day or so back, bringing with it smoke.
Boomer and jumped on my four-wheeler and headed over to the equipment area to see what was happening….our new neighbors burning brush piles.
Fire always makes me nervous.
ALWAYS!
While in my garden, watering, and weeding I came across
A wee *nasty* house fly sunning its self
Which started me on a wee little journey to photograph a bug or two.
(Isn’t the colors of the wings amazing?)
In the nighttime unseen bugs look like streaks, showing up on a quickly snapped photo
Flying bugs are hard to snap
Unless one is lucky to stun a moth in the flash
Soon I got side-tracked by that wondrous slice of moon.
From my world to your heart,
Linda
I spend every waking moment (that I can) outside. Working in the yard, helping Terry in the fields, reading a book on the lawn furniture
It’s terribly hot here this year, 90* (32.2 c) by 9:30 in the morning. Terry wilts after the thermometer hits 90*.
I seem to perk up.
We balance each other that way.
Still, the heat IS more like August; then July.
The plants are reacting to this unusual heat, by speeding up their growth. Already the corn is starting to tassel out, and the pinto beans are shooting runners.
Early.
Almost two weeks early. Seems very strange to us.
The weeds are loving it! Growing rampant and wild and (even in some cases) lovely. Still, they are weeds, and therefore, undesirable.
Of course, they always and forever more pick the worst spot to grow—is there a good spot?
The little birds chatter and sing until around noon when the heat is too much for their songs. From noon until seven in the evening they sit with wings spread out, tail feathers wide, beaks open, and eyes half closed. Trying to stay cool.
But my flowers in the yard!! Oh! My! They are bursting forth in such beauty. Their scent silken as it caresses the air.
The touch of the sun warm on their breathtaking allure.
Then the evening sun fills the sky with gold, orange, and apricot.
Ahhh….summertime…and the living is good.
From my heart to your world,
Linda
Under the eve, on the back porch light we have a little family of Barn Swallows.
Although it’s fun to watch the goings on up there in the little nest of mud…it does make for coming and going and sitting an resting a tad dangerous. The swooping, screeching and other cries of alarm, not to mention the whir of the wings as they zip by your head….
And, of course, it is always worse when….ONE OF THE CATS sit in wait!
Yesterday afternoon, in the heat of the day…Sammy, Boomer, and myself sat under the awning in the unmoving cool of the shade.
I became interested when there was No attacking birds to bother us.
Looking around I saw one parent
Sitting on the arch watching us, unmoving but very aware of what we were doing.
Then I looked into the nest…sitting there motionless, shoulders humped, exhaustion evident on this parent’s face I saw the same look every new parent gets, whether human or otherwise: “Boy, am I ever tired”! This look seems to say.
“These kids are about to kill me.”
“I sure will be glad when they can take care of themselves.”
“If I could JUST get some sleep zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!”
The other parents seemed to be saying—“You rest, Honey! I’ll keep watch zzzzzzzzzzzzz.”
July’s Full Moon shimmered through the rippling leaves of the tree last night. The light cast was so beautiful the earth and everything on it looked like it was covered in hammered sheets of silver!
From my heart to your world,
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 