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A Siberian Landscape on The Colorado Plains

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Contributed by: donna hatton on 2/25/2008

From The Hatton Barnyard Chonicles...
by Donna Hatton

Weather in the Rocky Mountains can be brutal. Spring storms can sweep in changing mild temperatures to below zero in what seems like mere minutes.
A fast moving storm on the plains can whip snow into drifts across the pastures. It fills in the arroyos hiding the deep twisted ribbons of icy creeks that had just begun to thaw. I sat in the warm comfort of our pickup truck and watched as Tom and Joe shoveled snow and chopped ice to open up a hole where the cattle could get a drink. While I waited I looked around me. It seemed as if the land blended into the ice blue sky and clouds, I thought, " If I didn't know better I could be in the middle of Siberia."
In that same week the rising temperatures started melting the snow and the ground softened to mud. Even where it appears dry on the side of a hill the unwary can get stuck and Joe did. It wasn't too far from the same spot where he and his Dad were chopping ice just a few days before. As we stopped to try and help him the cows crowded around our hayloaded pickup truck bawling impatiently for their breakfast, they would have to wait. Tom and Joe began to dig, but even with four wheel drive and a pull from us they couldn't budge the stuck pickup and finally had to call for a tow truck. Thank God for cellphones!
We fed the cattle late that day, the sun had dropped behind the mountains and before we made our final journey around the pasture the evening was approaching, the daylight dying into deepening shadows below Pikes Peak. Spotlighting the cows and their nursing calves in our headlights we saw that they had settled in for the night. We were satisfied that all was well and we headed for home to await the next chapter in The Hatton Barnyard Chonicles.

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donna hatton

woodland park , CO

donna hatton has posted 15 stories and 0 comments since joining on 2/11/2008. donna hatton 's average story rating is 5.

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