May 25, 2004

Good morning farmers, and those who visit. Yesterday was partly sunny, partly showery, a good day for catching up with greenhouse duties, laundry and housework, not that I'm caught up but I did make progress. Today is sunny, and I am going to ride Patch out in the hills this morning, then switch horses and help my neighbor move some cattle this afternoon. Breezy is good for cow work and needs to move around a bit anyhow. Every day this week the neighbor will need my help doing something, at least that is the plan today! He has the vet scheduled to come out to Bangs vaccinate heifers one day, another day we need to bring cows and calves to the corral and get more calves branded. Some of the cows haven't calved yet and as they do they get moved to a different pasture. Always plenty of stuff to do, getting it all coordinated is the tricky part sometimes.

I need to get the vegie garden rototilled again and get things planted. Most years I already have done that by now but after a dry early spring we have had enough rain to make it too wet for tilling on the days when I had time to do it. The grass in the yard is looking shaggy again, I had hoped to use those clippings along the newly planted rows, but might have to put them in the flower beds again or add them to the compost pile.

This morning there were 2 blue herons along the shoreline of our stock/irrigation pond. I keep watching the ducks and geese for little ones but so far have seen none. 4 Canada geese are residents this year. We had one pair last year, they raised 6 goslings and possibly some of them came back home. The ducks are a small variety, one of these days I will go closer and sit with the binoculars and bird book to identify them. From the house they are too far away to see markings.

The hummingbirds are liking our yard better every year. We have managed to count 6 so far. When we moved here there were none. I put out feeders for 2 years before we saw one hummer, so 6 makes me very happy! It must have taken a while before they got the message that this is a good place. Of course I wonder how many are returning babies who were hatched here. Living in an open area with farms at least half a mile apart makes them have to have a good reason to come here from wherever they had been going before, so the first one or two might have been a little bit off course when they discovered the developing oasis (my yard).

It's time to set a couple of irrigation dams, then catch a horse and get moving. The hills will be beautiful this morning, lots of cattle out there so that means several gates to open and close. Have a great day everyone, count your blessings.