Horses

Taffi

Dusty

Cookie is in the maternity ward

Blue Eyes and Miha

Foxfire is languishing in a bigger and shadier place for the summer

A Hot June Day

We have been here a very long time - close to 3 decades.  Neither of us can remember such heat or so little rain.  It is cool under our trees and we have green irrigated pastures but going outside is still hot.  David works in the heat 6 days a week and he relishes the coolness inside on a hot Father's Day. The front range above Denver is burning and there was a fire near Tholow's last week but we are green here because we irrigate.

poison milkweed

David digging out poison milkweed.  Taffi is helping him

I have grumbled today about weeds.  I have never seen such a crop of poison milkweed.  It spreads via runners and seeds and it is a perennial.  If you don't stop it early you will be in a pickle like me.  I grumble that I have to spray but I would grumble more if I had to dig it out.  Thank God for chemicals.  Sure, I can dream about being in a homeowners' association and my monthly fees would pay a landscaper to spray with stronger chemicals than I can buy.  Green fees on golf courses pay for a landscaper to kill the weeds.   Municipalities and parks and cemeteries, schools and businesses have landscapers to spray weeds.  But, I am all my horses and the wildlife have and they count on me.  So, I'll give the glory to God for chemicals and the strength to do the job I need to do. 

Scarecrows and Ravens

The raven pair moved in last year and they took over the skies and treetops around the place.  They forced magpies to find perimeter places to live and the robins chose to leave.  Now the big black birds have claimed the ground as well. 

If a scarecrow in the garden won't keep out the cherry eating magpies, starlings, etc,  and the woodchucks and other pests out of the corn patch, the ravens will see to the job.  The 2 ravens have no fear of me or the scarecrow and they watch over the garden and cherry trees.

The rat terrier dogs growl and bark at the scarecrow but the ravens saunter around the ground next to him looking for tidbits.

Paper plate scarecrows on sticks move in the wind and keep the rodents out.

Too close

Tholow's house nearly went up in flames.  The fire started on a ranch below him and blew up his whole front yard and licked up the side of the house and down across Surface Creek.  5 other places were saved with unbelievable valor and skill.  That is the Grand Mesa behind his house.  whew.

Edibles Quiz

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All of these are either planted by us or come wild on the farm.  There are more, too!

Irrigating

This pipe is about 100 years old and we have rarely needed to use it.  About 500 feet of cast iron.  It delivers water from the top field to the lower field and is a feat of wonder considering how long ago it was put in.  We usually water the front field from the closer year round stream but every once in a while we have a drought and the stream is not full enough to reach our takeout spot.  The pipe was separated on the hill from itself by about 18".  Who knows why it was pulled apart.   Del came over and welded it in the fall.  This spring we tried to use it but it was too full of rusted out holes to carry water.  Spouting everywhere!  David and I worked non-stop patching it with everything we could imagine - screws, sticks, silicone, mighty putty.  Voila! we got it done. 

Weeds

The earth was once a 'Garden of Eden'.  We all know what happened.  There were no weeds in the garden until the destroyer conniver serpent fooled the folks.
On a horse farm/ranch Lucifer has a hand in making it tough on you.  All I have been able to do this year is spray weeds.  True, I let it go from year to year and some areas I let go for years on end.  You pay the price when you don't pluck the weeds of your soul and you pay the price when you don't deal with the weeds of the field.

It is a hot and hard job to tug around a 2.5gal sprayer, empty it and go back for more.  I would rather ride or sew or garden or read.  But, I love the inventors of spray tanks and chemicals.  We will thwart the demon one way or another.  God bless the chemists and inventors.  2-4-D is an amazing compound.  8oz in the 2.5gal and you can spot spray or broadcast spray.  Your grass will not be damaged!  Some areas are so dense with poison milkweed, dock and misc weeds that I have to cover the whole area.  Only grass remains.  How cool is that?  I can use 8oz of gly-star (generic round-up) on the worst stuff like elm trees and olive trees. 

Speaking of olive trees, they are blooming and smell so good.  The bees are plentiful.  Anyone who has a bee shortage should have an olive tree.  We have dozens so you can imagine the sweet smell in the air.

My arms hurt and I have only sprayed about 1/5th of the worst area.  But, as my Hawaii son says, 'it is all good'.  Especially on the farm.  No matter what.