Winter has arrived!

This is my fourth winter. It's the wettest, snowiest and coldest since I moved here in the fall of 2005. So much for global warming around these mountains.

Snowy is looking for her favorite bones. Tuffy wants to know where the ball she's so fond of chasing went.

Keep them busy

The dogs do not think cows and calves belong in the field next door!

The cows ignore the noise for the most part. This cow was more careful since she had her calf with her so she paid some attention to the dogs. It certainly didn't phase the calf when it was time for lunch!

Grass was greener over here

One day I walked out to see some neighboring cows grazing in the field right next to my garage. They had broken out of their own fields and came visiting to see what was over by me. This pretty lady was curious about me standing a few feet away and snapping pictures. This is not an uncommon experience around here. The field where they were is some 222 acres of mostly forest but has one good meadow right next to me. There are no structures on it. It's for sale again. I always hope that whoever purchases it will build way up on that mountain you can see behind the cows or off to the south toward town. I like the empty fields and forests on either side of me.

Thanksgiving Week 2008

Thanksgiving week, 2009

The skies were glorious that week. I did take photos but just didn't get them up here.

I did snow later that day so we did have a white Thanksgiving day.

Garden Update

We've had rains most every day now for the past few weeks. The garden is thriving.

Last year's onions have blossoms that the bees love. I left them there last fall wondering what would happen come springtime. Quite a group seed pods there.

The rest of the updated garden pictures are here: http://www.rten.org/ first menu item.

Clean Air & July Rains

At 7500 feet the air is so clean it sparkles in the trees when it rains. July around here means planting rains. The gardens [and the weeds, wildflowers and grasses] are doing wonderfully.


With more moisture in the air we get glorious sunrises like this one.

Summer Garden - 2008

Summer rains have greatly helped the growing here this summer. The garden is flourishing after a week of rains.

This is an organic garden. I use fertilizers from Gardens Alive on the crops. I use naturally composted sheep manure from a friend that runs sheep to get wool for her weaving. Her site is Three Bags Full.



High country gardening is always a challenge. Just when you think the last frost is overwith, it hails. I took the picture from within my office. There was some good sized hail and it's not fun to get caught out in it. This storm was June 28th.


I've put up a gallery of the picture from this morning on my web site. Click here. Top entry in menu.

Spring is here with a whimper

The blog is missing posts. I've been remiss in posting.

There is little rain this spring. The grass is slow to come but it's trying. The choke cherry bushes are struggling to leaf and hopefully this year there won't be a late frost to strangle the cherries. There were no cherries last year to harvest. So no jam.

The aspen trees are also not showing much leaf. We really are missing the moisture up here. It seems to be falling all around the valley but little in it. It's very dusty out there and the winds dry things up even more. We pray for rain.

I am starting to see some bees which is a good thing. They, too, have been scarce this spring. Every morning I awake to meadowlarks singing outside. It's a glorious sound. I imagine they also wish for rain. The gardens go in about now until early June. It's not too late for us at this altitude to have a late frost. Last year it was around the 18th of May there was a frost which spoiled some early corn crops up valley. I didn't start mine until May 31st last year and will probably wait until then this year.

At least the inside plants are thriving. The new ones below are marigolds to be transplanted to the garden in another month. They bring the bees and add beauty to the garden as well.