Is getting the logs split and into the stove!
We do it together– he lifts and splits. I take the splits and stack!
Then haul it into the house. (I like to use the rounds and the splits as a mix in the firebox)
Wood…it’s been a fall/winter/ early Spring continuing job.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Sit quietly with me please
Watching the Sandhill Cranes picking through the cow poop
Watch in silence; no one likes to be disturbed at breakfast.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
I can hide Very, VERY, VERY well.
See if you can find me.
Look closely.
Look closer!
YES!
There I am!
Mindy the hidden Kitty cat!
In working on one of the old buildings here on the farm,
We found an old steam iron. It must have been put out there to prop up a door or even to store, but over time it fell into the dirt and was buried.
How cool this is. And what an amazing thing to iron with!
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
I have wondered and wondered, for years, what is my purpose in life, what am I good at doing, is there anything I really can say is me? Any talent? Any real skill? Anything….?
So thinking about what I like–what I really like–is to be one with the natural world. There isn’t any money in it, nor is there power or prestige….but there so much joy for me.
What I really love to do is point out to you my observances of the natural world.
Even as a child I spent hours by myself, playing in the creek behind our house, sitting in the Silver-leafed Maple in the back yard, laying in the ditches in the fall (I put my coat in the ditch, than lay myself down on the coat and watched the leaves of the Cherry trees tremble and flutter in the autumn winds), reading in the sand box — feet propped on the the trunk of the Silver-leafed Maple, Queenie, our Border Collie at my side, my hair getting dirty in the sandbox…
I love sharing with you that joyous immersion of nature we, as farmers, experience.
To help you stand with me, along the margins of that line between earth and sky
To help you breathe in the warmth of our day
Or the scents of the night wafting on the breezes
To show you that stunning moon stretching fathomless away, — way among the spheres of stars, in worlds that gods walk, and starlight showers down, like petals falling from over-blown roses
I want to draw your eyes and hearts upward, beyond those thoughts that farmers are dull and stupid and dumb…tillers of the soil with no real ablity in their heads, no real ambitions, no real interest in living.
I hope that I can, with this daily blog, lift your hearts, your minds, and your souls to the music of the earth, the light of the sun, and the moon in the tree shadows.
(Some of my photos on today’s post are from my past photos.)
From my world to your heart,
Linda
Yesterday a huge wind blew in. A huge, blustery wind…a wind complete with 40 m.p.h. gusts.
The air was so wild and throbbing it left all of us breathless and feeling as if we could float away weightless in the trembling power of the wind. The wind so harsh and strong it felt like everything would blow away. Even the trees were groaning in despair.
This morning’s sunrise eased the throbbing of the night
Snow arrived whispering to all of us winter is still here. Rubbing the edges of the night— as it faded into day, making the air feel like sandpaper.
All outside work has come to a stop.
(This is an old photo, but I loved her look of wonder. We were taking a train ride to Glenwood Springs, Colorado when I took this.)
One of the pulsing beats of our collective hearts arrived last night to spend the day and night with us. We will take her to Grand Junction, Colorado this afternoon to her violin lessons; afterwhich her Mom will pick her up and take her back to Parachute, Colorado.
Sometimes things come along which are— just the answer to what “to do” when the weather stops work. 🙂
From our world to your heart!
Linda
I saw my first Robin yesterday. It was early morning, then in the afternoon I saw another one. Two Robins. One at our place and one down at our other place. Spring is here!
Many of the other birds have started coming back, some I just don’t know the name of, but recognize them as Spring birds. The last to arrive will be the Swallows. Once the Swallows appear it will be full on Spring, without a hint of winter.
Every morning we wake up to a smattering of Canada Geese…stopping by of an evening to rest and feed upon the corn fields.
The Sandhill Cranes leave the upper cornfields late morning heading North. For some reason the two bird species do not share the same area of the farm. Also the geese leave early, early in the morning and the cranes about an hour after sunrise.
I love to stand and watch them. Boomer has learned to sit quietly by my side so I can take photos, his ears cocked, watching with interest. Still enough I can hear the beating of my heart.
After the birds fly away Boomer and walk back home. Through the cows and the calves.
Sometimes it’s just these still moments that blaze themselves upon our hearts and brain, allowing us to recall them in complete detail for the rest of our lives. Small little moments of peace and contentment.
From my world to your heart,
Linda
A few clouds have arrived in our area, the high, way up there, WAY, WAY up in the air winds pushing the clouds from somewhere in the far west…California to Utah and then to us..to fill our sky blocking the warming rays of the sun.
When the dogs and I went for our mid-night walk the stars were out and the sky was brilliant with their sparkling beauty. I almost tripped as I walked along with my head tiled back trying to find the different constellations…there was the Big Dipper (always very easy to see) I use it as my mooring point.
Around 8 o’clock in the evening it is in the east, then after mid-night sinking under the rim of Grand Mesa in the north west.
I really can’t remember the names of any of the others anymore, although, I used to know…way back when I was in high school —centuries ago.
Today we are a cold and cloudy late winter day. A jacket wearing day. At least right now. Maybe later we will warm up…only time will tell.
Yesterday was warm enough that the dogs spent most of it panting (and smiling). Terry and I worked without jackets in the afternoon–it was that warm…if you kept moving. He is building a irrigation box…one of the ditches that enters our place has created a huge hole in the ground…the hole works, but water keeps eroding it so the hole just keeps getting bigger and bigger. A cement box will with stand the constant of water and protect the earth around the ditch. We always want to protect the land. At the same time make our work load a little easier.
I got the wood pile sorted and stacked for next year…green wood here, dry wood there, and all the sticks and weeds and leaves under the wood racked.
I have a old pile of junk wood I need to sort and cut and get it in the firewood pile so I can use it up next winter. The old pile is made up of tree limbs, rotted off fence posts, an old building we tore down…junk wood, but we don’t want to just throw in a heap and burn it sending smoke spiraling into the air…we want to utilize it as heat for the house. So I continue to sort and cut and stack.
Other than ordinary everyday things nothing much going on here.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
I was looking back at some old photos and ran across this
It was taken on March 22 a couple of years ago. If the season is similar we have around sixteen more days to go…..
YIPPEE!
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 