Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Posted on September 10, 2013 by Dayphoto

The rains have arrived. They threaten all day long, then around 8:00 in the evening they began.

We were lucky that it waited until we got home. Just as I drove into the shed the rain started falling in a serious manner. Terry didn’t believe me when I said it was raining (he beat me in) but as we walked out of the building he became a believer. 🙂

Today Terry has a meeting, which leaves just the dogs and I to change the water…I hope it isn’t raining at that point. I also dread the drive on a mud slick ditch bank, but I know it can be done.

Yes, I do!

Anyway, The Farmer’s Almanac has printed their predictions for the up and coming winter…I’m already ready for Spring. I guess I shouldn’t be so selfish, as I know some of my Dear Blog Friends are also ready for Spring—-they can only have Spring if we have Winter so I’ll slap on a Happy Face and ‘try’ to be okay with Winter.

Now for the Good part of Winter…if the predictions are true we will have snow, which means the reservoirs should recover some, which is a very good thing.

Your Grateful the pinto beans are harvested and sold and the hay is baled and stacked friend,

Linda

August 27, 2013

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Dayphoto

We have been enjoying the rains. (Although, it does make for muddy ditch banks and irrigation roads.)

My hummingbird book says that around August 26th the hummingbirds start their migration to the south. The older hummingbirds leave first…then the juveniles.

The book also says to keep out your feeder until you haven’t seen a little hummer for at least two weeks, allowing the last little one traveling the farthest to have food along the way to the land of blooming nectar plants and tiny flying insects.

My other songbirds have already fled …I haven’t put out seed in the other feeds for over two weeks now. I’m sure the time is coming when I will be slammed with sparrows and starlings…I always try to feed them so they will stay out of the dog food. (I keep the dog food up, but the starlings will dive the dogs until they drive them off and then take over the dish)

With the rain we sometimes get rainbows…another nice gift of rain!

Have a great Tuesday, Linda

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Dayphoto

The day’s are shorting now…around 7:30 in the evening we head out for the last check of water for the day.

We also are monitoring the pinto beans. The field is turning yellow, which means the pintos are now ripe and ready to be pulled.

Probably next Friday Terry will pull the pinto’s so they can start drying.

We will need the days to stay hot and dry once they are pulled.

(see the nasty bull thistle seeds)

(The steps for pinto bean harvest is — pull the plants and leave them lay until nice and crispy, combine the plants, which is taking the beans out of the dried plants and putting them into the hopper then the truck to be delivered to the Beanery, have the beans sacked and the sold—DONE for the year)

He is baling the new cutting of hay as I write this. The first of second week of September will be the third cutting of the old hay field. Dry weather needs to prevail for at least a month now. 🙂

The moon was lovely last night.

I also saw a small rainbow from the storms playing around us.

My four o’clock photo of the Daily View features my Sun dial garden… rich and lush with 4 O’clocks. The Hummingbirds love this area!

A very contented friend, Linda

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Dayphoto

Fall is in the air! Every day I see more yellow leaves turning up in the trees!

We had to run up to our lake on Grand Mesa

while our company was here….stunningly we saw fresh snow on the ground.

The little chipmunks were very active – I think they now their time for storing is just about over.

Terry and I decided that we just can’t get away from the place to haul the much more needed firewood so we ordered more in, now we have a mess to sort through, but at least we are NOT having to go “GET IT”. It will work this time for us … we will see what next year brings.

Misty had a terrible reaction to a new drug so she is with me today. Please keep your prayers, magic thoughts and crossed fingers in place for a little while longer — we are desperately in need of them.

Your friend,

Linda

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Dayphoto

Terry is out cultivating the pinto beans…THANK HEAVENS FOR BIG EQUIPMENT! I would hate to have to go out and weed that whole field by hand…although, we have to when the pintos get too big to drive a tractor through. At that time we only go after the big weeds and still they will get away from us.

Linkin rode her bike over…

you can see by this series of photos that they live just over the fields from us…

which is nice, because the kids never have to get on the road to ride their bikes…

they just have to head down the field roads.

We took her to her school (Lincoln Elementary) to show us what she likes to do at recess,

whereby she and her Grandpa had a very hot game of Tether Ball. After a well balanced super of Chili-cheese fries and a Frosty we took on a game of Miniature Golf! No scores kept just good fun. Grandpa won the prize at the end of the game, which was a turn each in the batting cages.

It was Linki’s first time to ever swing a bat — she did really good. We used the softball pitch.

Then back home to change water and set it in the next area.

While they were up at the corn field I tried my hand at photographing a hummer or two.

I still have a long ways to go to getting a good shot!

Have a good Tuesday everyone! Meet you back here tomorrow!

Linda

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Dayphoto

The water at Blue Mesa Reservoir is horribly low….Terry says it is down about the size of the length of a football field. Blue Mesa Reservoir is also an extremely long reservoir—20 miles long.

Taylor Reservoir is still frozen over, but starting to thaw. It is low also, but nothing like this. Taylor Reservoir flows into the Blue Mesa Reservoir along with tributaries from other creeks and rivers.

Going back home (on the way up we went through Montrose to Gunnison then to Almont) we took ‘the long way home’ over the rim of the Black Canyon to Crawford, Hotchkiss, and then Delta.

The Black Canyon is the pathway of the Gunnison River, from which our irrigation and drinking water arrives to us.

We saw lots of deer, some elk, but the best was this Cub…wandering across the road.

He/she was heading to the other side, where Momma was probably waiting.

Having a little trip was really nice…broke up the work so we felt refreshed and able to get ‘back at it’; glad to do so!

Off now to work in the yard. I’m planting. I have cut my amount down considerably…two years ago I had 175 containers in 9 beds. Last year I cut down to 75 containers and nine beds. This year….I’m tired. I have 10 containers and the nine beds which at times still seems too much.

Anyway off to plant!

Linda

In-Between Irrigations

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Dayphoto

Last week we had rain…lovely, lush, wet, rain. Four days of rain. It soaked in 1/2 inch giving much needed life to everything.

Irrigation doesn’t stop just because of rain, mainly because the rain doesn’t really soak in far enough to do tons of good.

But in-between irrigating we had lots of things to do-

Terry was given a hot shave gift certificate for his birthday…off we went to Grand Junction for this first time experience
Our daughter and son-in-law lost Riley—that was very hard
I was a parent volunteer for our oldest granddaughter’s class field trip–which was a lot of fun. We rode on a bus and played and EVERYTHING
This same grandchild had a piano recital
We went to Gunnison and on up to Taylor Dam to see what the irrigation water is looking like–not good. Not good at all!

When I was chopping weeds along the edge of the fields one evening the sky turned amazingly orange as the storm clouds blew away. The color filled the whole sky and even surrounded Terry on the ditch bank and probably me at the end of the field.

I am always so appreciative of this great big beautiful world we live in, I’m sure you are too.

Enjoy your Monday everyone. See you back here on Tuesday.

Linda

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Dayphoto

Terry finished ripping the old pinto bean ground. Old pinto bean ground doesn’t have to disked, plowed, rolled, and leveled, it only has to be ripped and rolled and then marked.

(He is using the ripper here.)

Terry will finish rolling it today, then he (and I) will continue work on the transmission ditch. This our main ditch from the head gate to our whole farm —it is where we are laying pipe so the work load can shrink. Just like moving everything to your computer the upfront work is hard, but after that everything is a breeze.

Putting the main ditch in pipe, underground will help with the loss of water from evaporation the slew of weeds that love having an unlimited supply of water, and HIP HIP HOORAY keeping the trash out of the rest of the ditches.

Oh, there will still be some trash, because THE WIND DOTH BLOW IN OUR PART OF COLORADO, but it will shrink considerably!

We’ve been having storms playing along the edges of the Uncompahgre Plateau and over the canyons, sure makes for exciting sky photos!

Happy Spring Tuesday!

Linda

A Good Day–Old Dog

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Dayphoto

So far I’m having a good day. Thank-you each and every one of you for your wishes of wellness and for writing and giving me ideas on how to recover. Your comments and emails are very appreciated.

Yesterday was a good day… which is good, if I can have a good week, then I’ll know I have this licked.

Anyway, enough of me.

It was warmer yesterday, so the dogs and I went for a short walk. It was warm enough that as I sat on the point of a hill I could feel the sun warming my shoulders, which was heavenly.

On the way back I stopped at the old grainery. Terry wanted to tear this down, but I want to keep it. We have only two buildings left of the original farmstead (outside of our house); the tractor shed (build out of adobe dirt) and this old grainery.

This spring (soon, any day now) Terry is going to move it up from behind the barn and the haystacks and put it next to my gardens by the corrals. After that I’m not sure what I want to do with it — potting shed, play house, whatever I want.

Today is Tuesday, February, 5, 2013…the sunrises at 7:15 in the morning and is setting at 5:38 in the evening. A month ago on January 5th the sun was coming up at 7:31 and setting at 5:04. The days are growing longer -January 9 hours and 34 minutes and today- 10 hours and 23 minutes. More sunlight…which is a true joy to me.

I haven’t seen the old dog for some time now. I might drive around the farm neighborhood now that I’m feeling up to it, and see if I can see the dog in someone’s yard. If not… I wait, but I will also know that the possibility of the dog taking a path to the other side just might have occurred–one of those sad parts of life.

Once more thank you all for your kind thoughts,

Linda