Haunted Halloween

 Do you get the feeling something is watching you?  Do you know what it is?

This picture is SOOC (straight out of camera)

Would you believe it is the herd of horses I spooked with my flash?

This is the same picture after I overexposed it.

Things that go BARK in the night.

Early this morning Boyd mentioned that he could hear my golden retriever barking.  Since I seem to be losing my hearing the longer I teach school, I had to get out of bed and open the door to see if he was right. I asked Boyd what he thought it was and he said, "Horse".  What?????   My first thought was MOUNTAIN LION!!!!!  This fear is based on real life events and isn't unfounded.  My second thought was wandering stray cat, raccoon, squirrel or skunk.  My third thought was that the border collie was having another seizure.   So, I put on my insulated coveralls and headed out into the freezing cold morning to see what had stirred up the dog.  I drove the car even though it isn't far away because, let's face it, car lights on bright are better than any flashlight I own and I have protection.   Guess what??  I hate to admit it, but sure enough, my lights highlighted horses' patooties .  I called Boyd and told him he was right, we had seven horses in our yard.  Hard for me to do!    Poor Boyd once again had to get dressed and come out to deal with a problem on the farm discovered by me and somehow connected to my dogs.  Here's the deal...  My golden retriever thinks she owns the farm.  If you move equipment around the farm, she barks at it.  If the cows are put back to pasture across the river, she barks at them.  If fishermen set up camp, she barks at them.  So, horses milling around right through the chain link fence from her, she's gonna bark!!!  In fact, the poor thing sounded kind of hoarse.    So even though she was just trying to warn us, Boyd blames her for being up at o'dark hundred in the morning.  Long story short, Boyd shoo'd them away from the hay and we watched them for a bit while trying to figure out who they belonged to.   Guess what I learned during this time.   If you try to take a picture of strange horses for your blog, in the dark,  and are standing as close as you can get to them, with the flash on, when the flash goes off, the horses will stampede!   Luckily I moved enough they didn't run over the top of me.  Instead, they headed off our property and into the neighbors back yard across the street.   Problem solved!!!
(Actually, after a few phone calls, the horses were put back where they belong.) 
No pictures, but we have a lovely pile of road apples (horse poo) at the end of the lane.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!!!

The rain needs to stop long enough to harvest the safflower.  It didn't rain while the safflower was trying to grow and now it won't stop raining so we can harvest what did survive.  

Gotta love the life of a farmer.  

Well, you gotta love it if you are the farmer's wife anyway.  Otherwise, you just want to run away screaming because you can't handle the stress.  If it weren't for the rainbows, sunsets and sunrises around here, I'm not sure I could take it.  I just tell myself it will all work out somehow, someway.  Besides, maybe we will find our pot of gold at the end of this rainbow!

P.S. Boyd took some of these photos. 

How to tell when your blood sugar is low...

You know your blood sugar is low when you drop a 1400 lb bale of hay on your tractor.  Then, while trying to fix what you broke, you drive over your step ladder.  This is after you have spent the day loading all the hay in your yard onto a trailer eighteen bales at a time.  The good news is you sold all the hay and have been paid and the check cleared the bank.  The better news is you sold it to a company that rents out goats and the owner said your wife could come visit the farm and see the new babies.
The most annoying thing is that your cousin recently told you that there are only two kinds of hay farmers, those that have dropped a hay bale on the tractor and those that haven't...................yet.   You hate it that he was right.
The second most annoying thing is that you found a burnt and maggot-filled bird in the exhaust pipe you now need to straighten.  Since it's late, you leave it on the ground and think that your golden retriever won't carry it around in her mouth the next day.  Yeah, you would be wrong about that.
I'd say it's time to come in the house and eat something.  Tomorrow is a new day!

Sunset and Sunrise

Just in time for Halloween!

The dogs must have decided it was time to harvest their pumpkin because one morning the whole plant had been dug up and the bottom of the pumpkin nibbled on. Of course, the recent frost aided in the destruction of the plant.

 Buddy wouldn't look at me or sit still.  Too busy guarding the goats.

 The goats even got in on the whole celebration.

Don't know what we will do with the pumpkin next, but I'll be sure to post.

It's En "tire" ly Time

Boyd has finally relented. He says he is so "tired" of me telling him it is time to end the contest, that today is the day.
We were going to make a detailed list, but posting that on the internet seemed to be an open invitation for theft, so...   if you're that interested, send me an e-mail or I will arrange a private tire tour.

The grand total is 127.  The winner is Coral with a guess of 118!  Congratulations!   Here's your prize...

You may choose between

 tractor (you choose the tractor) driving lessons wherein you can scoop all the goat poop you want, or

 a ride to the Spiral Jetty in the Bronco.   

The second part of the game was to estimate the cost of all the tires on the farm and even we had no idea.  We are guessing that we have around $25,000 in tires. If you just add up the cost of the tires on the two big tractors, it is around $11,000.  

This tire cost us $1600 last year.

 The cheapest tires on the farm belong to my little black cart.  It is cute, doesn't break and runs by dog power if necessary.

Thanks to everyone who entered a guess, but don't hold your breath for another contest. 

Are you "tire"d of waiting?

I am ready to post the answers to the contest, but it is totally Boyd's deal.  He could probably use some encouragement, so e-mail him at dismalland@hotmail.com.   Since it isn't officially over, you can still guess again if you want.  I will say that the most recent guesses are much closer to the correct answer than the first guesses. 

Family

Jeff and Tami were married last Friday.  They had a reception at Wheeler Farm in SLC on Thursday and were married in the Mt. Timpanogos temple on Friday.   Their wedding invitation asked whether the guests would be coming with bells on or not, so Boyd came ringing an old cow bell.  It was loud, rusty and obnoxious.  PERFECT!

We had a great time at both events.  Boyd and his siblings spent a lot of time reminiscing during the reception.   Try as I might, I didn't get a great shot of them, but these will have to do.

I also got a chance to see my sister Melissa.  She seemed well all things considered.  She was insistent upon finishing every last bite of her apple.  Sounds like she belongs in the family, doesn't it?

Bridging the Gap

This small bridge spans the canal on the South Farm.  I am finally getting used to walking across it without a complete fear of falling in the water.

Sorry Woody!

One day Boyd was sitting at the computer and could hear something tapping against the house.  It came from different spots, including the air conditioner.  When he looked out on the lawn he saw a confused woodpecker.  He has probably been around this farm for years and always pecked on our house.  Imagine his surprise to find that we sided all the wood in aluminum!

No pictures of the woodpecker, but here is the last of the roof update photos.  The new rain gutter!

Re "Tire" d

Yeah, I wish I was.  I know some of you out there are and you haven't yet guessed the amount of tires on the farm.  Come 'on, play along  Boyd is in charge and the contest isn't over until he says so. A big thank you to the two guesses already entered.  You can guess again if you want to  after seeing these hints. 

We have a lot of tires on FORD vehicles around here.

My ride.

Boyd's favorite waivermobile.

Some with deep treads.

Some with no apparent tread. 

 

Some that are small.

Some covered in weeds.

But with cool spokes.

Some on equipment that doesn't even belong to us.

Some on my tractors.

Even bigger ones on Boyd's tractors.

And some just lying around.

Good luck!  Please guess!