Fowl

One of the clucks in horrible dress. She is in the process of losing just about all of her feathers in this picture taken in November All of the clucks have their feathers back now.

The flock of turkeys is growing. I think all but a few of the spring babies made it through the summer. There are over 20 of them now.

June/July Update-Time Got Away From Me

I had so many photos that I wanted to share that I paired them down and decided to post them in two different sets. I can't believe it was April when I was here last (before yesterdays post). I guess looking back we have done all sorts of things since then. It just doesn't seem like it has been that long. So here goes. A photo update on the happenings around here in June and July.                    

Where the wheat meets the vineyards. (Last weekend in May)

Visited the Lavender Farm in early June with my sis.

Summer time thunder storms and glowing wheat. Beginning of June.

Beautiful peaches that my sister brought for me all the way from California.

Beginning of July thunder storms moving in.

                       Our raspberry vines blessing us with wonderful berries end of June beginning of July.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     That is it in a nut shell. A small one but enough for you to get the idea. Now for posting more regularly then once every 3 months.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

April/May Update - Time Got Away From Me

I find myself rather surprised at the time that has flown by since I was here last. April!!! Really, has it been that long? My gosh. A quick run down in photos of the things we've been up to around here is in order.                                                                                                                    

Early April had us with snow in the mountains and some heavy rain in the valley.

Another storm in mid April blowing in over the hill tops for the night.

Fields ready for planting by the end of April.

May's snow melt has all the rivers and creeks swollen.

                                                                                

Progress on my nieces quilt, finished by mid May to give to her as a gift for her birthday.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       **Stop on by tomorrow for the rest of the photo update for June and July!!

Fall

Fall is here. Lots and lots of colorful leaves. They wont stay for long. Gotta enjoy these beautiful leaves while we can.

Poplar trees.

Oak.

Oak canopy.

Quaking Aspen.

Quiet and Peacful Moments

I love waking in the early morning on weekends. For our house we have the weekends off. No hussle to get ready and out the door first thing in the morning.

I like to be up before everyone else in the house. It is so quiet and peaceful. There are few of those moments it seems.                                                                

These are a few pictures that I have taken where I have felt that quiet peacful feeling.

The golden sunlight in the evening as the sun sets and casts its golden rays across the countryside making everything drip gold. Love this time.                                 

I

Antiques

    Barns. Old wooden barns. If they could speak, they could tell some stories. These are quickly becoming extinct. There is a movement to help preserve these 100 plus year old works of art. In their prime these barns were thought of as part of the workings of the farm. A necessity for daily housing of farm animals. Built by hand by the coming together of neighbors, friends and town folk.  

  Now days it's hard to come by these old wooden barns. We are lucky, we have a few scattered throughout the wheat fields and small towns. Some in better condition then others. Some still being used, some sitting lonely and forgotten. I love these old relics of the past. Of course I love antiques and living with them. So one of these old barns is the ultimate antique. 

                                                                                 

     The picture below isn't a barn, I know. But it is our First Christian Church here in  our small town and it's all wood. Over 100 years old and built in the same fashion as the barns. It has the original seating and wood floors and all of the stained glass windows are original except one. Pretty amazing. They just don't build things like they used to.

A Drive in the Country

     Well here we are already in the month of November. I am so amazed that we are at month number 11 in this year. The Husband and I, along with our son took a day a few weeks ago to just take a drive out in the country. Follow what ever dirt road looked interesting and enjoy the sights and sounds around us. Here are some of the sights that we came across. 

Fall color explosion along the creek bed at the base of the hills.

Sunrise with the on coming most recent storm.

 A friends century plus old barn.

Looking north up the valley towards our little town.

The looming storm coming in.

Harvest

One of he big guys. It is not uncommon to see 3 or 4 of these big guys  cutting in a row.

       Harvest. It is a way of life here. It is what our small town revolves around. The ground is tilled and prepared for seeds. The seeds are planted and then they grow. Then the wait. The wait for the wheat to be just right to cut. Then it happens.The wheat turns and becomes ready for harvest. There is nothing but harvest. That is it. Nothing else happens until all the wheat is harvested. Hundreds of thousands of acres of wheat. There are some peas and garbonzo beans to harvest too but the majority is wheat. As far as the eye can see 360 degrees. The big combines come out of their resting places and set to work cutting the wheat. Fine white chaff dust sparkles in the air and floats on the breeze. Settling on everything. Not a surface is left untouched. Only good part about this is I don't dust anything until after harvest is done. Usually about 3 weeks. I learned my lesson early. If you dust in the morning, by late afternoon things look as if you never touched them. So we just wait. Hay fever sets in too. Traffic jams occur often. When it's time to move the equipment to the next field that needs cutting the roads are how these big monsters get to where they are going. Sometimes they get a ride on a big trailer but are so wide they hang way over the bed of the trailer and there is only one speed, slow. These traffic jams make me smile. Grain trucks are on the roads pounding gears to get their heavy loads to the elevators and then back to the fields again for another load. This is hot, sweaty and dirty work. For some, harvest may be a time of hanging fall decorations and trees leaves changing color. Here harvest is 3 or so weeks of hard work. 3 or so weeks of combines, tractors, grain trucks and farmers working non stop to get the wheat into the safe clutches of the grain elevators. Then and only then is there rest and celebration. What a celebration there is when it is an end of harvest celebration. Just as the urgency to get things harvested is a viable "feeling" in the air of daily activity, so is there a tangible "feeling" of relief and celebration in the air when the harvest is complete. In a word, HARVEST. It sums it all up.                                                                        

Summer-time Sunshine

 

Really feeling the need for some summer-time sunshine.The sunshine that warms all things through and through. The sunshine that makes the dirt feel warm when you wiggle your toes in it, the sunshine that when you sit for a spell makes you feel so relaxed that you just want to keep sitting there and do nothing else except sit there, the sunshine that seasons the breeze with the sent of all things growing.  

Early morning sunrise over the river. Taken last summer.

Late afternoon sun at the river. Taken last summer.

The kind of sunshine that brings you out to the patio and lets you enjoy an ice cold glass of fresh squeezed lemonade or sweet iced tea loaded with ice cubes. The sunshine that makes cool watermelon melt in your mouth or gives you fresh picked berries from the vine still warm from the afternoon sun. That kind of sunshine. Summer-time  sunshine.

Unexpected Day

     Today I woke to blue sky and sunshine. The morning air was warmer as well. A good day in the making. Our original plans were to finish up the detail work on the coop and get started on the run. With a day like today there was going to be great progress. Not so.

     Our neighbors, which we are very blessed to have this particular couple as neighbors, announced that today the huge mass of several years worth of large branches, leaves, wood etc. out on the main farm was going to be burned. Today was the day. So we finished up a little of what we had started on the coop and then grabbed some snacks and jumped in the truck to head up to the Whiskey Creek and our neighbors main farm.

     The burn was started, the dutch ovens were pulled out and we began to cook and visit and watch the debris burn. We had a great time visiting, eating delicious food and being outside. Certainly not what I had expected for the day. No complaints. It was good to take a break and do something unexpected.