Fencelines

[Dotch]

NO flooding this week. Lots of sun!

[Dotch]

Seasons change and so did I...

The scurs got the sun and the Saturday night frost right making the growing season all but complete for another year. What does the next forecast period hold? Wednesday brings sunny skies with a high of 70 and a low of 45. Clear on Thursday with highs again around 70 and lows of 45 – 50. Clear to partly cloudy Friday through Sunday with highs reaching 75 and lows bottoming out in the 50 – 55 range. Columbus Day mostly sunny with a high near 70 and a low of 45 – 50. Clouding up on Tuesday with a chance of an afternoon shower or thunderstorm. Highs of 65 and lows around 45. The normal high for October 8th is 65 and the normal low is 39. The scurs will have the umbrella at the ready. After September they’re not taking any chances.

We’re coming off what was a record for precip in many locations across the state. At the ranch we garnered 12.51” for the month, 15” less than the 12.66” recorded at the SROC in Waseca. Still, harvest progress was made in area fields with soybeans coming off where field conditions allowed. Yields have been somewhat of a mixed bag. Remember that pod and stem blight we wrote about a few weeks back? That along with several other diseases including anthracnose have shown some negative impact. Other places especially those where soybeans have been planted after several years of corn yields have been fantastic with some plots topping out over 70 bu./acre. Not a lot of corn harvest activity yet as of this writing but there are fields that farmers will go after as soon as they’re done harvesting soybeans.

In the heavens, we’re still getting a great show from Jupiter, rising in the east, visible and shining brightly in the E-SE sky an hour or later after sundown. The Big Dipper has assumed the position in the NW sky associated with autumn. Here in Bugtussle on the planet earth, this week we’re seeing fall colors changing rapidly and it will probably mark our peak color. Bluebirds continue to move through as do small groups of robins, grackles and red-winged blackbirds. Goldfinches have mysteriously disappeared from our feeders at the ranch, replaced with a smattering of house finches. The nuthatches don’t mind not waiting for a perch from which to pluck a sunflower seed. A male red-bellied woodpecker helps himself to the ear corn when the squirrels aren’t monopolizing the cobs.

In the insect world boxelder bugs are making their presence known at the Mall for Men. If harvest wasn’t messing things up the little fat buddies would probably be hosting legalized gambling for boxelder bug racing. And of course who can forget the lovely multi-colored Asian ladybird beetles? Given the warm weather forecast, it would probably be wise to stay away from white houses with south facing exposures the rest of the week. There are still some fun insects to watch though, namely the white-lined sphinx moths that continue to work over the petunias, morning glories, 4 o’clocks and salvia both at the Mall for Men as well as at the ranch. One was spotted the evening of October 4th even after Sunday morning’s frost.

Mushrooms seem to be showing up all over this year and September was good for some of the edible types. Recently found several hen of the woods and there have been plenty of giant puffballs in our pasture at home. Both of these are edible although usually by the time I find the puffballs, they’re past their prime and full of spores making them potentially dangerous to eat. Finding some pleurotus or oyster mushrooms would be the icing on the cake. Some types tend to like cottonwood stumps and there are several still living candidates for cottonwood stumps around the ranch.

Some have brought mushrooms they’ve found growing their yards into the office and about all I can say is if you don’t know what they are or if someone who may or may not know tells you better to be safe than sorry, it’s probably good advice. I have eaten several types of wild mushrooms, all legal of course, but I always make sure I’m absolutely positive before eating them. One of the most common mushrooms that is edible is the inky cap. These come up all over the place after a rain, in yards, manure piles, in the woods, pasture etc. One small problem though: By themselves, eaten early in their lifecycle they are not poisonous. However, if consuming alcohol within a few hours of consuming the inky caps, the interaction probably won’t kill you but may make you wish you were dead.

Ruby and Gus have been reveling in the recent nice fall weather. Cool mornings make them uncoil like a couple springs and sunny, dry days are ideal for them to be outside exercising. They’re become great playmates with Ruby’s youth having rejuvenated Gus. They take turns digging the same holes and seem to really enjoy bluffing and pretending to herd each other around the yard. Ruby is showing signs of being one intense little red and white Border Collie. Watching those eyes fixate on a tennis ball, you’d swear she could burn holes through plate steel or at very least bend spoons. Let’s just hope someday she can convince the sheep she’s capable of that.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Let’s change the mood from glad to sadness…

The scurs were apparently unaware that the thermometer went over 80 degrees in October. Does this mean that they don’t know it goes below – 30 in January? Let’s not go there just yet and instead focus on the weather at hand. Starting Wednesday, mostly clear. Highs of 60 – 65 and lows around 40. Thursday, mostly clear, high near 60 and overnight lows of 40 – 45. Friday and Saturday, clear. Highs around 70 and lows of 40 – 45. Becoming partly cloudy on Sunday, daytime high of 65 and low again of 40 – 45. Mostly cloudy on Monday with a chance of showers. High near 60 with lows of 35. Cloudy on Tuesday with a chance of rain. High of 50 and low of 35. The normal high for October 15th is 61 and the normal low is 37. The scurs are looking at donating some glasses to Major League Baseball for the umpires.

What a difference a year makes. Thanks to the phenomenal dry, warm weather since the flooding, harvest progress continues to rock on. Some corn is now coming out of the fields the 13 – 14% range, dry enough so it can just be dumped straight in the bin in many cases. Unheard of for the 2nd week in October in MN. Corn yields are coming in above expectations for many and with the markets doing what they did last week, that’s a bonus for area farmers. Soybean harvest has all but been wrapped up and the results were good although perhaps not as spectacular as initially hoped. Seed size turned out to be smaller than expected and that kept many from realizing those expectations. Fall phosphorus and potassium fertilizer is being applied however it is still too early and soil temperatures are still well above the 50 degree mark.

Still plenty of insect activity to go around as well as some tick activity if one wants to go looking for them. The insects we seem to like to call “no-see-ems” are essentially minute pirate bugs. The warm weather has made them very active and the lack of sources of food such as aphids has made them more than willing to taste test your flesh. Fruit flies are present in many houses including the one at the ranch. They generally like to reproduce inside of beverage containers that haven’t been rinsed out or on some decaying vegetable matter stuck deep in the bowels of a wastebasket someplace or in some instances, down behind it. Pretty simple solution for controlling them: Remove their food source and they eventually die off. Of course in the winter, it’s more entertaining to go out side when it’s below zero and open the garbage can and rap on the side just to see them attempt to fly off. They generally don’t get too far. Deer ticks were noted on a recent grouse hunting trip to suburban Zerkel with the Boy Entomologist. We probably picked 60 – 70 off his dog Curly and treated them to a dip in some Coleman lantern fluid. Better than wasting perfectly good alcohol on them.

Bird activity has been somewhat slower than anticipated so have been able to stretch the remaining black oil sunflower seed supply a while longer. Goldfinches are still absent although the slate colored juncos have reappeared. One interesting development was the hummingbird that showed up back on October 5th and 6th. Saw it first on the 5th so cleaned up the feeders and restocked them with fresh nectar. There were still some salvia blooming yet so it took advantage of them as well. After the 6th, they haven’t been spotted again so while anything is possible, it’s likely this may have been their curtain call referred to a few weeks ago.

It seems impossible after writing last week’s column to be writing what I’m about to write: We lost our Border Collie Gus last Friday after he’d had what was to be the last of the seizures that had plagued him portions of the last 4+ years of his life. Perhaps he was living on borrowed time, it’s hard to say. When he was a puppy he was diagnosed with a disorder of the soft palate, which didn’t allow him to swallow properly. We were asked at that time if we wanted to put him down or if we were willing to take the chance on what could be a rough road ahead should food be aspirated into his lungs. He had such personality already at that time we had no choice. We took the chance and while the problem was still evident, it never caused him to be ill. The seizures started when he was about 3 and while at first they were more frequent, they seemed to be becoming less violent and less frequent, completely gone for almost a year at one point so we opted not to put him on medication. Those events aren’t what we’ll remember this very special dog by however.

Gus always loved people and we often wondered if he could’ve been one of those therapy dogs to be taken anywhere someone needed to be cheered up because that’s what he always did for us. With that one-ear-up, one-ear-down and tongue hanging out appearance, he always looked just like something out of a Gary Larson cartoon. When one of us was sick, he’d come and lay beside us to keep us company. Gus loved to go for rides and was a frequent passenger on trips to the feed store, the office, or virtually any shopping trip. His coat was beautiful and he liked to share it, leaving lots of hair behind him wherever he went. That heavy coat was always nice when he’d “help” water the sheep, putting his front feet up on the panel and sidling up beside you while you filled buckets with the hose. If your hands were cold it was a treat to dig your fingers into that thick fur to warm them up. He loved it too, wagging his tail and panting his approval.

Like most Border Collies, Gus was very much a creature of habit. It’s difficult not to see him come trotting out from under the garage door anymore when it’s opened, waving his big feather duster tail back and forth. Once the vehicle was inside, Gus would put his paws on the running boards or rocker panels and wait to be petted while looking at you with those big, soulful eyes. It didn’t matter how rotten your day might’ve been, you couldn’t resist petting him and talking to him. Thing of it was, he probably understood more of what was said than some humans I know. Ruby of course is missing him too. This was the “big brother” figure whom she followed and worshipped from the very start. And he tolerated her “puppy-ness” to a point, putting her in her place with a minimum amount of force rather than tearing her apart. As I wrote last week they’d become great playmates and Ruby still waits for him to come out at choretime. The morning Gus fell ill, toenails clicking on the floor, he made his way to wake up Jo the way he’d done for years. Oh sure, we’ll all get over it and move on without Gus but we’ll never forget the wonderful 7 years he gave us.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

You can’t conceive of the pleasure in my smile…

The scurs came survived another week of severe clear and are trying to figure out how to bottle some of this nice weather for sometime in January, so far unsuccessfully. Meanwhile, the Wednesday weather looks like mostly clear skies with a high around 65 and a low of 35 - 40. More clear skies on Thursday, highs 55 - 60 and lows of 30 - 35. Clear and 55 - 60 again on Friday with a low around 40. Cloudy and slightly cooler on Saturday, high of 55 and low of 40 with a slight chance of rain overnight. Sunday, cloudy once again with a chance of rain. Highs around 55 and lows near 40. Partly cloudy Monday, highs of 55 and lows of 40 with a chance of showers. Tuesday, mostly cloudy with showers possible. Highs of 60 and lows of 35. The Full Moon this October occurs on the 22nd with the normal high being 57 and the normal low 34. These are the same temperatures we experience in mid-April, the difference being we are losing 3 minutes of daylight per day whereas in mid-April we are gaining about that same amount. As of the 16th we are below 11 hours of daylight and the sun is now rising after 7:30 a.m. CDT. With all that cheery news, the scurs may hibernate until the days become longer or at least until the Halloween candy shows up.

The Full Moon for the month will occur on the 22nd and is very aptly named the Full Hunters Moon. This was the time the pioneers and Indians alike used to build their meat supplies for the winter. With bison, deer, grouse, squirrels, etc., they had plenty of high protein, low fat food to pack away. That hunting tradition in October continues today. The Ojibwe knew this as the Falling Leaves Moon and the Sioux called it the Moon of Falling Leaves or the Changing Season Moon. Fortunately for them leaf blowers had not been invented yet or it may have cut into their hunting.

More excellent conditions for fieldwork this past week. Hard to believe the contrast between the months of September and October. As of this writing, we have not recorded any measureable precipitation at the ranch for the month and there have only been a couple days where a trace fell. Most corn is very dry and much of it is being dumped straight into the bin. The grain quality has been far better than anticipated and coupled with the low moisture, it’s been putting a smile on everyone’s face with the exception perhaps of the LP man. Lines at the elevator have been long at times however the speed at which the 10 man dryer is running appears to be keeping the wait to a minimum. With the weather continuing to hold, fall tillage has been running at a breakneck pace. It’s possible that many operations will be completely done with harvest, fertilization and tillage by Halloween, unheard of in MN.

At the ranch we continue to thunder along towards winter. Screenings need to be fetched from the kindly neighbors but first a trip to Crazy Boyd was necessary to get the wagon back in running order. Funny the damage the wind can do when tossing a wagon end over end. Found several tomatoes yet on the container plants by the barn so harvested them. For some odd reason they appear to be keeping instead of rotting this time. Some of the potatoes are not so fortunate. All the squash, pumpkins and gourds are piled outside yet it won’t long and they’ll need to be hauled in. The carrots and beets are about all that remain. Mice are moving in as an inspection of the bait boxes indicated. A sphinx moth was still flying around the lights in the barn the evening of the 18th and there are a few mosquitoes looking for one last meal before they cash it in. Bluebirds continue their migration and Sunday afternoon a host of cedar waxwings were in the yard sampling the crabapples. Leaf rust on bluegrass has been prevalent not only in our lawn but in many area lawns across the country, thanks in part to the heavy rains we had in September followed by the dry weather since that time.

Haven’t written much for awhile about the wetland as the mosquitoes were nearly impossible to deal with down there much of the summer. However, now that fall has arrived, they’ve mellowed out and it’s made it a fun place to visit once again. Was fortunate enough to be asked to host another waterfowl hunt for Outdoors on the Farm by Chip Flory only this time, he brought his daughter Emily and black Lab Remington along. We filmed a hunt on Saturday morning and the weather made it one of those typical bluebird fall days we’ve experienced much of October, complete with real bluebirds. A single young drake mallard Chip nicknamed Daffy showed up early on and was the only duck I’ve ever seen land in the grass behind the decoys down there. We kept an eye out for him and in the meantime visited as the time flew by.

As we got closer to the time to tape some interview material, Chip and Emily decided it was time to jump shoot the duck as he hadn’t reappeared. While they were on their way over to roust Daffy where he’d been seen last, a great blue heron glided in suddenly and landed in the shallows off to the side of the decoys. He must’ve been there nearly 10 minutes without seeing us which is odd as they generally are very wary. This is one reason sometimes waterfowlers will set a heron decoy in a small wetland as it can give ducks and geese a false sense of security. Who needs a decoy though when one can have the real thing? The heron finally decided this wasn’t his cup of tea and departed. Shortly afterwards the drake got up and Chip got a good shot off knocking him down. Remington sprang into action and after Daffy dove while performing evasive maneuvers, he managed to finally corner him in the reeds and brought him to Chip. Not bad for his first ever water retrieve. We were all pumped after that including the cameraman. It sure brought a smile to my face. Not only had it been a near perfect, relaxing morning in terms of enjoying the outdoors, seeing someone get a nice young duck was just icing on the cake.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Looks like we're in for nasty weather…

The scurs oversaw another week of great weather as well as the showers that occurred over the weekend and early week. What’s on tap for this go round? The scurs will tell all. Starting Wednesday, cloudy with a chance of showers during the daylight hours and a slight chance of snow overnight. High of 45 and low of 30. Partly cloudy Thursday with highs once again of 45 and lows around 30. Friday, partly cloudy and warmer. Highs of 50 – 55 and lows of 35. Warmer still on Saturday, partly cloudy, highs of 60 and lows around 40. For Halloween, partly cloudy, high of 55 cooling dropping down to 40 overnight. Monday, partly cloudy skies, a slight chance of a rain, highs of 50 - 55 and lows of 30. Cloudy with a chance of rain on Tuesday. Highs of 50 - 55 and lows of 30. The normal Halloween high is 51 and the normal low is 25 – 30. The scurs are taking no chances. They’ll be washing the Halloween chocolate off their fingers on Nov. 2nd before marking their ballots.

Who’d a thunk it? After the September 22nd – 24th rainfall event that caused major flooding across much of the area, harvest is winding to a close. There are still a few fields of corn standing and small areas where soybeans were in standing water when the rest of the field was harvested. With no measureable precip being recorded until the 23rd at the ranch, it has been one for the record books. Some anhydrous ammonia has already been applied but this was probably not an informed management decision. Remember those September rains mentioned at the top of the paragraph? Yes, the soil surface has dried remarkably but we’ve had little plant uptake since that time so the soil profile is still at or near capacity below the top 6”. Data from the SROC in Waseca indicated that soil temps have been running about 5 degrees above average until recently and the date at which our soil temps get to the magical 50 degree mark and stay there is October 29th. Plus, there is growing evidence that spring applied nitrogen out-yielded fall applications this past growing season. Not advocating putting all one’s N on in the spring, however waiting until the end of October or later would probably be in the best interest of individuals if they want to maximize profit and markedly reduce the risk of nitrogen loss.

On the bird watching front, the winter contingent continues to settle in. More cedar waxwings made their way through sampling more of the crabapples and remaining nannyberries. A large group of juncos has set up shop, taking a shine to the leftover plants in the small garden. This must be the overwintering hangout for the huge blue jays as they’re back in force once again. Some loyal house finches have been around for a week or so and the ever faithful nuthatches are defying gravity up and down the limbs of the ash trees. Even the goldfinches are starting to reappear again with one lone customer Sunday morning, followed by several more guests at the thistle feeders in the afternoon. The fox squirrels have been busy stuffing their faces too, no to mention burying kernels of corn around the yard they too like the crabapples, reminding me of the gray squirrels we used to watch out the window at college when we were supposed to be paying attention to a boring lecture. By this time of year the crabapples had fermented to the point that the alcohol content apparently was pretty high. The squirrels took a shine to them, managing to get a pretty good shine on, then fell out of the trees. This source of amusement made the time in class go much faster although it probably didn’t improve our test scores.

The warm temperatures have also brought about some rather unusual observations at the ranch. 4 o’clocks are still blooming, somehow having escaped the wrath of Jack Frost. Typically by this time they look like deflated partly balloons. Saturday’s showers held off long enough for me to dig the beet and carrot crop. After starting out cloudy, the sun burst through and warmed things up so clothing had to be peeled off. As an added bonus, another dozen or so tomatoes were discovered in the main garden that had been hidden under some of the dense foliage (and weeds). Coupled with the container tomatoes, there were enough to last us well into November. Usually when we give up on the tomatoes as we did this year the frost gets them long before late October. Earlier in the day, had spotted a small toad still out hopping around by the barn. As the day warmed, noted several more not only by the barn but in the garden areas as well. Something tells me that they’ll probably be burrowed into the moist soil soon so chances of seeing them in another month will be slim.

Growing up on the farm, waiting until the garden had frozen was one of the things we looked forward to. No more weeding or picking, just allowing those cucumbers, melons and tomatoes to reach the absolute peak of their mushiness for throwing at each other. Still recall staying at a friends place and “helping” him clean off the garden. We were maybe 11 or 12 at the time at the time and he happened to have a couple little shavers for neighbors, 6 or 7 years younger, who made excellent targets. They were also easily provoked, chasing us and firing decaying vegetables with reckless abandon. Parked in the neighbor’s garage was a then brand new, huge white 1970 Buick Electra 225 convertible with a black top. It was an absolute beast! The walk-in garage door was open, making an excellent place to duck into and escape their not so friendly fire. While racing through said garage, one of the rotten tomatoes found its mark, directly on the passenger side door of the big Buick. Kenny and I thought it was hilarious until we determined the stain wouldn’t come off. We quickly called a truce, slipped away next door and nothing more was said. Later the next summer during the Dairy Days parade, the Electra happened to be carrying one of the area’s young lovelies in the procession. You guessed it, the tomato stain was still there as the convertible made its way by us. Imagine that, I thought to myself. Jeff’s errant throw would not be soon forgotten, at least until the car was traded off.

See you next week…real good then.

[MN Shutterbug]

Once again Dotch, thanks for the enjoyable read.

I have a flowering crabapple, but have seen no waxwings. My gold finches have also left, but I still have a couple house finches sticking around and plenty of juncos. I did make a 12" X 12" tray feeder, hung it from a shepherd's hook and filled it with sunflowers, cracked corn and shelled whole peanuts, just in the hopes of attracting a blue jay. It took almost a week, but a pair starting coming around daily. I also had a red-belly appear a few times on Saturday, but with the crazy wind today, all I've seen is sparrows and juncos. I'm really starting to enjoy my new backyard.

[Dotch]

Thanks Shutterbug! More reading material.

When all the leaves are brown

And the wind blows (so chill)

After surviving the wind and cool temperatures, the scurs settled in to enjoy the nice fall weather again. What’s in store this forecast period? The scurs will divulge the answer. Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with highs of 50 - 55 and lows in the mid - 30’s. Thursday, partly cloudy. Highs around 40 and lows near 25. Clearing on Friday and cooler. Highs struggling to reach 40 and lows dropping to 25. Mostly sunny on Saturday and warmer, highs around 50 and lows of 30 - 35. Sunday and Monday, warmer, partly cloudy, highs 50 - 55 and lows of 35 - 40. Partly cloudy Tuesday with highs around 50 and lows near 35. Normal high for November 7th is 46 and the normal low is 27, much the same as we experience in late March. On the 4th, the sun will set at 5 p.m. CDT and on the 7th the sun will rise at 7:01 a.m. CST with our daylight hours shrinking back to below 10 hours. The scurs will be relishing that extra hour of sleep on Sunday after getting up at 2 a.m. to change their clocks back and hour, as dictated by the government.

What a difference a month makes! September brought with it record rainfall and up until the gale force winds and rain of last week, we saw no measurable precip until the 23rd. From the 23rd – 28th we tallied 1.38” of rain, with less than that falling in Bugtussle proper. The storm that ran from the 26th – 28th turned out to be quite the system however, breaking the previous low barometer reading at the ranch that had been set during the Halloween blizzard of ’91. Not that our barometer is on a par with the more precise instruments used by the National Weather Service but it read an incredibly low 28.10 this past October 26th. When first looking at it, suspected it was broken until those television blow combs began touting the low readings being tabulated across the state. Sustained winds of 30 – 40 mph were common, making leaf raking and removal of those political candidate signs unnecessary. It was already done for you! The scary thing: Afterwards, there was a little snow in the valley between rooflines on the north side of the house. Not a good sign.

It has been one of those autumns for the record books. If the weather holds, it give one time to get caught up on some of those jobs that were put off this summer simply because the weather or the mosquitoes were so awful you couldn’t get them done. That and harvest was hot on the heels of a warm summer. With harvest being completed so quickly it has allowed some time at the ranch to take care of more of the storm damage and think about working seriously on the Studebaker once again. Not that there haven’t been some baby steps made most of the summer off and on, parts ordered and the like, but hopefully we can have that little Stude flathead 6 up and running before year’s end. The nice weather also has made for a little time to work with Ruby on some rope training. Hopefully no one will attempt to persuade me that since I have a little free time on my hands and I’m not at work, I should be spending it on their pet project. I have added a new word to my vocabulary and that word is “No”.

On the bird watching front, it appears the northern ducks have started to make their way down. Big mallards have been spotted on the pond and elsewhere. Killdeers were still in the Little Jerusalem area as of November 1st. Took down the nectar feeders just in the nick of time ahead of last weeks storm. More goldfinches are appearing and the junco numbers are at an all time high. More of the little cedar waxwings too and with the nannyberry supply depleted, they’ve focused their full attention on the crabapples. There are still insects out and about even after the hard freezes last week. A Carolina grasshopper flew out of one of the planters at the Mall for Men Nov. 1st to go along with all the boxelder bugs sunning themselves on the south side of the building. Over the weekend the little pink native ladybugs, (Coleomegilla maculata) were busy swarming around the clumps of grass left at the base of the trees as I was mowing the lawn and grinding up the leaves. One more good reason not to get the weed eater out to finish the trimming.

Since it’s impossible to send a personal thank you to all those expressing their condolences on Gus’s passing, I’d like to thank you all here. It was a tough loss and as we said before, he will not soon be forgotten. Ruby has carried on well in his stead, having to grow up in a hurry. Oh sure there’s still a lot of puppy left in her as witnessed by seeing her carry her favorite tennis ball wherever she goes around the house. The other day while washing my hands, she happened by and after hearing a splash discovered she had deposited her ball in the toilet. Some people have toilet books and now Ruby has a toilet ball! Still there are days we see glimpses of the dog she may turn out to be, especially while rope training her. Some of that focus so evident when playing ball with her shows up when the light suddenly comes on and you can see she “gets it”. This is important not only for my own selfish reasons (the other end of the pasture gets farther away every year) but also for her own benefit. If one of these sessions keeps her from getting out in the road or to avoid other such catastrophes it will have been time well spent.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

How soft your fields so green, can whisper tales of gore…

With the scurs missing the highs by nearly 10 degrees for the early week, they’ll take that kind of error this time of year. Well rested after the time change, nothing but more deadly accuracy should be expected with this next forecast. Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy in the morning becoming partly cloudy with a slight chance of showers. Highs of 55 – 60 and lows around 35. Thursday, partly cloudy, a high near 50, a low around 30 with a good chance of overnight rain and snow showers. Cloudy on Friday with a good chance of showers during the day with a slight chance of overnight snow showers. Highs of 45 and lows of 25. A slight chance of showers on Saturday with highs around 40 and lows near 25. Sunday and Monday, mostly cloudy with a slight chance of showers on Monday. Highs both days around 40 and lows of 20 – 25. Tuesday, partly cloudy, with a high of 40 and a low around 20. The normal high for Veterans Day is 44 and the normal low is 25. In other words, unlike the drama queens and blow combs of Twin Cities weather forecasting fame, the scurs are taking the cooler weather in stride.

Looking around the countryside it is amazing how quickly the fields have turned black. Given the opportunity we’ve had, this shouldn’t come as a great surprise. In contrast to last year, the Orange Army should have had easier going for last Saturday’s deer opener. They were out in force although most of the shooting near the ranch came early Saturday morning. Anhydrous ammonia continues to go on area fields as the season winds down. Some of these fields are very hard after some of the conditions encountered following the heavy rains toward the end of September. This too is no surprise. Rain falling as fast as that did can pack the once lush fields in a hurry and getting back out there when it’s still marginal doesn’t help matters. Interesting weather pattern we’ve been stuck in when looking at the rainfall data. When we look back on the months of July, August and October we see long periods without precipitation of an inch or more. In July at the ranch we went 3 weeks, in August 2 weeks and in October a little over 3 weeks.

At the feeders the regulars have set in for winter. A few more goldfinches each passing week, big fat blue jays, nuthatches, lots of juncos, downies, hairies and an occasional red-bellied woodpecker. The fox squirrels continue to gobble down corn which makes Ruby quiver and scratch at the sliding glass door. It really gets her excited when a rooster pheasant slinks across the backyard after cleaning up after the squirrels. North of the ranch, a large covey of Huns was spotted, a welcome sign that some of the corn stalks left un-worked for no-till soybeans may be having a positive effect locally.

The little fat buddies morning training sessions have reconvened once again and more of the world’s problems are solved each and every morning. Luckily, to maintain our stamina, there have been some bake sales such as the one as part of the benefit for RC last weekend at the Mayberry Community Center. With 6 or 7 tables covered with baked goods, Aunt Bee would’ve been proud.

Speaking of good things to eat was given some winter radishes courtesy of Shannon Schonrock’s uncle. Had never tried them although had seen them advertised in some of the seed catalogs over the years. These bulbs were the size of a large chicken or duck egg and light greenish-white on the outside. Slicing into them revealed a rose colored interior. Decided it was a good idea to slice them up like a kohlrabi and at first the flavor was somewhat reminiscent of that only perhaps a little sweeter. However a few seconds later, one knew they were indeed radishes with plenty of heat forcing me to look for that glass of milk, in a hurry. Most excellent!

Around the yard at the ranch, the cleanup continues thanks to the warm weather. An alfalfa butterfly was spotted on Nov. 7th and my guess is he won’t be flitting around the pasture on Dec. 7th. Hopefully I won’t be either. There are still copious amounts of brush to be piled although one can see light at the end of the tunnel. Fortunately the warm October has dried some of the piles to the point where they should burn fairly well even though the wood was only cut up in August and September. The sheep waste no time after the branches are removed to gobble up the long grass revealed underneath. Some wondered if I might be in the firewood business although the market is pretty well saturated following the tornadoes of this past June. And, people tend to wrinkle their noses if you tell them you have boxelder, pine and spruce when they can find plenty of nice oak instead.

Finally, more progress on the Studebaker front and a game plan has suddenly developed. More parts ordered and on the way. With the master of car restoration now looking at a potential spring timeline, it will soon be time to move the car inside at the ranch so some of the nit-picky, nickel & dime portions of the project can be worked on in what will be transformed into a man cave. There’s certainly plenty of piddly stuff to do. Fortunately, with a heated floor, a sectional couch from overstock at the Mall for Men and refrigerator nearby, it should help take some of the stress out of the undertaking. I love it when a plan comes together.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

That don't impress me much…

The scurs slight chance of snow last Friday turned out to be slightly higher. What’s on tap for the upcoming week? Read on. Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy, highs of 35 and lows near 15. Partly cloudy Thursday with highs struggling to get above freezing at 30 degrees and lows around 25. Warmer on Friday, partly cloudy with highs of 40 and lows around 25. Cloudy on Saturday, highs of 35 to 40 and lows of 25 – 30 with a slight chance of snow overnight. Sunday, mostly cloudy with a decent chance of rain and/or snow. Highs around 40 and lows about 25. Partly cloudy Monday and Tuesday with highs both days of 40 and lows of 20 – 25. The normal high for November 20th is 38 and the normal low is 21. We also slip below 9 hours and 30 minutes of daylight on the 20th. The scurs will be picking out their Thanksgiving turkey at Wagner’s and the trimmings at Lerbergs.

The Full Moon for the month of November occurs on the 21st. It is commonly known as the Full Beaver Moon as this was the time when animal pelts of all kinds, particularly the beaver were at their prime to keep them warm. This has also been known as the Full Frosty Moon. The Ojibwe knew this as the Freezing Moon and the Sioux as The Moon of the Falling leaves. Here at the ranch we know it as The Moon When Ice is Smashed out of Buckets.

After the cold snap, not much in the way of insect activity to report other than a few ladybugs in the house. On Saturday however there was a night crawler crawling on top of the snow by the garage, slowly I might add. The snowfall wasn’t completely unexpected although it took until the last minute to determine just exactly where it was going to fall. Power went off and on much of Saturday forenoon and feeling confident that it was back on for good, reset the various clocks. Less than 5 minutes after doing this, the power went off once more. Points west and north seemed to take the brunt of it while at the ranch it couldn’t decide if it was going to snow or rain so it did both. The resulting liquid equivalent precip amounted to 1.65” with roughly 5” – 6” of snow that fell with about 2.5” staying on the ground. And stay it has thus far. Hoping that it would melt off and allow us to live a little longer without it, was less than impressed to see the ground still white in the yard after some forecasts had predicted it would all melt.

Letting her out for potty time, Ruby was a little hesitant at first with the snow as it was likely her first experience. Being born in southern IL in April and not getting your eyes open until May, odds are she hadn’t seen snow before. After awhile she began to get the hang of it. Bounding across the yard, her feet kicking up mini-snowballs, you couldn’t help but laugh when she’d turn in midair and try to catch them.

One thing the storm was good for was bird activity. The goldfinch numbers continue to climb and at last count were in the teens. With 3 main feeder sites they don’t sit still very long so it’s hard to tell the exact number. The rooster pheasant has assumed the duties of cleaning up after the squirrels who are content to eat the germ out of the corn kernel and drop the leftovers on the ground. Ruby got her dander up when a large bird skipped by the window. At first glance out of the corner of my eye, just assumed it was one of the many oversized blue jays we’re feeding. Upon closer inspection though it turned out to be a pileated woodpecker. Not sure if it’s the same one as last year but this one is also female and seemed to be looking for the large ash tree that the August storm had demolished. Lots of other birds too including house finches, downies, hairies, nuthatches, and juncos although it’s still a thrill to see that pileated woodpecker looking for the suet feeder.

Hopefully this weather will begin to cooperate again soon as there are still barns to clean and things to winterize at the ranch. Need to put the heat houser on and put the winter weight oil in the skid loader and tractor. The sheep at the kindly neighbors pasture need to come home yet although they still go out and paw through the snow to get at the remaining grass. Still, it’s a lot easier to feed them all at one site as well as giving the kindly neighbor total control of his shed for the winter once again. Managed to get the peach tree partially under wraps after dreaming of sending the last bushel of mortgage lifting peaches down the road. The tree grew to an amazing 3’ after starting out as a 1 ½’ whip. Patched up some hay mangers although there are still a couple that became airborne in the storm in need of repair. And it would be nice if the weather would dry up for a bit. The numerous large brush piles are in need of torching. They’re a magnet for cottontails and while the bunnies might be fun to hunt, replacing all the trees and shrubs they’re apt to chew up isn’t my idea of a good time.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Takin’ care of business (every day)

While the scurs struggled a bit with their longer range forecast, they were dead on with the rest of it. How will they do this time around? We shall see. Starting Wednesday, cloudy with a good chance of snow. Highs of 30 – 35 and lows dipping down to 10. Thanksgiving Day, partly cloudy and cold with a slight chance of snow in the morning. High around 20 with a low of 5 - 10. Friday slightly warmer under clear skies. High of 20 – 25 and low of 15. Clear once again on Saturday with temperatures climbing above freezing once again. Highs of 35 and lows around 20. Sunday, partly cloudy with a high of 35 – 40 and lows of 25 – 30. Mostly sunny on Monday, highs of 35 and lows of 25. Cloudy Tuesday, highs 25 and lows around 10. The normal high for November 25th is 36 and the normal low is 18. The scurs will be munching on a leftover drumstick as they shop for bargains on Black Friday.

Winter appears to have set in for the duration or it sure feels like it. We dodged a bullet last weekend with the weather just being ugly to look at but not as nasty as what’s likely to come. Time to get the last of those things done on the checklist at the ranch. We’re getting about ready for barn cleaning after getting oil changes done, putting the heat houser on, and retrieving the ewes that have been guests at the kindly neighbors pasture since early May.

Plucked the duck decoys off the pond before it froze up last week and in doing so kicked up a half dozen rooster pheasants. The pond itself has more water in it than it has in many moons so hopefully this is the start of seeing it hold water year round for awhile. Also picked up several hundred feet of garden hose used to water the new tree planting that appears to have come through its first season with generally good results. Figured it’s better that the cottontails have only the trees to chew on without eating garden hose for dessert. There may be a few arborvitae in need of replacement but that’s not difficult to do. The pheasants have already been using the area to slink their way across to the backside of the established windbreak and into the yard where there’s good cover and an emergency food supply if they need it.

The birds have been restless at the feeders as of late, nervously chowing down ahead of inclement weather. Seed consumption can double the day or two ahead of a storm it seems. That’s OK. When we think about how much of their habitat we as humans have probably destroyed and not replaced in the name of progress, it doesn’t bother me to supplement their food supply and replace some of that habitat. To see new visitors to the yard occasionally as well as the regulars, it makes it all worth it.

At the Mall for Men, knowledge and wisdom is dispensed by the little fat buddies daily, with weekends off of course. The sound of those brain muscles flexing can be deafening or almost as loud as the nuclear powered pop machine. It is from such sessions as these we learn more about the world in which we live. For instance, do you know where those seagulls come from every fall when the fields are tilled? One of our sage observers noted they come from eggs. And along those lines, the same observer noted that when people die it’s because they quit breathing. Who can argue with logic like that?

Occasionally there are questions that baffle even the panel of experts. Sometimes we must consult outside sources for material. For instance, a panel member asked the group the other day if bats hibernate or migrate. Oddly enough in MN we have some bats that hibernate and some that may do a little of both. For instance in the karst region from which I hail, some of the little brown bats and big brown bats that commonly overwinter in an attic or other area of a house, may actually move from the house to a cave where they hang in clusters in the cool damp climate controlled environment for the winter months. On the flip side, we also have bats that are forest or tree dwellers such as the eastern red bat, the silver-haired bat and the hoary bat. These species all migrate south for the winter so the answer to the question is yes.

It was a fun weekend of Gopher hoops once again, harkening back to the days when the Gophers really didn’t win the Big Ten and really didn’t get to the Final Four. It was all a figment of our imagination. In part because of their rapid start and wins over quality opponents and partially because of the recent soap opera with the Vikings at Winter Park, Tubby Smith and the Gopher men's basketball team own the MN sporting scene. Oh sure, Tubby will have detractors and fans in Kentucky will attest to that. But after the Twins fell quickly to the hated Yankees, the Gopher football fortunes tanked early resulting in Breswter’s dismissal, and the Vikings following suit, this is what we as MN sports fans have been waiting for. And thus far, Tubby’s done it right. He apparently doesn’t take any guff and it’s paying off. It sure makes it worth hustling in from the cold after chores to watch my alma mater play competitively and so far to win.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Money it's a hit…

Having finished the rest of the Thanksgiving leftovers, the scurs are focusing their attention on the matters at hand, namely trying to stay warm and forecasting the weather. Starting with Wednesday, partly cloudy, high of 20 and low around 15. Partly cloudy Thursday, highs near 25 and lows of 15 – 20. Things become more interesting with clouds moving in on Friday. Highs around 30 and lows near 20 with an increasing chance of snow into the evening and overnight hours. Cloudy becoming partly cloudy on Saturday with a slight chance of snow in the morning. Colder Sunday and Monday under partly cloudy skies. Highs of 15 – 20 and lows dropping to 5 – 10 above. Mostly cloudy on Tuesday with a chance of freezing rain. Highs near 20 and lows around 10. The normal high for December 3rd is 32 and the normal low is 14. The scurs are waxing up their toboggan and readying it for winter’s onslaught.

The Friday morning after Thanksgiving saw a wedge of about 80 Canada geese up high and flying south at full throttle. Apparently they’d seen enough and decided to get out while the getting was good. Can’t say as I blame them. Suspect the pheasants would do the same if they could. As it is they’re content to move from area to area as the rooster I glimpsed out of the corner of my eye Sunday about dusk. He was slinking along the trees on the north side of the buildings as they’ve done for years to get to the cover of my neighbors Mark’s CRP. In the yard, there appears to be a pair of red-bellied woodpeckers now as well as a pair of white-breasted nuthatches. Plenty of goldfinches, a few house finches and of course the blue jays on steroids.

A good time was had by all here at the ranch on Thanksgiving. Went and picked up Mom on Thanksgiving morning as the roads were atrocious Wednesday evening. The side roads were still pretty hairy but the interstates were in prime condition. Loaded up Fudgie and Mom and away we went. We were concerned about how Fudgie and Ruby would hit it off but it soon became apparent our fears were unfounded. Fudgie is Gus’s sister and for some reason, the two dogs were almost instant companions, playing and frolicking in the yard like they’d been doing it all along. With two red and white Border Collies tearing around, it was a little like having Thing 1 and Thing 2 on the loose.

The turkey on the grill was a hit but only a small part of the total feast that appeared on the table thanks to Mom and Mrs. Cheviot’s hard work. While the turkey cooked, yours truly performed an annual ritual at the ranch, tossing part of the frozen pumpkins over the fence to see if we could coax the sheep out on the hillside to sample them for our viewing pleasure. They did come out briefly to check them out but the since the pumpkins were hard as a rock, the ewes decided there would be better days. And they were right. Within a couple days it warmed substantially and at last check, they had devoured 20 or more of the large orange cucurbits.

Another annual ritual is underway at the ranch and that is one of barn cleaning. All the equipment readied for the assault, a large dent was made in the natural fertilizer supply. Sheep pack manure is unique in that it comes out in large sheet-like hunks especially when loaded with a skid loader. These newer spreaders seem to handle it much better than the spreaders of my youth. This one even handled the 4’ long frozen chunks that came from on the outside edge of the pack. Speaking from personal experience, it’s advisable when dumping large “po-opsicles” in the spreader to do it during daylight hours. Otherwise, if something breaks it can be a struggle to pitch them off in the dark and can result in an expanded vocabulary. Without a heated shop, it has to be unloaded too because if you don’t, frozen down apron chains the next morning can spell disaster, and additional vocabulary.

As it was, the warm day on Sunday provided plenty of entertainment. As the temperatures rose, the field became greasier making the strategy of staying off the road and spreading on the flat high ground look like a good one. Spreading down the hill might’ve been OK but climbing back up the slope would have been tricky. That and keeping the mud to myself and off the road seemed appropriate. Some frozen ground now to finish the job would be welcome.

Another fall ritual came to pass over the weekend when the natural-colored Cheviot ram we’d loaned to our friend in Chatfield returned. Gary brought him back in the little homemade trailer pulled by the little Suzuki 4 x 4. This ram had made quite an impression right off the bat with his ability to jump as well as deal out punishment once caught. It was his ability to jump though that caught Gary’s attention when he let him out of the trailer. Once free, the ram bolted and jumped up on the chicken coop roof. Worst of all, Gary couldn’t get him to come down! The ram eventually came down when he was hungry but not until several photographs were taken. I might not have believed it myself except for the fact he showed me the photos. Before he left, Gary gave us a beautiful scarf he’d spun and knitted from their own Cheviot wool. It contained both natural colored (dark) and white wool in alternating strips. When he was fishing around the vehicle for a pen to write out a check for use of the ram, I told him to forget it. He’s made several items for us over the years and this one in particular was priceless. Along with the story about the ram turned ‘Chicken Hawk”, it seemed only fair.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

A winter's day in a deep and dark December…

The scurs got the storm right last week but fumbled the predicted Tuesday sunshine. They maintain no one minds shoveling sunshine. Starting Wednesday of this week, partly cloudy with highs of 15 – 20 and lows of 10 – 15. More snow possible for Thursday under cloudy skies with highs reaching a balmy 30 and lows hovering around 15. Mostly cloudy Friday with highs of 15 - 20 and lows dropping to 10 above. Saturday, partly cloudy with another chance of snow, highs near 25 and lows of zero to 5 above. Partly cloudy Sunday, highs of 5 - 10 and lows falling to – 5 to – 10. Monday, partly cloudy with highs struggling to make the zero mark and lows dropping to – 10. Slightly warmer Tuesday, cloudy with a chance of snow flurries. Highs 5 – 10 and lows of zero to 5 below. The normal high for December 10th is 29 and the normal low is 11. The scurs are taking a breather from the frenzied pace of their Christmas shopping. After all, there’s still lots of time before the 24th.

This month contains lots of astrological, day length related highlights so will give it its due. In the early hours before sunrise, Venus can be seen in the SE sky achieving its “mini- moon” status once more. It was very evident Sunday morning on the way into town just prior to 6 a.m. In the early evening, Jupiter still dominates and is visible until about midnight, first appearing about 5:30 p.m. on the S-SE horizon. On the 9th, we slip below 9 hours of daylight however the good news is we only have about 5 minutes more to lose by the 17th before the days become noticeably longer by a minute on the 25th. Interestingly enough, the earliest sunsets will occur from December 5th – 12th at 4:36 p.m. CDT.

Temperatures were cold this past week with Sunday morning’s low dropping to – 6 by the golf course and registering a low near – 3 at the ranch, actually – 2.8 if you must know. Quite a contrast to the 68 degree high on November 10th. The snowfall for last Friday afternoon and evening amounted to about 6” at the ranch with the gauge measuring somewhere over 4”. Melted down the liquid equivalent in the gauge was .21”. November closed out with 2.36” of total precip, only .1” behind the total recorded at the SROC in Waseca, putting us pretty close to what would be considered normal for us for the month of November.

In the yard, the birds are responding to the cold weather by coming in larger numbers to the feeders. Ruby’s buddies the squirrels however seem to be more into a sleeping in mode, consuming much less ear corn than they were just a few weeks ago. It wasn’t unusual for them to go through a couple ears a day. The incoming snowstorm also brought with it the first of hopefully many more chickadees to come. With two of the larger trees missing was a little surprised to see this one as chickadees have been only occasional visitors over the past several years. In the cold weather, chickadees must eat the equivalent of their own weight each day. The little fat buddies eat like birds compared to this.

Barn cleaning season is finally over at the ranch! As one astute observer is fond of saying, it was real, it was fun, but it wasn’t real fun. With a predicted storm coming in Friday, got the main barn finished just as the flurries were starting. After getting just about cold enough, went in the house to snack on the last of the Thanksgiving turkey and nodded off, glad that barn was done just ahead of the heavy snow. Just beginning to think there was a powernap in my future, the cell phone rang. It was Al of Al’s TV fame and he came over minutes later to run some cable and get the TV in the bedroom up and running. The crawlspace where the cable needed to go had been haunting me, not only from the standpoint of the dead animal carcasses it might contain but also from the live animals that could be lurking there. Fortunately there were neither although I did manage to locate the Festivus pole. Al was wise to the ways of old houses that have been added on to multiple times. It didn’t take him long to figure out some shortcuts around what was most certainly to be a wiring nightmare. He finished just in time for me to do the chores and watch Ruby try to catch snowflakes.

About 8 o’clock Saturday morning, decided that with the cold Sunday forecast, there needed to be an all out assault on cleaning the lambing barn. There was a chance I might make it to the field but might not make it back so opted to put the chains on the tractor as a precaution. The yard was full of snow that had to be moved anyway. After a day Friday when everything clicked, Saturday was just the opposite. Everything was an uphill battle although as an aside, did see an earthworm under the 4” of frozen soil I chipped away to get the double doors off. That was probably the highlight of the day. With the temperature falling off rapidly, stuff was starting to freeze on to the metal sides of the 520 NH spreader so time was of the essence. Finishing the last load up, I needed to quickly put the water tank back in the barn. Worst of all I’d filled it the night before and had removed it with the skid loader. Got it out fine as I’d done many times before, but as I went back up the little ramp into the barn, the tank suddenly lurched forward, dumping 60 gallons of water onto the freshly cleaned, now rapidly freezing floor.

Hustling out to the field to get the spreader unloaded, it hesitated at first but began grinding its way through the load. Keeping my fingers crossed, it didn’t shear any pins and chopped everything up well until the tail end. Coming back with the wind it began whipping frozen missiles of doo-doo at me to the point that I stopped and reattached the rope connected to the speed control mechanism. Several yanks on the rope and just the apron chain ran, allowing the remnants to fall harmlessly out the back rather than hitting me in the melon. After bailing as much of the water out of the building as possible, refilled the water tank, bedded the barn, put the doors back on, unhooked from the spreader, then put the tractor and skid steer away. It was 5 o’clock, it was cold and dark, the day was shot and so was I. The task was complete however and that was all that mattered as I trudged inside for a cup of warmth. Finally something had gone right.

See you next week…real good then.

[Steve Foss]

Great stuff as always, my friend. I laughed out loud so hard at the manure spreader bit that my wife just rolled over and grunted in her sleep, and she's two rooms over. There is NO clothing known to God or man that can deflect doo doo missiles launched by the combo of PTO and December wind!

[MN Shutterbug]

Dotch, you live a dangerous life.

[Dotch]

Thanks Steve. My day is made whenever I discover an article has raised a smile, brought back a memory, or wakes their wife up. And yes, shutterbug, there are days. My egotistical side says I should buy a new green tractor with a nice, comfy cab in order to keep up with the Joneses while my practical side tells me to just borrow someone's snowmobile helmet next time. Oh I'd wash it off before I gave it back of course...

[Steve Foss]

My day is made whenever I discover an article has raised a smile, brought back a memory, or wakes their wife up.

I remember that feeling well. Gol darn nostalgia!

[Dotch]

I see the bad moon arising.

The scurs stayed on task predicting snowfall for last weekend. The blizzard was just a little icing on the cake so to speak. What are we in for this forecast period? The all seeing all knowing scurs will divulge all. Starting with Wednesday, cloudy with a good chance of snow. Highs of 20 and lows around 15. Mostly cloudy on Thursday with a slight chance of snow. Highs 20 – 25 and lows of 10 – 15. Cloudy Friday with no foreseeable chance of snow. Highs near 15 and lows of 0 – 5 above. Saturday, partly cloudy, highs of 10 – 15 and lows near 0. Cloudy again on Sunday, highs around 10 and lows of 0 – 5 above. Monday and Tuesday, mostly cloudy with a chance of snow creeping in overnight Monday into Tuesday. Highs of 15 – 20 and lows of 5 above. The normal high for December 21st, the first official day of winter is 25 and the normal low is 6. The scurs are nearly rested up enough to think about starting their shopping in earnest.

The 21st this December will mark several coincidences worth noting. First, it marks the Full Moon which is known as the Full Cold Moon, The Long Nights Moon or by some as the Moon Before the Yule, all for obvious reasons. The Ojibwe called this the Small Spirits Moon and the Sioux knew it as the Moon of Popping Trees or the Moon When Deer Shed Their Horns. At the ranch we’ve had several names for it over the years, including the Winter Sucks Moon or the Why Do We Live Here Moon.

The 21st also marks the winter solstice as stated above although by all appearances, winter’s been going for the most part since the middle of November. Our chances of seeing more Indian Summer are waning as are the opportunities for mosquito bites. The daylight period on the 21st is the shortest of the year by seconds at 8 hours and 54 minutes. It remains in that range until the 25th when we gain a minute. The sun will continue rising later until early January while it began setting later on the 14th.

Probably the most unique coincidence occurring on the 21st will be that of the total lunar eclipse. You’ll have to get out of bed to see it however as the eclipse will be ongoing from roughly 12:30 a.m. to 4:00 a.m., with the total eclipse being approximately 2:13 a.m. All bets are off of course if it’s cloudy unless of course one takes an airplane somewhere or hijacks Santa’s sleigh for a joy ride. If it’s clear however it may be something to take a look at as the next time another total lunar eclipse will occur on the winter solstice will be 2401. Most of us probably won’t live that long. Coincidence? I think not.

The birds were extremely active with the cold settling in over the ranch. The pheasants are using our yard as a staging area to go between the various CRP parcels. They’ve taken to sleeping in the Austrian pines on the north side of the building site at night as their ground cover has in many instances blown full of snow. They apparently clean up under the feeders too as evidenced by their tracks. The rest of the crew appears to be as usual and includes a large (and hungry) group of goldfinches, a smattering of house finches, blue jays, juncos, nuthatches, downies, hairies and red – bellied woodpeckers and a solitary chickadee. The suet is definitely being worked over, much moreso than earlier. The trip in to work usually yields a couple male cardinals feeding on the bike trail across from the golf course. Seeing them sure makes the trip into town more enjoyable. The squirrels at the ranch seem to have the right idea though. On the really nasty days they appear briefly, stuff themselves quickly then go back to bed for a nap. You have to admire their thinking.

The storm was one of record at the ranch. I t was difficult to say exactly how much there was although 10” - 15” would probably catch it. There probably has been more snow in the yard although it’s hard to remember when. A NE wind tends to hit many door yards in the country hard and ours is no exception. At least the power stayed on so we could watch Gophers basketball on Saturday and the replay of the snow being dumped in the Metrodome Sunday. Moving snow was tough sledding and after a couple hours, it was opened up so we could get in and out but not much more. I had to defer to Mr. Dubya down the road to blow out the rest of it. I must be getting wimpy in my old age as somehow sitting out in the open on a tractor with only a heat houser and slow hydraulics isn’t nearly as much fun as it used to be. The snow was hard and packed, making several trips on and off to bang on the bucket necessary. Coming inside to warm my tootsies on the heated floor offered a welcome respite from the brutal wind chill outdoors. On the road into work Monday morning, a - 17 low and road ditches filled past the brim served as a reminder that the fun is only getting started.

Dealing with cold weather should come easily one would think after dealing with it all these years. Unfortunately I think it just makes most of us dread it all the more. A good day is one where everything starts, no water is frozen, the furnace works and no livestock is sick or ailing. Normally though, there’s something that presents a challenge. Just the other day for instance, I made it into town after the snow removal festivities. I’d forgotten how much of what kind of fuel I put in the diesel pickup. Since a gelled up diesel is not my idea of a good time, decided it would behoove me to put some blended fuel in the tank as errands were in store for the afternoon.

Come to find out the fuel blend was only good down to about – 10. Splash blending some #1 on top seemed the logical course of action so put the nozzle in the tank and began dispensing the fuel. After about 6 gallons I heard the telltale sound of a tank getting close to full so grabbed the nozzle just in case. Sure enough the shutoff valve stuck and I wound up splash blending about a half gallon of #1 diesel all over my feet. Great. Another joy of winter. Getting my feet wet and smelling that for the rest of the day. Oh well at least I could stay inside and #1 doesn’t stink quite as much as #2.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Lived and learned from fools and from sages…

Those wily scurs were tracking on target once again, calling the Tuesday snow a week in advance. The Christmas week forecast? Ask and ye shall receive. Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy, highs 20 – 25 and lows of 15. Thursday, you guessed it, cloudy, and another chance for snow. Highs 20 – 25 and lows of 15. Mostly cloudy and a slight chance of snow continuing into Friday. Highs once again in the 20 – 25 range and lows dropping to 5 – 10 on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day, partly cloudy, high of 15 and low plummeting to – 5. Sunday, partly cloudy, high of 15 and low around 0. Mostly clear and warmer on Monday, high of 15 and low of 5. Cloudy on Tuesday, highs of 20 – 25 and lows of 15. The normal high for Christmas Day is 24 and the normal low is 5. The scurs need to finish watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Christmas Vacation” a couple more times before venturing forth to shop. Lotsa time yet.

Snow continues to pile up after last Thursday’s initially predicted 4” snowfall that wound up being more like 8” in many places. It just never seemed to stop when they said it would when the system slowed down and kept dumping. Worst of all the snow that fell out of that system was fairly dry, making the snow very fluffy and easily blown by the wind. Walking through that accumulation, it almost seemed like plastic snow, almost rattled when it moved. Now that snow has been covered up by another 8” or so of wetter, denser snow that soaks one’s clothing if moving it around while it’s still snowing.

A drive around the neighborhood the other day revealed a large number of pheasants along roads and in people’s yards. The accumulating snow pushed them into open areas in search of food. The snow isn’t as deep there but the lack of cover as well as the snow depth, not to mention the layer of ice in spots is making their lives tougher right now. At the ranch on Monday morning we counted over 20 pheasants in the yard and adjacent pasture. They had located the trough filled with screenings that had been placed there on Saturday. By nightfall, the trough was nearly empty so they were busy throughout much of the snowstorm.

Ruby continues to find ways to amuse herself as she develops from a puppy into a small dog. She launches herself at the snowflakes and to anyone driving by, they’d have to think she was nuts. Sometimes I think they’re right. We took her on a trip back to Spring Valley over the weekend and it was entertaining to watch her reaction to the windmills by Dexter. In typical Border Collie fashion, she appeared terrified yet mesmerized by their movement. Ruby knows something’s up in the house too with all the decorations. Not that she really cares about them mind you unless of course they move like some of the battery operated snowmen.

More Studebaker parts arrived the other day. Replacement radiator hoses, a specially formed heater hose and a new gas cap were part of the small parts order. The reconditioned gas tank was picked up a while back and the refurbished radiator was procured as part of a whirlwind tour ahead of the storm that included selecting a Christmas tree. Remanufactured rocker panels were part of a large parts order as were new floor pans. I’m sure there’ll be more parts needed as we get into the Lark deeper and discover more surprises. However, there should be enough toys now to keep us occupied for awhile. After the snow removal fun and games, this week should allow the car to be moved into the heated garage so we can commence tinkering. Did I mention I had a fire extinguisher on my Christmas list?

Ah, the moment the crack management staff at the Star-Eagle has been waiting for: Their annual Christmas gift from yours truly. After searching high and low and consulting the expertise of those sages, the scurs, this should suffice. For the newest member of the Bugtussle Bugle, a cabbage patch doll for Rachel. This one was a slam dunk after reading about her exploits in the good ol’ cabbage patches of home. One has to wonder what else went on that she declined to write about. For Reed, one of those cards with the nice selections of scrunchies. I offered him a free haircut last year and this is only fitting as I am always concerned about his coiffure. For Jody, a book, “Farming for Dummies”. This should be instrumental in helping him to write articles about agricultural related topics. For Richard, some of those earthworms I dug up a couple weeks ago while prying the doors off the lambing barn. They always worked for my buddy and me when we used to ice fish on the mighty Deer Creek as young lads. We caught tons of chubs. For Cathy, to help you on those extra long, information packed columns, a subscription to Reader’s Digest. For Al, some ear muffs to wear under his hat. I think he’d look rather dashing in his newspaper photo, don’t you? Although, the Bruce’s might not recognize him then. And finally for Jim, one of my special soccer mom wigs. It’ll help keep his melon warm. He’ll have to settle for the red one though as I think Betts kept the blonde one. One word of advice to Jim: Make sure you grow plenty of facial hair before wearing it. If you go into the wrong bars, you may get hit on.

Happy Festivus!

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

A world in white gets underway…

After a week of more snow and cold, the scurs burned the switches that were left in their stockings to stay warm. Can the lumps of coal be far behind? We shall see. Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with a slight chance of freezing rain Wednesday night. Temperatures rising to 30 and remaining steady throughout the day. Thursday, mostly cloudy, highs near 35 and lows around 30. Chance of freezing rain in the morning, followed by rain for the afternoon and freezing drizzle for the evening. Cloudy again on Friday, highs near 35 with overnight lows dropping to near 5 above. Chance of rain in the morning turning into snow by afternoon, tapering to flurries for the overnight. Much colder for New Years Day, highs of 10 – 15 and lows near zero. Partly cloudy Sunday, highs once again 10 – 15 and lows of 5 – 10. Partly cloudy Monday and warmer with a chance of snow. Highs of 20 and lows around 15. Mostly sunny and warmer on Tuesday, highs near 30 and lows of 20. The normal high for January 1st is 23 and the normal low is 3 above. After singing along with tapes of Auld Lang Syne played by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadiens, the scurs will be keeping the ice bag at the ready for Saturday.

More snow this past week pushed many areas to a record December snowfall. At the ranch, all told there have been roughly 38” of the white stuff since the month started. It has made ice fishing treacherous for those who dare venture out on ice that is marginal at best with accesses choked with snow. One good thing: We really haven’t had the extremely windy conditions to go along with most of the snowstorms. Sure, there is a lot on the ground but in open country, the drifts aren’t nearly as bad as we’ve seen compared to winters such as ’96 – ’97 or farther back, ’68 – ’69. Oddly enough on Monday when the wind came up shortly after noon by the public access on St. Olaf Lake, the southerly breeze was able to blow the morning’s beautiful hoar frost out of the trees, causing a visibility problem on the Lake Road. This is pretty good snow to snowshoe on however, very soft and uniform in depth. It’s easy to learn and there are plenty of area retailers carrying adequate snowshoeing equipment. After all those holiday goodies, burning up to 500 calories an hour suddenly doesn’t sound like such a bad idea.

In many cases however, one probably gets plenty of exercise just shoveling. All one has to do is look around and listen after a snowfall event and the sound of shovels scraping and tractors roaring is evident as people dig out once more. Just a reminder if you haven’t done it: It’s always a good idea to clean the snow away from in front of the mailbox. Otherwise the mail carrier is constantly working uphill due to the wedge of snow that builds up in front of the post. The other thing noticed at the ranch was with the frequent snowplowing, snow had become jammed in the hinge and lid so tight that the box wouldn’t stay closed. Now, that’s not a totally bad thing if you’re trying to avoid some of those after Christmas bills. However, eventually the snow melts and the bills find you anyway. They’ll send more, with interest.

The pheasants continue to mass in the yard with 20 or more showing up on days when they apparently are hungrier. Typically there are at least 10 milling around the plum and sumac thicket. Sometimes the yard resembles an airport with the Chinese chickens sailing across the yard from all directions. They’ve taken to picking at the ear corn from the feeder mounted on the ash tree trunk as well as eating the crabapples. They look absolutely ridiculous doing either. The chickadee population has now doubled; there are two feeding on black oil sunflower and pecking at the suet when the woodpeckers aren’t using it.

Deer are seen adjacent to the ranch in the Dubya’s hayfield. There are up to 8 in the mornings when we head out down to the barn to do chores. In the deep snow, cottontails have been pruning some of the unprotected lateral branches on the apple trees, the sharp cuts making punji sticks out of them for next summer’s unsuspecting lawnmower operator, namely moi. Squirrels are occasional visitors but continue only eating for long periods of time on nice days. Ruby likes to keep them exercised more regularly than any dog we’ve owned to date so that might have something to do with it.

And finally, the little fat buddies are still sequestered deep within the bowels of the Mall for Men. Christmas baking and other fare have graced the training table over the holidays. Intelligence has indicated someone from WikiLeaks may have tried to infiltrate the group. Upon witnessing the most recent spate of morning pickled northern pike consumption however, they apparently fled without collecting any secret data. Good thing too. Much of the secret information gleaned could endanger lives, particularly those of the little fat buddies!

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Sheltered inside from the cold of the snow…

While the scurs got all but the Tuesday forecast right, they’re hoping their fortunes are better as the New Year progresses. Here goes: Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy, becoming mostly cloudy with a chance of snow. Highs of 20 and lows near 5. Thursday, cloudy and cooler with a slight chance of snow. Highs of 15 and lows of 0. Cloudy with a slight chance of snow again for Friday, highs near 10 and lows of zero. Carbon copy days on Saturday and Sunday with highs of 10 above and lows of 0. Cloudy for Monday with a chance of snow. Highs of 15 – 20 with lows hovering near 0. Tuesday, partly cloudy, highs of 10 - 15 and lows of zero. Normal January 8th high is 22 and the normal low is 2. Having removed the lampshades from their heads, the scurs are ready to focus on their New Years resolutions, which is to keep no resolutions.

We really did dodge a bullet on New Years Day. We were very fortunate there wasn’t a large amount of fresh snow prior to the winds that day and that the temperatures had melted a substantial amount of snow prior to that. It was nasty enough out here in the open country the way it was. Many of us worked feverishly to get the existing snow pushed back as far as we could before the cold hit once again, knowing if we didn’t it would turn to concrete. Of course now we have ice to trip and fall on so sales of grit will be on the rise once again. It appears we’re in for one of those patented January cold snaps although so far if it goes as predicted, this one won’t be as cold as some we’ve experienced over the years. It’s that time of year too. Until we get out into the last week in January, typically we can expect highs in the low 20’s and lows in the lower single digits. If it doesn’t get too much worse than that, we should consider ourselves lucky. As it is, the days are already getting longer with days having crept back over 9 hours of daylight as of the 4th. The sun continues to set a little later each day while the sunrise continues to be stuck at 7:48 a.m. until about the 10th.

The nasty day did allow us to stay indoors with the exception of choretime and observe the pheasants feeding in the yard. We continue to supply feed in the form of some good corn screenings as well as some inexpensive mixed bird seed. The trough we’re using seems to work well and being the scratchers they are, very little of the feed goes to waste. When evening draws near, they vacate the feeding area and head into the evergreens for overnight. It’s not unusual when getting the mail at night to spook them out of the trees which in turn about spooks you out of your shorts, er, long johns.

All this darkness does allow one to marvel at the moon and the planets as they are spectacular on clear nights and early mornings. Venus continues its role as morning star, rising about 2 hours before the sun in the southeastern sky. Jupiter continues its status as the brightest object in the southern twilight sky, setting in the southwest now by about 11 p.m. With the remaining snowpack, the moon allows one to see well without lights across the landscape, revealing deer and other nocturnal creatures as they make their way about the open fields and fencelines.

Ruby provided lots of entertainment for us while the weather was inclement on New Years Day. Seems an indestructible orange rubber ball is her favorite toy, one she can’t get along without. Tennis balls last about a half hour and squeaky toys only about 10 minutes before she destroys them. Playing with her until I poohed out, it became time for a long winter’s nap in the middle of the afternoon. Could hear her playing with the ball as I drifted off then was awakened some time later to a cold wet nose and the facial expression we’ve come to associate with “I’ve lost my ball. Can you help me find it?” Generally, it gets underneath the furniture or stuck in a slipper someplace so she can’t get it out. This time though, she seemed bound and determined it was under the chair. So we looked and looked, moving the chair, tipping it over, gazing under the couch with a flashlight as well as anywhere else we could think of where Ruby might have been. Nothing. We finally gave up, resigning ourselves to the realization it would probably show up again someday when we’d least expect it.

We had another ball of the same type so we got that one out and she was happy again. However, it drove both of us nuts that we couldn’t find the original model so after chores we resumed our search. Finally, upon moving the recliner one more time, I noticed a slight bulge in the fabric on the back of the chair. Squeezing the bump with thumb and forefinger sure enough it had to be the ball we were looking for. Apparently Ruby had dropped the ball on the arm of the chair trying to get me to throw it while I was sound asleep. It had fallen down behind the cushion and into the void covered by the upholstery on the back. My first thought was we may have to dismantle the chair to get the ball out but given some experience with pulling small animals out of tight places, decided to see if we could reach it. One nearly had to be a contortionist to extract it but after some prying and a few twists, it was removed with the chair remaining unscathed. No OB sleeve or lube needed! Ruby of course was ecstatic. Now she had 2 play balls or so she thought. Mrs. Cheviot put the newer model away again for safekeeping, just in case the ball eating chair ever decided to gobble up another one.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

but this voice keeps whispering in my other ear…

The scurs have found some glitches in the confuser as of late so are hoping this reaches its destination without unintended consequences. Otherwise there may be a full page of weather forecast in this week’s paper. Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy, high of 10 and low of – 5. Thursday, partly cloudy, high of 10 and low of 5 with a slight chance of overnight snow. Friday, mostly cloudy with a good chance of snow. Highs of 20 and lows of 0 to 5 above. Saturday, mostly cloudy becoming partly cloudy and colder. Highs of zero to 5 above and lows falling to – 10. Partly cloudy Sunday, high of zero and lows of – 10 with some possible flurries. Monday, warmer under cloudy skies. Highs of 10 – 15 and lows near 0. Clear skies on Tuesday with highs around 10 and lows of 0 to 5 above. The normal high for January 15th is 22 and the normal low is 2. The scurs have their sights set on a January thaw but the rate the month is already flying by, they’re going to have to hustle.

The Full Moon for the month of January will occur on the 19th. Since the paper doesn’t come out until the 19th in town and the 20th out in the country, we’ll run through the routine this week so no one misses out. This moon was known as the Full Wolf Moon by the tribes of the northeast as it was about this time the wolves began to pack up around the tribal villages and announce themselves in the evening hours. It may also go by the Old Moon or The Moon after the Yule. The Ojibwe called this the Great Spirit Moon and the Sioux had several designations for it, including The Moon of Strong Cold, The Moon of Frost in the Teepee as well as The Moon When Wolves Run Together. At the ranch it’s become the Geez I’m Sick of Moving Snow Moon.

We continue making some progress however on the daylight front. The sun will set after 5 p.m. on the 14th, the first time since before the time change back on November 6th. As of the 1st of the year, on January 15th we will have garnered about 18 minutes of additional daylight. We’re picking up steam now too, accumulating about 2 minutes per day. Won’t be too long and we’ll be back to the 3 minute per day pace. One can notice it in the evenings when it’s clear but it has been slower coming in the morning hours, having to use the lights yet to find our way to the barn. The tracks left in the snow from the previous days treks make it easy to find the way. Some mornings the light dusting of snow has covered the icy spots though making that journey treacherous.

Speaking of lighting, spent some time last week replacing a light bulb on the garage that had burned out. Had one bulb left from a name brand 4-pack I’d bought a while ago decided to use it up. As had happened several times with this particular brand of bulb now made in China, I noticed the top of the burned out bulb had shattered leaving shards of sharp broken glass where one could easily get sliced up if not wearing leather gloves to replace it. It was cold and dark out so hustled through the change, hoping all the time the step ladder wouldn’t collapse on the ice. After returning the tools and ladder to the garage I went to fill the birdfeeders. When I came around the corner of the house, I noticed the bulb I’d just replaced was out again! I looked at it and sure enough, it had blown the top out of that bulb too. It just so happened I’d made a trip to Edna’s earlier in the week and bought some new bulbs of the same wattage that were made in the good ol’ USA. Went back out, took the ladder and tools, climbed up, replaced the bulb with the leather gloves on and put the fixture back together. Flipped the switch and voila! The light came on and stayed on. That’s enough of those cheap, exploding Chinese light bulbs for this hombre.

There was one new bird sighting for me this week. Several Eurasian collared doves were inhabiting the trees and feeding from the feeders nearby. At first they looked like some of the pigeons that frequent the area from the elevator but upon closer inspection, they were in the trees, something pigeons seldom do. They were close in size to a pigeon and just a little lighter colored than a mourning dove. The distinctive field mark is the dark bar or collar on the back of the neck at the base. This invasive species has been in the US since they moved across from the Bahamas to Florida in the early 1980’s. Since that time they have spread as far north as Alaska.

This past weekend was time for the wildlife to take center stage. We had Mrs. Cheviot’s family Christmas at the ranch and especially for those interested in seeing some pheasants and white-tailed deer, was hoping the critters would make an appearance. We were not to be disappointed. Within minutes of the guests arrival, as if on cue, several big beautiful rooster pheasants appeared at the feeder in the yard, wowing those who rarely get to see them anymore. Had mentioned to the guests we also frequently see 6 - 8 deer feeding in the field across the road usually in the morning and around dusk but sometimes earlier. The deer must’ve heard me because shortly after midday, they started leisurely traipsing their way across the field in full view for all to see. With several deer hunters in the crowd as well as those who just enjoy seeing them, everyone seemed to be in approval of my newly acquired skills as the deer and pheasant whisperer.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

We found things to do in stormy weather…

The scurs missed the snow on MLK Day but other than that, were tracking dead on. How will they fare this time around? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with a high of 5 and low of – 5. Partly cloudy Thursday with highs of 5 above and lows of 15 below. Partly cloudy Friday becoming cloudy with a chance of snow. Highs of 5 and lows near zero. Mostly cloudy Saturday with highs around 10 and lows of zero to 5 below. Partly cloudy and warmer Sunday with high temperatures near 20. Lows near zero. Cloudy on Monday with a chance of snow. Highs around 25 and lows near 15. Clearing on Tuesday with highs near 30 and lows around 15. The normal low for January 21st is 23 and the normal low is 2. The scurs are wagering we may have seen the worst of the cold for the season especially if they stay inside close to the pot belly stove.

Fish house villages sprang up seemingly overnight on area lakes as of a couple weeks ago. No one appears to be knocking them dead but there’s almost always someone out there trying to catch fish. Ice has become relatively safe for driving with the thickness being approximately 20” where we were fishing on Saturday. Since the snow melted down a few weeks ago its insulating capacity became greatly reduced. That’s a good thing because there are people who have been known to get stuck in the deep snow on lakes. Not naming any names here.

The ewes are beginning to show some signs that there will be another lamb crop. Prices are good but they’d better be considering the amount of work it entails. Thus far shoveling the bunks and moving them out of the snow has been a near daily occurrence as is smashing ice out of the buckets in the small group pens. Looking at the calendar, shearing is already less than a month away. There needs to be additional feed rounded up and snow cleared away in order to get it put away where it belongs. This is getting to be like banging my head against the wall. It’s gonna feel good when I quit.

Snow continues to fall frequently. While the amounts are nowhere near that which fell in December the windy conditions we’ve experienced in January have compounded the situation. It fills in where you least like to see it along with requiring time and effort to remove it. There is usually a collective groan at the Mall for Men when anyone mentions the possibility of more snow. Without another thaw in sight, the piles are becoming larger at the ranch after each snowfall event. Sometimes it would be nice to have a snow blower mounted on the tractor but first it would be nice to have a cab to avoid looking like a powdered donut upon completion of the task.

Seed catalogs continue to arrive almost daily which helps to keep the mind off of the constant battle this winter has become. There are some of the commercial variety where you have to buy in bulk but there are always the old standbys like Jungs, Burgess, Shumways, Gurneys and Farmer Seed and Nursery. Found several sources of those winter radishes so will have to give them a whirl this next season. Ate the last of my supply just the other day. Noted there were some different muskmelon varieties that would be nice to try. Dwarf pears also caught my eye as locating anything other than full sized pear trees locally has been difficult. They get pretty tall for the spot I’d like to put them, not far from the peach tree that so far appears to be wintering nicely, thanks to a little extra T.L.C. We’ll see how it comes through the winter this spring before we order more peach crates for the upcoming crop. There was also a source of winterberry nearby, both male and female shrubs that we’ll likely tap into. Always need to plant something new for the birds.

The birds have been relatively steady at the feeders over the past week or so. Some days bring large groups of nomadic goldfinches that seem to stay for short durations then suddenly vanish. There are almost always blue jays, downies and hairies as well as one loyal chickadee. The pheasants continue to appear daily. Sometimes there are nearly all roosters and other days there are nearly equal numbers of hens and roosters. On a typical day this past week there were at least a half dozen and on the busy days up to 20. Not surprisingly, when filling the feeder after dark, the pheasant tracks in the latest snow are directly related to the amount of feed that has been consumed.

Ruby had another big adventure over the weekend, riding in the pickup and travelling to Mom’s with me to visit Fudgie. When those two get together one can bet there will be lots of tearing back and forth. And there was. The track from the deck to the old burn pile was kept hot and there was a red and white blur as the two dogs raced until they were nearly exhausted. It did them a lot of good to get out and burn off some steam. Reminded me of the days growing up when we were told to get outside while driving Mom about crazy. While there we feasted on several delicacies not the least of which were Mom’s homemade oatmeal raisin cookies made with black walnuts cracked by one of Bugtussle’s own Bandwagon stars. Ruby and I made it back home just in time to help finish up the chores. We then went inside to cheer on Tubby and the Gophers, where Ruby fell fast asleep on Mrs. Cheviot’s lap following her big day.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

I said you shook me baby…

The scurs were definitely on the right track last week. Too bad there was an overactive freezer truck on it. How will they fare on this week’s prognostications? Here we go! Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with highs of 15 - 20 and lows near 10. Thursday, partly cloudy with highs of 25 and lows of 15 – 20. Get ready for this one: Partly cloudy on Friday, highs near 30 and lows around 15. Mostly cloudy and blustery on Saturday. Highs near 15 and overnight lows dropping to – 5. Partly cloudy, continued cold and breezy on Sunday with highs of zero to 5 above and lows around – 10. Cloudy and warmer on Monday with a chance of snow. Highs of 10 and lows near 0. Mostly cloudy on Ground Hog Day with scattered flurries. Highs of 10 – 15 and lows near 5. The normal high for Ground Hog Day is 25 and the normal low is 5. The scurs will not see their shadow so spring will be just around the corner, somewhere in Arkansas or Louisiana.

The weather for the past week was a cold one with the coldest temperatures of the winter being recorded thus far. On Friday morning the 21st at the Waseca airport we saw lows drop to – 24 and on the 23rd we got an encore performance with the low coming in at – 20. At the ranch it was not quite that brutal with the low on Friday coming in at – 20 and on the 23rd about 15 below. Both temperatures were verified by the official Edna thermometer on the granary. Can’t trust those new fangled, battery powered digital contraptions.

On the evening of the 20th we also witnessed something rather not frequently seen in most areas: Moon dogs and a moon pillar. Conditions were right with the ice crystals in the air that evening when the still nearly full moon was rising on the horizon to give one a spectacular view for a short time. Typically we see sun dogs and sun pillars during early morning or late day. In weather lore most agree that it is an indication that the weather will be getting colder and it usually does. As was the case Thursday night, we had a trace of snow that day and the system that had produced it was high tailing it on out of here bringing in high pressure and clear, cold skies behind it.

Lots of tree talk as of late as the lists from your local SWCD’s are out. These are always good for ideas and by the looks of the landscape out here this winter and the pheasants struggling on it, we could use some. Haven’t decided which way to go just yet. There are some places here at the ranch where we could add some small plantings, but probably not something like we did last year. Some crabapples are a possibility as well as some updating in the planting where some of the arborvitae may not have made it. If you are a rural landowner, don’t hesitate to take advantage of this opportunity. Remember the best time to plant trees was 10 years ago. The next best time is now.

Speaking of the pheasants, they continue to visit our yard as well as several others, including that of Vista’s noted Swedish astronomer. His patience paid off and they finally found the feeder. Lately at the ranch there have been a group of 7 – 10, more roosters than hens. They share the yard with “the usuals”, including the two chickadees who are in constant motion back and forth to the feeders on the colder days

As of late at the Mall for Men there has been a veritable bonanza of goodies. Last week we had banana bread baked by my Mom, followed by bakery cookies and then Christmas cookies donated by one of Bugtussle’s best kept secret bakers. This morning brought rolls from Mayberry to the north as well as home baked cookies from somewhere. Apparently some have noticed the effort being put forth every morning and are willing to contribute some sustenance to our think tank. Some would argue that supplying the little fat buddies with treats is more like dumping them down a hole.

Last week during the cold weather at the Mall for Men wouldn’t you know one of the furnaces went out so a couple of us little fat buddies took it upon ourselves to try to light it. We tried several times but couldn’t seem to get the pilot to light. The last time it sounded like gas coming into the pilot so put the lighter close to it and bang! It blew one of us onto the floor and threw yours truly into the wall. Despite being a little shook, we weren’t seriously injured save for our pride and some hair. I mean, try to get a wax job that quickly anywhere else. Of course after that the entire building stunk like we had been singeing chickens so everyone was curious about what we’d been up to. I did discover a little later that there was a pretty good chunk of hair on one side that had been singed. The bad news was it didn’t burn off any of the errant hairs from my ears. The good news was later that day when Leo gave me a haircut, he was able to use the propane torch to even it up on the other side.

Hey, by the way, this marks the start of the 9th year of Fencelines. I’m sure to many of you it probably seems like it’s been a lot longer than that. Thanks for reading!

See you next week…real good then.

[MN Shutterbug]

I'm hoping for at least another 9 years out of you, Dotch.

[Dotch]

Thanks shutterbug! You're a gentleman and a scholar and there are only 2 of us left.