Goodness, this month seems to be flying by.
Anyway, I wanted to show what those pesty deer do to the corn—
Yep! They eat the silks off and the tip of the corn. It’s so yummy for the deer’s tummy.
Ruins the corn…it won’t continue to develop. Sigh
And those delightfully cute, but so damaging raccoons and
Skunks—
They like to tear the stalks down and THEN eat the corn!
Critters. Gotta love ’em, but sure don’t like some of their dining habits.
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Here we are on a wee tour of the farm and how things are now
The moon is dazzling peeking here and there through the corn
We have deer hanging out in the corn
We have new ‘saved’ goats on the farm. They are not young, very old, complete with arthritis. They are so sweet.
The mornings are dazzling
The Quails are so much fun to watch, and we have lots and lots of them.
The sunrises have been lovely
We have a family of raccoons
And coyotes (Sigh)
The leaves are falling, but they didn’t turn colors this year
We still have water in the canal. It will leave on the first of November. I still enjoy hearing the rush of the water passing through our place.
AND I got a photo of a wasp in flight! How cool that is! 🙂
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
We have a beautiful young buck roaming our yard at night
The game camera I set up to capture photos of the raccoon’s; captured this wondrous creature
Moving through the flower beds, his coat shimmering in the camera light
The gracefulness of his delicate and slender strong legs, the chiseled planes of his face, the long tufted ever-moving ears are delightful to behold.
Unbeknownst to me, Boomer followed the bucks tracks. (I didn’t know until I checked the camera.)
Thankfully I can enjoy this creature and not be upset with him…I have planted all things deer don’t like to eat.
Now raccoons, let me tell you they enjoy lots of things in the yard…the apricots, the pears, the cherries, the prunes, the wild plums, the apples, and my tomatoes!
Just say’n. 🙂 🙂
Your friend on a western Colorado farm,
Linda
Chapter Twelve
We all made it home.
To MY home.
Momma Deer, King, Kit, and the raccoons. Oreo didn’t want to come, which, probably was a good thing.
(You understand…that nervous lifting of his tail, just might, MIGHT, make for some not pleasant adventures at our farmhouse.)
Mindy met us at the grain bins. She was very surprised to see the ‘whole gang’ arrive.
She hissed and meowed and ran off the moment she saw Kit.
The Raccoons were delighted to find all the apricots
just lying around for the eating.
Momma and King settled right in on my Mom’s yard
munching along on fun new tastes.
Kit started hunting in Mindy hunting spots for mice,
so Mindy took off. She said Kit can have the haystack area, she will take the gardens.
So, there you have it.
The end of my adventure at a very elderly age.
Home again, Home again.
THANK HEAVENS!
Boomer Beaglie a.k.a. Sherlock Brown
Chapter Eleven
Off I went…over hill and dale. Hill and Dale, consists of going over the top of COYOTE Hill and down into the valley by COYOTE Hill.
I kept on keeping on then suddenly I ran into a rank nasty smell——–COYOTE POOP!
And it’s FRESH!
OH! MY! GOODNESS!
Coyotes are in the area!
I sat down to ponder what to do next. It seemed rather quickly that the sun sat and there I was in the dark!
Alone.
On COYOTE HILL!
With FRESH COYOTE POOP just before my eyes and nose!
What am I going to do!?!?!
Dark came up and swallowed me while I sat there.
I couldn’t decide which way to go or which way to turn. If the coyote poop was fresh then that means coyotes are here, close by, like right NEXT to me.
While I was sitting there, still as a statue a coyote came trotting up and over the hill.
I about passed out.
Scooting myself under a brush I tried to make myself small, small, small.
The coyote moved on. Trotting over the little hill looking for food.
Shudder!!!
I was just crawled out from under my safety brush when the family of Raccoons came running by…fast.
As fast as raccoons can run!
One of the raccoons ran right smack dab into me bowling me over.
“Get up dog! Coyotes are coming…four of them. They are just about here!”
I scrabbled in terror and started running with the raccoons.
We ran and ran and ran finally reaching a place of safety.
We all hid again.
Then there the coyotes were; moving along in a zig-zap fashion sniffing the ground hunting for MICE!
Oh, thank you so much. Mice are hard to catch, very time consuming, and require lots of concentration.
The raccoons and I huddled together and waited. It wouldn’t do to move around now and draw attention to us…. we are all much bigger than mice and could fill tummies much easier and much fuller. Just say’n.
We sat there waiting and waiting and waiting.
The night grew darker. And darker.
There wasn’t a moon in the sky and the stars were hidden behind clouds.
“I’m going for help!” the littlest Raccoon announced in a whisper. “We need help!” with that statement he was gone.
The night wore on.
The coyotes kept right on hunting, moving here and there. Sometimes stopping to chew on a mouse. We could hear the crunch of little bones and the squelch of teeth…oh! My!
Then the little raccoon was back. And with him—-
YAY! I almost jumped up and out of my hidden spot
A WEAPON!
We all high-fived each other gave our weapon (Oreo) paws up with big smiles on our faces.
Our little hero walked off, with a purposeful stride, heading right toward the coyotes.
We saw the tail raise
BAM! The air around us, the coyotes and our little weapon, Oreo, turned the air into the most satisfying odor of all skuniness!!!!
We were saved!
The coyotes ran off howling!
We rolled out of our hiding places roaring with laughter!
It was a joyous and wonderful occasion.
Chapter Seven
We all started toward the Alfalfa field, me wondering just what the deer thought I could eat when suddenly
the family of raccoons ran by us as fast as they could run.
Momma Deer and King and I jumped and skittered and scrabbled to hold our footing as they ran under our feet and silently melted into some brush.
“That was strange,” Momma deer mussed. “I wonder what is…….”
“RUN!” King bellowed
“RUN!”
We all looked up!
Than RAN!
Chapter Six
Just then a family of Raccoons scuttled out of the brush heading toward the cement ditch chattering and talking loudly.
“SHHHHHH!” Momma deer stamped her foot.
“SHHHHH!” The rest of us said with her.
“What’s the problem?” Momma Raccoon stopped right in her tracks. “We are just heading to wash our food so we can eat. It’s been a right nice evening; we found a whole pile of dried corn. We need to get to the ditch and soften it up and have us a right big supper.”
“Coyotes!” I whispered. “Two big groups of Coyotes on the farm.”
“Calm down kids. Danger ahead” Momma Raccoon put her paw on each little head. “Coyotes….take care. Shhhhh.” With that, she pushed her children on; past us onto the farm road and then right by the curve where the dirt ditch meets the cement ditch.
“Go ahead, Little ones eat up. Keep one ear open and one eye on the brush, but eat up. We have us a right nice supper.”
The deer and I watched the little family sitting happily in the mud, dipping their paws in the water, then putting the corn into their mouths.
“Supper is a very good thing,” King announced. “Let’s head on over to alfalfa field and get us a mouthful of something green.” He shook his head and walked off.
“You better come with us, Boomer. There is always safety in numbers.
Meanwhile——————–
Well, this isn’t about the farm. But is about the farm yard, to be specific its about the farm yard drive way…
Yep the really nice FEDEX driver showed up. I’m always cautious…there is a mean UPS driver so I take my time warming up to these drivers. But this guy is nice. He always wants to make friends. Then he hands me a cookie before he walks to the house to give mom her package.
That’s about the farm yard road.
Out on the ditch bank there are lots of little raccoon critters. We have a huge group of them. Sometimes they travel all the way into the farm yard and skitter around out back where the hay is always stacked.
I like to go out and see who is there. A couple of the raccoons are my friends. We ‘do’ things together.
I go with Mom all the time. We go change water. We also go over to my sister’s so I can see my dog cousins,
and we head out and check on the fences —
good fences make good neighbors, Mom always says.
Mindy cat is a farm cat. She is really good at catching mice. Really good. She sometimes eats so many she herks them back up. I just sniff the herk, but—not to my taste. I leave it there until Mom comes along and picks it up with a shovel.
I don’t know what Mom does with it, but…something. Anyway, it’s gone.
And the wind…don’t get me started about the wind…it’s been so strong that it lifts my ears right up in the air. Mom says I look cute with my ears blowing in the wind.
Well, that my farm report. Mom and I hope you have a good weekend.
Boom Beaglie Brown a.k.a. Sherlock Boomer
Life has settled down after the whole Mystery Where I Used a Secret (Idea/Weapon/Gift from some friends).
We are having huge winds again. Mom and I are getting very tired of them. And MOM likes wind. She always makes me go for a walk with her when the wind is blowing. But if you walk in this wind a dog has to crawl and a person has to bend over. Not good.
But back to everyday life—-
Mindy and I go to walks with Mom every day. Sometimes at night. I Always go with Mom at night, but not always Mindy. If she is inside sleeping on the bed, or the sofa, or the big table, or her favorite chair, Mom just lets her sleep. “Let’s just let Mindy get her rest, Boomer. This walk will be with you and I.” Mom says as we head out the back door.
That works for me. Heck having Mindy Min-Min Lou tag along works for me. I’m really pretty easy going. So whatever Mom wants…that works for me.
I have been keeping a sharp nose out for strangers {human or animal} coming down the long lane into our farm yard, or heck even out of the farm.
News is What my nose is all about. Checking the news from here to there and every which where.
When Mom and Dad are working at the Upper End or in the little field next to the Upper End, I always, always go over and check out the big wood pile. Critter’s live in there you know. Ground squirrels, the fox, skunks, but…thankfully…no Badgers!!
Badgers are mean, scary, and completely terrifying. Trust me on that.
If Mom and Dad go to town and come back in the dark…I always, always make sure to meet them half way down the lane…sometimes Mom stops and gives me a lift back home. Sometimes not.
I guess she stopped asking lots, because I would turn her down preferring to take my time following the car back home.
News…out there, you see. I might miss something. I know Mom and Dad are now home and well… there just might be news on the way back to the house.
Like the Raccoons who’ve taken to coming down to the canal to wash their food. They are so silly. They wash EVERYTHING they eat. I mean everything. Sometimes whatever they are washing turns to mush and floats away. But still they do it.
Now that the weather has warmed up Mom lets me ride in the back of the pick-up when we go somewhere fun. It’s been too cold so I’ve had to pant my way, to wherever we are going, in the back seat, sometimes with the window down, but sometimes not.
Anyway…on nice days…I get to ride in the back.
Wind in the face, smells in the nose…ears flapping. A dog cannot ask for more.
Boomer Beaglie Brown a.k.a. Sherlock Boomer! 😊
Besides going out with Mom
Helping Dad change the water
I have a really big job!
It’s to keep the farm safe!
I have much to do—those crazy raccoons are so brave they walk RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY DOG HOUSE! I know because they always leave a little poop behind.
That’s why I’ve taken to sleeping outside…MY CHOICE!
Mom brings me inside, but … well, you know … there are critters outside!
I chase off the
The deer have been pretty hard on the corn.
You see they eat the silk…
the silk is what feeds the little kernels of corn so they will fatten up and become
BIG FAT JUICY KERNELS of corn
It’s been pretty hard work this year, but so far I’ve been able to do it.
I am feeling well again.
Mom says that is a very good thing!
I agree!
Boomer
Life on a Colorado Farm 