Two Silos Farm

It was another beautiful day. Temps just over 60F, unusual for January in South Dakota. I’d been working on the computer, and the sunshine through the windows was just too inviting. My hubby got home a bit after lunch, we each had a bowl of chilli left over from the night before, and headed out the door. Hubby armed with his .357 Marlin 1894c, me with my Olympus D-510. He didn’t take a single shot, I took a lot LOL!!!

It would be cruel to take a walk and not let Angel come with. She watched us from her kennel in the barn, hoping what ever we were up to; it would involve letting her out.

While I headed to the barn to let Angel out, hubby opened the door to the chicken coop. We have a small trap door out the north side, but there is still some snow on that side, and the chickens don’t like walking across it. So we let them out the front, they sure do enjoy the warm weather also.

We decided to take a walk past the end of our property and over to the stock pond and see if it was still frozen. Angel loves going to the pond for a swim in the summer. She’s a yellow lab, and true to her lab nature, loves water. We walked down the front tree line with Angel running back and forth, checking everything out.

We did come across Gizmo, looking for mice in the tall grass. Gizmo hunkered down, hoping Angel would not get interested in her. Angel did notice, and almost ran her over. Angel leaves the cats along for the most part, but she does think its fun to run straight at them, and if they don’t move out of the way, she’ll go right over them. If they move, she does not chase them, just goes on about her business.

After we walked past, Gizmo decided it was ok to sit up again.

We continued on to the end of the property. We have a square 40 acres, with the house pretty much in the center of the side along the road. Found evidence of a badger, but it didn’t look like he’d been there for a while. They sure can make a mess of a field, and they never stay in one place long, so they are always digging new holes.

We got to the south end of the property, and started heading to the west, along the fence line. The horses got interested, they are always curious when we’re out in the fields.

Angel kept running ahead, and then back to us. I think for every mile we walk, she runs about five.

The horses came to see what we were doing. That’s not a shadow; somebody’s been wallowing in the mud again!

We continued along the fence line, walking amid the stubble from last year’s wheat. The horses got bored, and headed back toward the shed and hay.

We continued on the southwest corner of the property. This is a view to the north. Our property goes to the tree line. Sure is flat out here . . .

The pond we were headed for is a bit farther west and south. This property is owned by our neighbor to the north. He owns the property on all four sides of ours, and use to own our place too. When his parents quit farming and moved to town, he moved into their newer house up the road. Then he sectioned off the old farmstead with 40 acres and sold it. We are the third owners since he sold it, but the first who are doing significant improvements to the place. Richard loves coming over and seeing what we are doing.

We continued along the edge of the wheat field, with Angel finding all kinds of interesting smells to check out. Much to my husband’s dismay, she never did flush any rabbits.

At the end of the wheat field is what use to be a pasture. Richard has not had cows on this property for a long time, and the fences reflect that. The first year we were here, this area was cut for hay, but the last two summers it’s been left alone. One corner had an old dump pile. We were hoping Angel would find a rabbit or two, but she just had fun checking out the junk.

This one has been here for a while . . . plate has ’62 on it.

We headed around the longer grass where it was a bit wetter, and headed off toward the pond. I took a picture looking back toward our place. You can see those two silos from a long way off.

We finally made it to the pond, but it was still quite frozen. Angel had fun running in the water along the edges, and sliding across the ice. With no possibility of a good swim, she soon lost interest and headed off into the grass again

Our mission accomplished, it was time to head back for home. With Angel leading the way, we retraced our footsteps along the fence line and back toward the homestead.

Of course, Mister Mud Bath was still real curious as to what we were up to. He spent some time trying to get his pasture mates to run with him, but they were more interested in eating or just being lazy.

We continued on past the pasture fence line, and made the final corner toward home.

Oliver was waiting for us when we got home. Typical cat . . .