Dis-L-Do Homestead: Colorado winds

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Colorado winds

The wind in Colorado can be grand and a bit dramatic. Against the mountains it can take a warm day and make it cold by blowing the snow off the peaks and down across the foothills.

Out on the plains it can be destructive. Wind gust can be brutal and today was one such blustery wicked winded day! It brings the dangers of fire and erodes the land.

Wind coming off the mountains.

Winds coming off the mountains with clouds and snow. My carriage to the foothills is a Prius and it gets toss around like a crumpled newspaper in the wind.

We have had winds so high and microbursts so hardy that we have seen one of our hens, Beatrice, be picked up and blown across three farms. I remember looking out the kitchen window and seeing her being swept up end to end, carried away with no recourse to stay put. Poor thing, I thought she was long gone but three days later here she came walking back across the field looking a bit worse for the wear. She fully recovered but whenever the winds would pick up the old girl would run to the coop for safety.

Another time the ground blew and eroded so much that on a goat prayer walk I found a cannon ball. It was just sticking up out the ground. For those who read Centennial you know about Colorado’s history and the northeastern plains. It is not a time to be proud of - In the late 1800 Colorado Territory Militia fought wars and battles in Julesburg against the Cheyenne, Arapahoe and Lakota Sioux; in Sterling against the Cheyenne and the Sioux, and in Yuma again against the Arapahoe, Cheyenne and Sioux. Those are only a few of the battles fought in Colorado…and in southeastern Colorado I am sure you have heard of the Sand Creek Massacre. We have heard of many people finding arrowheads on their land out here but never cannon balls. We can definitely feel the history out here on the plains and it is very sad to think of what might have happened .