It's getting chilly here.

It's rainy and cold. Last night, as it started to get dark, I went to feed the mustangs and it suddenly got very cold. My hands almost froze as I biked home and I noticed the puddles had ice forming on them. I thought we were in for a very cold night but it started to warm up again and during the night it rained.

Our house is at the base of a bluff and we get some sudden cold snaps as cold air moves downward. During hot summer evenings while I stroll outside around the garden, I sometimes walk through rivers of cold air that flow down off the bluff.



We own about 800 acres here and there are several different micro climates. We used to live in a smaller house further away from the bluff and I could grow plants like grapes and tomatoes so much better there. I even tried to grow some plants in my old garden at that little house this year, but I forgot to water them so they all died. That is another bad thing about this area, we only get about 10" of rain a year. The only thing's that grow well here (without irrigation) are sagebrush, native grasses and noxious weeds. Where there are springs along the bluff, trees and shrubs like cottonwoods, chokecherry and golden current will grow. About a mile of Crab Creek goes through our place and we have about 16 white willows that grow along it. The trick is keeping cattle away from them till the trees can grow big enough that they can defend themselves.

Here's Muffin sitting on the chicks old box.



Here's Dandylyons resting.



I saw her looking at something intently today. I looked to see what caught her gaze and it was Foxsun, her horse husband faraway in his horse pasture. I shall have to reunite them soon because she doesn't look happy without him.

I re-potted some plants today. I like to take cuttings from my plants and start new ones. My mother in-law gave me some of her cuttings. One cutting came from a plant that used to grow in this house when she lived here about 35 years ago! I'm running out of room for new plants but I just love to see plants growing indoors. Andy doesn't care about the plants but he was concerned I'd make him get out of his chair.