"Hot Summer Days Living in the Country" 6/8/10
Cows mooing, birds chirping, idyllic…
"Resting on a bench under a lush grape arbor covering the patio, enjoying the cool shade; on the side, an old fashioned rock fireplace bordered by wagon wheels waiting for someone to hang an iron kettle in it."
A two-story home, over 100 years old sits on the front of the property overlooking an open valley extending for miles in each direction and flowing to the mountains on the other side; grazing livestock including black, brown, and white alpacas. Many deer hunters, some on horseback gather in the mountains during the fall to bag elk, deer and other game…
In the back field, two gigantic trees join their branches from one side of the property to the other. We had two of my great grandchildren with us, and they came running in the house. "There are four horses living at the bottom of one of the trees." The trunks and branches are so tangled together that the horses had stepped over the branches and were "living in the trees." The children asked for carrots and spent their time while we were there visiting the "horses." On our next trip, we met the owner and he said, "Two are mules." We told the kids that mules have bigger ears and are stockier.
On our back porch, we have a hummingbird nest and watch the mother bird fly back and forth. There are two red tailed hawks that live in our trees and the neighbor’s trees. On July 24, a member of our family came in and said, "There are two eagles next door." They are that big.
Cloudy, starting to sprinkle… The girls are spending their time with the horses. They are gentle and try to make friends with the dog. My daughter works in the yard; have to re-seed the front and do some landscaping. Everyone pitches in and the girls wash windows, we move furniture around, but it is fun when we are all together.
Had steak, corn, and potatoes on the BBQ. Scrub potatoes, cut them in quarters/pieces, place in tin foil pan and cover with tinfoil. Place on rack and cook 45 minutes depending on BBQ. Also, put ears of corn broke in half in glass pan of water and set it on rack and cook the same amount of time. That was an experiment and turned out delicious, but you can wrap both in tin foil and bake on the rack….
We went camping earlier in the month and went up Huntington Canyon Byway that is absolutely beautiful. (Link on my sidebar – Huntington Canyon byway essay.) Josie said, " I’d be a millionaire if I could teach the chipmunks to sing."
On the way back, pulled over to the side of a dirt road to let the dog out. Looked up, around a bend in the road came a whole herd of sheep with the herder on horseback and several sheep dogs guiding them. My daughter had to literally grab our 1-year puppy, squiggling and trying to get down, toss him into my lap. Sheep and dogs flowed by on both sides of the car and went on their way. There were several black sheep and I was told, there are a hundred sheep for each black one. "True, I am not sure."
I love the smaller "country towns." Huntington Canyon Byway joins at Fairview - Home to the Fairview Museum that has a replica of the Colombian mammoth found nearby…
