Tag Archives: Rain

Dazzled by the Storms—Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Posted on by
9

We set the last set of water under the treat of an approaching rain storm

The wind whipped a series of fast moving showers all around us throughout the Uncompahgre (Un-come-pah-gray—accent on the pah) Plateau; along the canyons between us and Grand Junction–the Roubidoux, Esclante, Dominguez Canyons, then soaking the desert separating Delta from Grand Junction.

Stunningly beautiful fast moving rain!

At one point the late sun broke through just long enough to illuminate some of the rain drops south of us to look like a faint rainbow!

 I’m not picky.  I’ll take anything that looks like a rainbow, even for a few moments in time.

Then as nighttime arrived lightning whipped the Plateau, wind beat our area, and thunder hammered the heavens way over there on the Uncompaghre.

Boomer and both cats came in, to lay as close to me as possible.

Lightening slithered along the canyons and gullies on the Plateau, with distant drumbeats of thunder sounding loud [here].  It must have sounded like the roll call of the end of the world up there on the Uncompahgre.

Although rain seethed around us the skies only sprinkled on us—not even turning the ground to mud…just damp.

This morning we woke to rinsed skies, cooler temperatures, with thick gray clouds hanging in bunches, waiting to mush together at some future point in time.

They say by Friday this flurry of small intense storms will be gone from our area; the heat and sun will return.

These little reprieves from fierce sun and heat are good for the soul. (Just like warm/spring-like days in the middle of winter).

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

 

The UnMystery Mystery! Another Sherlock Boomer Adventure

Posted on by
16

Chapter Eleven

I barked and bayed and hollered, I was sure that ghost would not DARE to come any closer!

BUT IT DID!!

Ruth suddenly hooted at me:  “Run, Boomer, Run!” The ghost is coming up out of the Dark Forrest and moving through the pasture!”  Ruth lifted herself up off the ground and silently flapped into the sky.

Suddenly it was just me!

Just me, myself, and I!

All by myself!

Alone!

And terrified!

I turned myself around, looked backward over my shoulder saw the ghost being lifted up on the swift 40 mph wind!

That did it I headed across Rocky Point, down the Cattail Draw and onto COYOTE RIDGE!

Far above me I heard Ruth call: “Quick Boomer, not only is the ghost moving quickly up Rocky Point I can see three coyotes moving through No Man’s Land heading toward Coyote Ridge!”

I stopped right at the very top of Coyote Ridge!  I was winded, in a panic, and very tired.  Ruth flapped down landing soundlessly on the top of sagebrush …. “You must keep going, Boomer.  You must.  If you don’t you are going to be coyote nourishment or worse…ghost fare!

I had wilted onto the ground.  Wore plumb out.  So exhausted, if I were asked to roll over and get a belly scratch I would just have to whap my tail on the ground in an sad and unhappy manner.

I lay on the ground, head on my front paws desperate for air and energy.

“I know, Ruth, I know, but I can’t seem to get to going…..”

Just then the ghost swooshed over my head and Ruth’s head, it snapped, crackled, and flapped, slowly starting to descend.

Ruth screeched at it and I sat up and bayed.  If I had to take on that ghost I would!

Unexpectedly the wind gusted picking up the ghost and tossing it way up into the air and over toward the old Apricot tree!

“Run” Ruth hooted. “RUN! The coyotes are starting up through the Cattail Draw!”

I gathered all the strength I possibly could, headed toward the back trail which goes around the bottom of Coyote Ridge, hoping against hope I could make it around the hill and onto the back pasture. If I could get there I could make it home.

Home where the coyotes never tread…at least I don’t think so!

I kept on pounding the ground, my feet sore and bleeding from missing the trail and stepping on cactus…but I kept going.

I was just at the gate to the Outside Pasture when I heard the coyotes on top of Coyote Ridge letting out a loud series of calls and moans…OH! HEAVENS they were RIGHT ABOVE ME!

They started singing and wailing sending cold shivers along my spine.  I stopped and looked up…what I saw made me feel as tiny as an ant!

At least I wished I was tiny as an ant.  Those three coyotes were terrifying and mean looking to say the least!

I shrunk down and started slinking along, hiding in the shadows created by the Ridge.  Then I started jumping from the hill shadows to the shadows of the trees and bushes along the way.

Once I lost focus of the shadows and looked over, into the old Apricot Tree…there was Ruth.  Waiting patiently for me.

“I’ll keep watch…just keep coming”, she hooted to me!

Suddenly, on a blast of cold artic air the monster of a thunder storm circled back and was blasting the air with thunder and strong jagged lightening.

In one major flash of sky fire I saw the ghost AGAIN!  It was there in the sky…large and white and billowing.

I picked up my feet and RAN!

 

The Scent of Ozone Sharp in the Air—-Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Posted on by
12

Yesterday was a cold, chill day…with threatening rain clouds, splashes of rain striking, in huge sploshes on the dry soil, and the collective sigh of all green things opening up for the possibility of rain.

Still the ground stayed dry enough Terry could continue leveling on the Middle field

Making it back into the farm yard,  while the lightening flashed and burst  way, way over there on the Uncompahgre Plateau.

One last check of the water before another patch of dark rain splattered and darkened the earth.

The sunrise this morning was stunning.  The Gray velvet veils of clouds had lightened and the silent, jagged forks of lightning way over on the rim of the western sky—- gone.

The enchantment of a new day, after a storm is just beautiful!

The clean fresh air, the smell of watered soil, the shining washed leaves—the brilliant burst of sunlight coming through wildly colored clouds…humbles me and causes me to give heartfelt THANKS for being allowed to be alive — to enjoy each and every day.

From my world to your heart,

Linda

 

Enter the Sun —- Sunday, January 22, 2017

Posted on by
14

snowAfter a brief dusting of snow

melted-snowWe melted!  Adding too the already mud and slop.

rain-puddles

Then the rains came!  Popping up bubbles in the huge puddles.  Fun little bubbles, as if the earth was adding some humor into all the moisture.

sunbeams-003Then this morning we woke up to fleeing clouds

sunbeams-001And sunlight over the land

As I write this the sky is  clear, the sun bright, and there is beauty all around!

From my world to your heart!

Linda

Our Weather Report—-Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Posted on by
16

before-the-melt

We went from this

wet-004To this and have stayed at this for weeks now. Rain and rain and even more rain.

wet-003Sigh!  The days are long and grey and boring and ever so nasty.

roof-topStill it seems like there is always something that needs to be done.

walk-in-the-farmI’m looking forward to walking with  Boomer  in the SUNSHINE!  Where we throw shadows on the ground and our feet don’t collect mud!

But not yet!  Not today.  Not for awhile.  Another big storm system is heading in here in a day or so, until then just know that I am

Hot-Summer-NightDreaming of those hot summer nights some place in the future!

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

A Restlessness in the Air—Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Posted on by
24

before-the-meltAs I wrote yesterday—the morning was chill and cold. Icicles had grown long and pointed, a testament to the slight melt and continued bone chilling air we had been having.

little-birdsThe little birds were restless, as were the other animals…a shifting of here and there.  I thought possibly it was a search for food…the need to fill up to prepare for a long journey or another onslaught of storms.

melt-004Then a melt occurred!  Snow fell off the roof of the house with a loud bam, snow melted out of the tire wells, giving the car tires a much needed relief from packed snow, AND puddles arrived in the yard where once snow drifts lay.

working-with-the-trash-canI was able to get a few things done the snow drifts had stopped me from doing.  It was a relief.

storm-coming-inThen around 10:30 last night a huge ice storm roared in, with a voice like an archangel!

This morning we can hear the sound of tires slipping and sliding on the pavement a mile away, as drivers head to work, forgetting to go slow.

Just because the pavement looks dry….

ice-stormIt’s still slick out there!

Your friend on a western Colorado farm,

Linda

 

The Light Flooded Around Me—Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Posted on by
7

Yesterday evening, Terry, Evan and I finished our load of firewood for the day and headed home.  We actually got done in an hour.  We are doing one load a night.  The pile is shrinking—thankfully.  And growing larger at each of our houses.  Maybe by Saturday we will be done.  We sure hope so, all of us are getting tired of the cutting and hauling of firewood.  🙂

more-wild-turkeys

(Wild turkeys)

Storms rolled in again in the late afternoon, cooling the skies and bringing rain.  Still the pintos are doing okay.  By tomorrow the rain is supposed to gone for several days.  We will begin again in earnest after the storms get out of here.  (I would like to share with you a little secret….although it doesn’t look so: Harvest is grueling work–and dusty—and worrisome. Most of all worrisome)

wild-turkeys

(more wild turkeys)

the-world-turned-red

Terry and I had to finish up some stuff back out on the mud ditch last night, after the firewood.

The sky was stunning.

Darkness rolled up from the canyons, trying to fill the air with shadows.  But the light of the setting sun had other ideas.

The deepening shadows turned red and glowed in an amazing splendor behind and through the racing clouds over head.

Terry headed back in, with his load, but I stayed out there.  Letting the light flood around me.  The  silence fell in waves; the minutes with Boomer, myself, the light, and the coming night passed by uncounted for.  It was a stunning

From my world to your heart,

Linda

 

A Moment of Relief—Tuesday, August, 30, 2016

Posted on by
22

StormLast Thursday the heat of the afternoon bore down on us in such a wave of intensity I thought this fall weather had made a huge and dramatic turn back to summer.

The-color-redTerry was gone for the day, having flew out of Montrose for a meeting in Brighton, Colorado; it was up to Boomer and I to check the irrigation and  keep the farm running.

It was late in the afternoon; the gnats and mosquitoes were in swarms of carnivorous activity wherever we walked along the ditch bank—- when I felt the cool down from the swiftly moving clouds.

Storm-2It started sprinkling just before we got back to the house.  Then it started to rain.

Birds-on-a-wire

Not a bad rain, a gentle rain, a moment of relief from the suffocating heat; enough so the sparrows hung out on the wire taking a bath.

HailSuddenly the sky turned into hail, the birds, Boomer and I scattering. The blows from the hail and the wind silencing everything and everyone as we hunkered down waiting for the end.

Yellow-2Gradually the noise lessened; the air ringing empty—only the canal talking loudly as the water rushed by.

We got an inch of rain from that storm…a mixed blessing, because of the hail.

From my world to your heart,

Linda

 

Half-Ghosts—-Sunday, August 7, 2016

Posted on by
28

Drowned

We have had rain, lots and lots of beautiful wonderful rain.  No wind, just rain, everything is soaked and laying flat from the rain…but we are not complaining.

Flood1Friday was my Mother’s birthday. If she were still alive she would be 87 years old.  All that day I kept missing her.

Sometimes the rain felt like cold tears from heaven.

Flood-2  I think part of the reason is we have had too many animals deaths this year…first Balou

Balou

Then Molly Dog

Molly Halloween

And, of course Monkey our cat, and Hank the grandchildren’s dog.

Death is like a cold shadow; a cloud passing over head…sudden in its appearance, then passing quickly on.

Flood 3Out of the corner of my eye, all throughout the day I caught swisp of visions…Momma in her garden, Momma laughing…the tail of one her cats she loved, moving just ahead of her…just things…long known, now gone.

Like smoke, everything was like smoke…tangible and real, but fading quickly.

I look at all these little gifts —these half-ghost memories of my Mother as small blessings.

From my world to your heart,

Linda

A Summer Storm has Arrived—-Thursday, August 4, 2016

Posted on by
28

Storm came in 1The wind blew in a rain storm last night; slamming huge drops of water into the west side of the house. The dog and cat made a mad running dash to the house before me, but had to wait as only I (or Terry) can open the door for them.

Storm-2This morning we woke to thick clouds overhead.  A curtain of mist rising off the fields, and the flash-frying heat of the last few days…GONE!!!

Sam-and-SunThe air is cool and wonderful, bringing relief to the plants, the animals and us!  The thick scents of the wet ground and the bathed plants insinuate themselves through the open screened windows and the screened doors.

We are all rejoicing!  Cool moisture, after searing heat, is such a blessing!  It makes one want to dance.  Although, dancing in Colorado rain is a very chilling experience.

From my world to your heart!

Linda