Thursday, May 9, 2013

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Dayphoto

It is still raining here. I’m still not complaining, just stating a fact. The weatherman says it will be in here until Sunday and then turn off hot.

Even though it is raining irrigation goes on. The water is set morning and evening. Although we have rain the rain has only soaked into — maybe 1/2 inch of soil —so we continue irrigation. I know it seems illogical but that is how it works. Seeds are planted 2-21/2 inches into the soil, they must be wet to sprout and then after that they must have water to the roots, which are even deeper than where the seed started.

So the irrigation continues rain or shine. The ditch banks are sure slick, I fell twice jumping over the cement ditch with a load of siphon tubes, nothing hurt but wet clothes and more mud. 🙂

Fuzzy was really funny when we went to get gas for the 530…we had a tire in the back we needed to take to dump which he delighted in sitting in.

Silly, cute dogie.

Today I am off for a treat! I am going with my oldest granddaughter on a second grade field trip to Pioneer Town in Cedaredge, Colorado. We will ride the bus together, tour the town together, then we eat lunch at the park and ride back to the school in Delta. Then I will get to take her out and we can have the rest of the afternoon together.

Rather cool, don’t you think?

Hope your Thursday is just as fun!

Linda

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Dayphoto

The gale of a wind blew all day yesterday filling our air with choking dirt and dust. It was a mess changing water —

Boomer wouldn’t even trot around looking for things to smell by the last set of the night, he just sat himself down in the lowest point on the earth (a furrow) and waited for us to finish. Fuzzy had to work hard to stay with me, but he did it.

The wind picked up over the night and went from gale to very strong gale-it even blew off some tin on one of the roofs.

Then around three this morning it rained.

Everything settled down, cool and clear by the time we went out and sat the first tubes.

It was just lovely!

By the time we came in the wind was back. If the wind blows in the morning here it won’t stop until sometime at night, therefore, we will have wind all day.

The weather guys have issued a freeze warning for tonight and a freeze watch for tomorrow night. Then I am hoping we move back toward warmer weather.

Not broiling weather, warm weather. I hope the weather gods are reading this! 🙂

Linda

Last Day of April

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Dayphoto

We had 84* yesterday…unheard of for April…that is more like July temps. By this evening a storm will be here (complete with 40 m.p.h. gusts of wind) and rain showers. It must be a fast moving storm as by Thursday we will be calm and settled once more.

The other thing with the storm is the temperatures are supposed to drop into the low 60s* and freeze.

We will see freezes from now until the snow is melted off the point on Grand Mesa….

Any who…I sure am enjoying all of this…the little Robin’s are waking up right after me and singing the day awake –I hear their cheerful little songs starting around 5:15. Lifts my heart up!

Terry is planting corn, in five days he will harrow the rows down so the little stalks can come through, then he will mark it back out and we will start water on it again. We have to be careful on when to start the water back up, if the seed is in one certain stage and you put water on it the seed will die and rot away.

Timing is everything.

We go out early, early and irrigate. We are in a field that has extremely long rows (think half a mile) which requires us to walk the water through…meaning we have to make sure the trash doesn’t plug up the furrow causing the ground to sub over before the water makes it to the end of the row.

We start the tubes and then start walking the water.

We are doing this three times a day, early light, 1 p.m. and then at 7:00 in the evening.

As time consuming and tedious this is I actually enjoy it. Which is a good thing, because I do most of this while Terry goes to the head gate (I’m rather afraid of the head gate) and cleans trash along the way.

Works out for both of us!

Have a lovely end of April day…tomorrow we will start MAY!

Linda

April 16, 2013 — The Perils of the Head Gate

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Dayphoto

After a very cold day yesterday, we woke up to thick frost on the ground which quickly melted by 7:30 this morning. It was lovely.

Although…………….

We could see Utah dirt coming in from the Uncompahgre (Un-come-pah-gray .. accent on the pah) Plateau. By 8.30 it was here…nasty wind, full of red dirt.

The weather guy said we would not see this wind until around 2-3 this afternoon (I wonder if harder wind is coming in at that time), then it would change over to rain and then snow and would snow most of Wednesday then blow out of here.

I took a couple of photos of Terry cleaning out the head gate. The Head gate is the out-take gate of the main canal to your farm….our canal, the one that runs by us is called the Ironstone, the water that leaves our place goes back into the Ironstone and into the FNC Lateral…which is a branch of the Ironstone canal.

We are lucky because the head gate to our farm is right at the beginning of our farm…its easy to monitor because it is so close. Some farms have head gates as far as 2-3 miles FROM their farm.

All head gates have to be monitored for trash, dead animals, big garbage that someone up the way didn’t want to deal with…on the most part everyone is really good about NOT dumping stuff into the canal for the next person to have to take of. Sometimes an animal will fall in (or get tossed in) we’ve had skunks, sheep, calves and pigs that have been caught in the head gate. No goats so far, which is good.

I’m heading out to sort firewood, we have some green I need to get into a different pile and I want to do it before the rain starts.

Thank each and everyone of you for following and/or commenting! I always appreciate how wide spread the world of blogging is and how diverse our worlds are; yet how very close blogging makes us. I am most grateful for this blogging world and for getting to know so many people from around the world.

Sincerely,

Linda

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday — Ready to Start Water

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Dayphoto

The mornings are cold and so are the nights! Mom told Boomer and I we HAD to sleep inside for a couple of nights. I didn’t want too, but after we got in a settled down I was glad.

Boomer LOVES sleeping inside. He wades up in the blankets and never moves again until Mom gets up at 5:30.

(Sam the Cat likes to go outside in the daytime and sleep in one of the old cars with the sun beating through the windows.)

Monkey doesn’t like to leave the house unless Mom makes her. So I won’t write about her today.

So, hummmmmm, well let’s see.

Yesterday the youngest tyke was with us all day…we, Mom, Tallen, Boomer and I, all walked up to the top of one field and started getting the siphon tubes ready. Then that afternoon Linkin and Tallen, Mom, and I (Boomer ran off to see what was going on in the back 40) worked on the other siphon ditch laying out the siphons.

We start water at 8:30 this morning. Misty and Mom and Tallen and Boomer, Hank and I will clean the ditches of all the trash as Dad sets up the rows. This is big…I mean BIG…HUGE job and will take us most of the morning.

I’m READY!

Talk to you later!

Fuzzy

P.S. Mom wanted me to tell you the apricot trees themselves were not killed just the FRUIT on the trees. She thinks she didn’t say that right yesterday!

Well, Dad is back from doing something and Mom is telling me to hurry so we are off!

Fuzzy

Wednesday, April 10, 2013 My Poor Gardens

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Dayphoto

What can I say—

January arrived last night in April…

We woke up at the crack of dawn to this…..and, of course, not complete with out wind chill.

Really sad. I don’t remember this ever happening in all of my married years…

Everything is frozen and turning black as the sun rises.

Sigh,

Linda

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Dayphoto

We had RAIN!!! last night! Not lots, but enough the tractors can’t get into the fields.

We also had wind…lots and lots of wind. My house is covered in mud…dirt, wind, rain…makes for a sort of adobe house. 🙂

(Dirt in the air)

Now it is cold…39* with a very sharp wind.

I am hoping lots of snow is being dumped on the two reservoirs-Taylor and Blue Mesa! 🙂

This tiny bit of rain we have here is nice…although, it isn’t even a inch into the ground it is moisture. The trees, grasses and other things have a nice shiny look to them. Even the corral poles look washed off.

Tonight it’s supposed to get extremely cold, just as the sun dog said would happen, then we gradually start warming back up.

I should say that this is rather typical for spring…two or three steps forward and then one giant step back. By Mother’s Day we should be settling down real nice.

Linda

Monday, April 8, 2013

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Dayphoto

We finished up the gated pipe this morning. Terry talked to our ditch rider at 6:30 a.m. and he said they are flushing the Ironstone Canal (that is ours) tomorrow morning. By Thursday we should have water.

Of course a huge winter storm is supposed to come in here by mid-night tonight. We have high wind warning starting at noon today. The storm is fast moving, very cold and wet with lots of rain and snow for two days and nights. Anyone with fruit trees in bloom have been warned to start the wind machines and/or the smudge pots.

My family made a living in the orchard world up in Eckert. Anytime I hear freeze warnings I always think about the stress that produced for my parents and my maternal grandparents.

Our Apricot trees are blooming, but some of the blooms are already into the fruit stage so they will survive, the other blooms that aren’t are okay by me. We don’t make our living on these trees and the summer fruit can be a mess.

Local Weather Alert

Winter Storm Warning for Central Gunnison And Uncompahgre River Basin, CO (we are the Uncompahgre River Basin)

… WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 6 PM MDT TUESDAY…WITH FREEZE WARNING UNTIL 9 AM WEDNESDAY

* TIMING… RAIN WILL CHANGE OVER TO SNOW LATE TONIGHT AS TEMPERATURES PLUMMET TO BELOW FREEZING.

* SNOW ACCUMULATION… 4 TO 8 INCHES OF SNOW WILL BE POSSIBLE. SNOW AMOUNTS WILL BE EXTREMELY VARIABLE FROM LOCATION TO LOCATION. EVEN SO… AREAS THAT ARE LIKELY TO RECEIVE HIGHER AMOUNTS OF SNOW INCLUDE MONTROSE AND CERRO SUMMIT AND MUCH OF THE UPPER GUNNISON VALLEY.

* SNOW LEVEL… LOWERING TO THE VALLEY FLOORS BY LATE TONIGHT.

* WINDS… BECOMING NORTHWEST TO NORTH AT 15 TO 40 MPH.

* VISIBILITY… LOWERING TO LESS THAN 1 MILE AT TIMES IN MODERATE SNOW.

* IMPACTS… HIGHWAYS WILL BECOME WET AND SLIPPERY WITH SLUSHY ACCUMULATIONS POSSIBLE. LOCAL AREAS… LIKE CERRO SUMMIT… WILL BECOME SNOW PACKED.

A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. STRONG WINDS AND BLOWING SNOW ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE.

In spite of all this the water will still come on. Terry is getting ready to pack the rows so if we get rain and snow it won’t hurt the ground (cause it to turn into a huge clay mess so we have to start all over) so when the head gate is unlocked we can begin.

Well, my break is over, I’ve enjoyed sharing it with you, but I must get back to work the spring storm is putting a huge rush on things.

(Although, snow in the Gunnison Mountains will be lovely for when it melts it means more water — hopefully).

Linda

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Dayphoto

The trees are showing signs of waking up…we are moving forward even though we must still have a fire in the early morning.

Water is in the early canals and heading our way…I always find it exciting to see the water rushing toward us as the canal opens. For the rest of the season my heart sings as I heard the water rushing, rushing onward bringing life to water starved land.

Maybe today our water will get here, maybe not, but when it does I will let all of you know.

Linda

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Dayphoto

Terry is leveling the fields. He will plant only two fields this year. These two fields with the alfalfa field will be our crops.

The Uncompahgre Valley Water Users have cut the amount from 60% to 50% of your allotment. (Although, we will still have to pay for the 100% allotted to our farm–as does everyone else who farms. Doesn’t seem right to me, but that is what it is).

If–-IF — there is more water (which we all doubt) by the end of May, he will plant, possibly, some pinto beans. We just have to wait and see.

We would like to plant more alfalfa, depending on the water, maybe we will and maybe we won’t.

I guess, Dear Readers, you are in just as much of a quandary as we are. As my Mother used to say: “Time will tell.”

And so it shall.

Thank you for all of your magic thoughts and your concern…we are moving forward in faith and hope and with a little luck we will make it to harvest!