small goat/sheep farm in Northern Colorado: Monsoon, July 4TH, Grandsons visit.

I should have read the warning signs, I know better than that. Casey the 14 year old lab was hiding in her bed, panting and shivering at the same time, with her eyes all buggy, Bear was hiding in the shelter with the males alpacas, doing the same. The Koi in my pond were stacked up on the south side, where the wind was headed, ravenous,begging for food. Any good fisherman worth their salt knows, that the best time to catch fish is right before the storm hits. The grey ominous clouds were gathering, boom, boom, boom the sound of thunder! And finally, I had just washed my vehicle!!!!All heralding the return of the Monsoon rains! After the storm, the feed stacks up where the wind has churned up the feed from the bottom of the lake, or pond, in my case. And the fish won't bite, as they have eaten their fill on what is called "Walleye Chop", well on Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota anyway.

FISHING
Speaking of fishing, here are some pictures of Dennis and Ryan's fishing trip last weekend up to Long's Peak.

Dennis said it took them 2 hours and 40 minutes to hike up to one of Ryan's favorite spots. About 1/2 hour less to come back down again, they had strong icy winds, had to strip down to just T-shirts for some of the trip, and had some rainy slippery rocks to traverse. But they each got their limit of wild Brook trout.

Boy, are the boys tired today!

It has been raining on and off for days now, but not much to soak into the ground. Always happens when we are getting ready to go out and do chores. Just enough humidity to make us and the animals miserable. I am having a harder time with monsoon here in Colorado, vs Arizona, as I am having all these dog gone hot flashes. When the storms start collecting in the late afternoon, the super charged air gets two of my dogs into hiding. I don't need a weather man, all I have to do is look for the dogs, they can tell us hours before the storms hit. Last night we got a good soaker of almost 1/2 inch in less than two hours. Hardly anything to concern ones self with by Minnesota standards, but much needed here on the scorched Colorado grasslands.

GRANDSON VISIT
Our grandson, Brady was here for a week starting July 4TH. I had the family here for a barbecue, the food was good I even made potato salad from scratch, not the store bought ready made stuff. I knew all my ingredients. And the weather cooperated. Little Lily was as cute as ever and stole the show of course, walking all over the place now.

That evening, Dennis and I took Brady to a hill just outside of Wellington to view the fire works, on the old Nunn road. Now I have not been to fireworks for about 15 years or so, and I can honestly say that these were some of the best works I have ever seen. But alas, I forgot my camera. So will have to go back next year. Hope that I can stay up that late again. My mind was at home, worrying about what the animals thought of all the commotion. From our hill we could see Fort Collins, Greeley and Windsor fireworks.

This past weekend, we took Brady to Eaton days, for a parade,

barbecue in the park, and vendors selling their wares. No pictures of Brady as he is at that age where he doesn't want to draw attention to himself. So, I obliged him, which is not my norm. Some other highlights when he was here, he helped me start my arbor, we got 3 1/2 holes dug between the rains and the 90 degree scorchers. Here is a start.

Picture this, redwood lattice on both sides, a peaked open roof to match the house, windows and wishing well, with 2x2's 6 inches apart on top of the framed roof, to grow vines and house birds, and shelter from the sun. Or a stopping place, as we run from the barn to the house, during those summer rains. But the beauty will be how this arbor frames the garden pond from the west, or frames the animal shelter from the east.

Brady also helped with chores around the farm, and never wants to live on one. They always say, no learning is ever wasted. The only salvation for him was his computer, cell phone, and XBox. But I tried to curb these activities. While we were digging, I told Brady to stop and just look and listen to all the beauty around him. He said he could not see anything, so I pointed out the still snow capped Rocky Mountains. I hope I never loose sight at what is so beautiful. Was nice to have a teenager around for all our excess goat milk, now I guess that I will have to start making cheese again.

My little Bambi, looking through the slats of a feeder we made.

We are always revising feeders, trying to find the best type to keep feed in the feeders, and goat feet out. It is a never ending process.
Here is a water lily blooming in my pond.

And also a Floating Heart Flower.

Bear, our Livestock Guard Dog, always has a bunch of young turkeys following him around. Here he is lying in the shade of the chicken coop, and a few of the turkeys cluster around them. They are craning their necks to get a good look at me with my camera.

A table runner that I made, for my quilt club.

So have been very busy these past couple of weeks. The new sheep are settling in nicely, and have figured out that no one is going to eat them. They are still in quarantine yet for another couple of weeks.