Sunday afternoon the Cowboy started cutting our hay and the hay of a neighbor. Today he finished–the weather held! 🙂 This is our old ranch truck–totally worn out but gets the job done when needed–it has a bale bed which is designed more for feeding cows than hauling hay. It has hydraulic arms which reach out, grab the bale, squeeze it and then the arms lift the bale onto the truck bed–the Cowboy can grab two bales and haul them home using the hydraulic arms.
Our fields always look so clean and nice when the hay is cut.
First strawberries, sweet as sugar.
Friends posted on Facebook last night–tomatoes were ready–they have a green house. Tomatoes grown outside in our area of Montana won’t be ready until late August if a frost doesn’t get them before they are ripe! I tried one of the heirloom tomatoes tonight and it was delicious! While in North Carolina I sampled some Arkansas tomatoes the gang brought with them–delicious!
Flower beds are in full bloom–gorgeous!
We’ve made two trips to town all ready this week–parts, getting Nat and Barb’s lawnmower unstuck, and tomatoes. Today we had a great lunch at the Thirsty Turtle. I mailed Sue’s (MoHo Travels) quilt back to her today–once she has seen it, I will share photos. This afternoon I attempted to start a quilt for Jeane but would you believe in all those cones of thread I own there was not one minty green spool of thread! The quilt top is just gorgeous–I’m keeping it–I just haven’t told Jeane yet! 🙂
A few weeks ago when it was raining every day I spotted these totally round mushrooms and they were huge, probably six inches in diameter! Some people in our neighborhood eat these things–not us!
Almost full moon rising.
Our weather has been spectacular lately–high 70’s, no humidity and enough sunshine for hay baling. Rain is in the forecast for the next few days which is OK–we will always take rain this time of year. Buuuuttt–each year on the last weekend in June our county has a big event–rodeo on Friday and Saturday night, parade/car show/vendors/race on Saturday and live music each night. It may rain Friday and Saturday. 😦
Restoration Cowboy Style 
Nothing better than fresh grown tomatoes!! Your flowers are wonderful. We’re enjoying your perfect weather and watching the rain and thunder storms in the forecast. We’ll have to wave as we go through Big Timber this time as we have to catch up with some folks in Roundup 😦 The Thirsty Turtle makes me crave their ham and pear sandwich!!!
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Wait a minute–so close!!! I gleaned from your blog that your posts were a bit behind your travels??
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Interesting info on the hay baler (is this a word?) Beautiful fields, beautiful flowers. Do those flowers bloom from the ground or a tree and what kind is it? I would eat those strawberries and the mushrooms! Homegrown tomatoes always delicious! My Mom grows them every year and passes them out to her neighborhood.
Enjoy the weekend rodeo and festivities. I hope it doesn’t rain too much. I love rodeos!
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The columbine are a native plant–they grow wild at higher elevations. These in my flower garden I planted many years ago and more plants appear every year from fallen seed plus the colors change.
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You have the best color of Columbine flowers. That center is so pretty. Nothing like fresh tomatoes…and cucumbers! John pulled over in a shady spot for a rest along the road as we were moving east and as I looked out the window, there was a farm stand. The lady said she sells her things and for some local farmers. Well, this girl was in heaven. I got cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, little red potatoes, and the best peaches. Yum! Sure hope it doesn’t rain on your parade…haha! Enjoy your cooler, no humidity weather!
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And I only planted about six of those columbine–the rest just appeared from fallen seed. We never know from one year to the next what colors we will get. I wish we could get fresh produce–our friend with the green house is a good option!
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My hubby loves home grown tomatoes. To him there is nothing better than a tomato and mayo sandwich – well unless you add bacon and lettuce to it. We are finally settled at Canyon Ferry and are waiting for the storm to move in this afternoon. As long as we don’t get hail or big winds, I’m looking forward to some rain.
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I too love home grown tomatoes–not the Cowboy unless you add bacon and lettuce to the sandwich! 🙂
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The dark tomato looks like a black krim tomato. That is one of the best tasting tomatoes I know. The mushroom looks like a puff ball and lots of peope eat those. We sometimes have them in our law but they are quite small, so we leave them there.
Wish I could have flowers in front of our house but the years have shown me that there is not a flower or plant on this earth that our resident deer don’t eat. Your flowers are beautiful.
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I think you are right about the tomato being a black krim–I ate another one yesterday and it was so good! You know Vera, the deer are prolific around here and they don’t eat my columbine–now that I’ve said this, I will come home to a mowed flower bed one of these days!
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You will be happy to know we are getting a lot of rain here in Cochise county. The monsoons are early this year. A couple of weeks ago we had a lot and the last 2 days. Beautiful time of the year! This weekend is the 25th Anniversary of the movie Tombstone. A lot of Stars will be here. Also in August. Dennis Quaid and Vel Kimer among them. This town is expecting way too many people. Exciting tho!
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That is good news about the rain–not so much all the people! I saw the temp in Pearce yesterday afternoon was only 85 degrees–wonderful!
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