It Had to Stop Sometime

Like awakening from a chaotic, endless nightmare the calm evening soothes my wind-weary soul. Minutes before the end of the day I got up from an escapist nap to find quiet. I wandered out to witness a sublime light overhead as a blue frost patterned gray cloud slid under a brilliantly lit plume.

Hundreds of night hawks and barn swallows filled the air gliding, soaring and fluttering silently sometimes inches from my head to swoop onto the tiny insects rising from the tall grasses. I stood mesmerized by my aerial companions. The song birds that had been hushed by the roaring wind gave voice to their joy.

Under the steel gray edge of the low cloud on the horizon was a glowing ember of the set sun. All of the magic of the evening was set ablaze....






Text and pictures © 2008 Mona E. Dunn

REALLY, Enough Is Enough...

Well, It's almost Father's Day, the middle of June, and we have had a variety of weather; rainy and windy,cold and windy, hot and windy, windy and windier. Need I say more? Today I really needed to finish mowing the lawn. By time I got out at 1:00pm the temperature had dropped from about 62 to about 46 degrees.

This has been the most frustrating year for gardening as I started out determined to grow a stash of vegetables for the winter as well as my summer grazing. I resigned myself to constructing wind breaks for the southerly and western winds. Feeling smug about that success (only because the plants I put out are still short) the wind last night reared it's ugly, cold, high gusted head from the north after dinner.

I am really beside myself, outraged and helpless as the wind continues to howl outside, with 50 mph gusts, while my tomato and squash plants sit on the the porch getting more root bound by the day. Better than shredded in the yard I suppose.





Text and pictures © 2008 Mona E. Dunn

Another Friend and An Enemy

Jim ,our partner from New jersey, arrived last week to help Clark with the hay and started cleaning the trailer for subsequent visits later this summer with his wife, Sande. He's getting a real taste for what it takes to get that place in shape after it sat empty all winter. But there is time to spare since the hail put the alfalfa behind about two weeks.

We put him to work on a small branding project. We had three calves that needed scorching before they go to market on Friday.

Heating the irons


No, he's not skiing, just running the irons from the chute.



The thunderheads were too enormous to capture the whole panorama last night.


Clark found an unwelcomed visitor this morning buzzing him as he tried to get through a gate from the yard to the bottom pasture. By virtue of his dangerous presence, he met his demise by shotgun.



Text and pictures © 2008 Mona E. Dunn