Fencelines

[Dotch]

and the vision that was planted in my brain still remains…

The scurs missed the Saturday flurries but by Sunday no one knew they were here anyway. Will our snowfall fortunes change soon? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with highs near 25 and lows of 5 below to zero. Thursday, partly cloudy with a chance of evening snow. Highs of only 5 - 10 and lows from zero to 5 above. Partly cloudy on Friday with a chance of snow. Highs of 10 - 15 and lows near 0. Partly cloudy for Saturday with highs around 25 and lows of 20. Sunday, partly cloudy with a chance of a rain/snow mix. Highs of 35 and lows of 20. Mostly cloudy Monday with a chance of a rain/snow mix. Highs around 30 and lows near 15. Tuesday, partly cloudy and cooler with a slight chance of snow and rain. Highs of 25 and lows around 20. The normal high for January 21st is 22 and the normal low is 4. With the sun setting after 5 p.m. since the 15th, the scurs will be staying outside a little later each night to scrape up enough snow to build the prefect snowman. Maybe by month’s end.

Precipitation continues to be sparse while our temperatures continue to be above normal and moderate for this time of year. It’s always amusing to hear the blow combs and drama queens forecasting the weather from the Twin Cities talk about the “bitter cold” and gloss over the fact the cold snap will only last a couple days. Sensationalism sells so that’s why of course but after you’ve lived here long enough, you know when to count your blessings. No sub-zero cold in the Twin Cities? We had 3 nights below zero in early December here and we’re 80 miles to the south. Think of it this way: When we have highs in the single digits, that’s a shoe size not a temperature.

Measuring snowfall has been a challenge as of late. Without being around to constantly monitor it, the stuff tends to blow away within a few hours of falling. Not that what has fallen lately amounts to a lot of precipitation it’s just nice to be as accurate as possible. At this point every drop may count, with may being the operative word. At a recent presentation by Jeff Vetsch at the SROC, some interesting data to illustrate several points was presented. One, when fall moisture has been short as it was last year, we typically do catch up or it averages out. By the same token, when we have large amounts of stored soil moisture in the fall, the tendency is for it to either maintain roughly that amount or to dry out slightly. Most importantly though, there is no consistent correlation between low fall soil moisture and corn yield the following year. Yes, it’s nice to have some gas in the tank going into the growing season but it’s no guarantee that above trendline yields will result. The growing season itself has more to do with that than stored fall soil moisture.

Once again I have reassumed my position as the largest producer of snot and phlegm in the free world. Yes the alien finally struck and after being coughed and sneezed on for the past 3 weeks I was actually amazed it didn’t happen sooner. I honest to god don’t know how schoolteachers survive until retirement. This one has been unique for the simple fact that it has affected my sleep patterns so severely. Over the counter drugs are much improved however. One can almost feel semi-human again, at least until they wear off. So far it hasn’t kept me from doing chores, running errands or being the physical plant manager around the house. There are always light bulbs to replace, fixtures to clean out, water and furnace filters to change, feed to procure and trips to get replacement parts for all the stuff that wears out or breaks around the ranch.

One of my recent replacement purchases was a new handle for a pitchfork I’d broken several years ago. A new one would probably cost about the same as buying a replacement handle and getting it repaired. Rather than throw it away and buy a new one though, I’d kept it. It had some sentimental value as it was one my late father in law had given us for Christmas one year. Besides, the vision of the tang or tines from a rusty old pitchfork stuck in several implement tires over the years was planted in my brain. It was nowhere near as worn out as those were.

As anyone who is familiar with the inner workings of a pitchfork knows, there are some you like better than others. This model is a 4-tine manure fork that always allowed for good leverage on the sheets of sheep manure pack, possibly how it got snapped in the first place. Looking for handles at the store where you go to the bathroom in the big orange silo, there were several to choose from. I purchased what appeared to be the right one and took my prized possession to the proprietor of Dad’s Good Stuff the next day for repairs. I walked in the front door and the old wood floor creaked as I walked towards the back of the store. I spied the owner as well as the former CEO of the A & P Corporation. My lucky day: 2 characters in a building with character! I quizzed the latter to see if he could identify the item I held in my hand. Scratching his ear, he denied ever seeing one or knowing what it was used for. Oddly enough I believed him.

After presenting my “special project” to Double W he told me he might not get to it today and that was fine by me. There was another pitchfork we were using elsewhere in the barn; it’s just nice to have another one handy for peeling hay off the round bales we feed to the brood ewes outside. We’re very fortunate to have someone in town who still fixes things like windows, hammer handles and even fork handles. And once I discovered he’d done his tutelage under Tommy Bruzek, I was certain this was the right man for the job. About mid-afternoon I got a phone call saying the item was repaired and I could pick it up. The bill of sale was too cheap, worth at least twice the price especially when all the wisdom and knowledge gleaned was factored in. I had a nice visit, paid the bill, then took the fork and left thinking to myself, look what I would’ve missed out on if I’d thrown it away. With people nowadays looking to push the easy button and in a hurry to get nowhere, this is one of the parts of small town living that some can’t comprehend. What’s more, most of them will never appreciate the concept behind the proper placement of a finely tuned pitchfork.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

And then one day you find ten years have got behind you…

Those wily scurs predicted the snowfall about right although the low temperatures managed to elude them. Somehow people would’ve rather have had that forecast methinks. Will our good weather luck return? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with highs around 30 and lows around 20. Thursday, partly cloudy and slightly warmer. Highs close to 35 and lows back down to 20. Partly cloudy on Friday with a slight chance of snow. Highs near 30 and lows around 15. Partly cloudy on Saturday and cooler. Highs of 25 with lows near 5 above. Sunday, partly cloudy and cooler with a chance of snow. Highs of 20 and lows of 15. Mostly cloudy on Monday with temperatures starting to rebound. Highs near 25 and lows of 15. Mostly sunny on Tuesday with highs of 25 – 30 and lows of 15 – 20. The normal high for January 28th is 23 and the normal low is 4. The scurs are betting we haven’t seen the last of the below zero temperatures for this winter and have laid in some additional long handled underwear just to be on the safe side.

It was interesting to see some snow accumulation for a change. As it was, the first snow fell and stayed put for almost 24 hours until it was blown away. It measured about 2.5” at the ranch and melted down, just a hair over ¼” of liquid equivalent precip at .26”. The freezing drizzle that ensued made it a little more challenging to measure when combined with the snow. That total from the Monday snow/drizzle combo came to about 2.4” at the ranch and melted down to .18”. This was a very dense snow which became very evident when trying to move it. So far this winter, we’ve measured a little over 14” of snow most of which melted not too long after falling. All things considered the precipitation that has fallen January is still more than we received in the month of October or November. Of course that’s not saying much.

The snow wound up collecting in drifts after the Saturday night wind, leaving only wheel tracks and footprints where travel compressed it. The snow did manage to make itself a nuisance however. It collected at the ranch in front of the garage and between the barn and driveway. Oh sure, we could’ve driven through it I suppose but I have yet to be sorry I moved snow out of the way. I’ve seen too many people pull into the yard thinking they could drive wherever they wanted only to get stuck in a snow bank someplace. The worst part of that is some dummy usually has to pull them out and that dummy is usually me.

The birds at our feeders have responded to the renewed winter conditions. The activity level has been reminiscent of some of the cold days last January. There were a couple dozen goldfinches at any given time along with white-breasted nuthatches, blue jays, juncos, downy and hairy woodpeckers as well as some recent newcomers, American tree sparrows.

Last week’s cold snap put one of the tank heaters out of commission so Ruby and I had to make one of those awful trips to the store where you go to the bathroom in the big orange silo. Ruby was only too glad to ride along in as copilot in the backseat. Her vocabulary continues to expand. She knows many words now such as “outside”, “hop up”, “go see Jo”, “go see Mark” and “get your ball” “squirrel”. Ruby’s favorite phrase however is “let’s go do chores”. Her response is to immediately run to the entryway door and sit at attention with her ears on full alert. Any move towards the door results in celebratory jumping and once the door is open she is through it like a shot. She knows it’s time to head out so she can be around her sheep. In the morning she rousts them from their slumber and at night, she serves as the signal that bellering should commence.

Must be about time to get my eyes checked again. At a recent conference someone saw me reading and asked if I needed longer arms. A few weeks ago while putting the carburetor back on the Lark, I was having a devil of a time getting my head cranked around so I could get the linkage to the choke connector rod properly attached. Installing a trapeze so I could hang from the ceiling crossed my mind. About the only good thing: The small numbers on the sheep’s ear tags are suddenly seem about the right size. Somehow I doubt that will count when I take the eye test to renew my driver’s license.

At least when buying a new confuser I went with a larger screen. Of course, with a new operating system and updated versions of the programs you were just getting used to, there’s always a learning curve. It’s almost as though someone came into your house and rearranged everything without telling you exactly where they put it. Some of it makes sense but some of it makes you scratch your head and wonder. Actually, aside from those issues it’s been a fairly smooth transition. The touch on the keyboard takes a little getting used to although retraining the spellcheck will likely be the biggest hurdle. It still doesn’t understand what Fencelines or the scurs are yet. That makes two of us.

Speaking of that, this column marks an anniversary. It was 10 years ago that Lavonne Meyer accepted a manuscript I’d written. The following week another was requested and the rest is history. It’s meant some time commitment over the past 10 years. At approximately 1.1 pages per week, 52 weeks per year over 9 years with 2 – 3 hours per session, well, you do the math. We haven’t missed a week due to the alien since its inception. Hopefully readers still enjoy it as much as I do. To be sure there are times the column is more difficult to write than others especially when striving to write new, original material each week. And as I’ve pointed out before, sometimes the columns I’ve struggled the most with and been the least impressed by have yielded the most positive response. Thankfully the crack management staff has allowed me as much latitude as they have. What to do with all the money this project has generated continues to be the problem.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

If I promise you the Moon and the Stars, would you believe it…

The scurs were right about the temperatures rebounding on Monday alright. They just weren’t aware that it would take the ball all the way to the hoop for a slam dunk. Will our January temps and relatively sparse precip last into February? Starting Wednesday and Thursday (Ground Hog’s Day), partly cloudy with a high near 40 and a low around 25. Mostly cloudy on Friday with a slight chance of snow and/or rain. Highs of 35 and lows around 20. Partly cloudy on Saturday with a slight chance of snow. Highs again near 35 and lows of 20. Sunday partly cloudy with highs near 35 and lows of 20 – 25. Mostly sunny both Monday and Tuesday with highs of 30 – 35. Lows Monday night near 20 and cooling to 10 – 15 on Tuesday night. The normal high for February 2nd is 24 and the normal low is 5. On the 5th we will be back over 10 hours of daylight for the first time since early November. The scurs will not see their shadow on the 2nd meaning 6 more weeks of winter just like normal.

The Full Moon for the month falls on the 7th and generally goes by the Full Snow Moon. It was also called the Full Hunger Moon by the tribes of the northeast as the deep snow made hunting difficult. The Ojibwe knew this as the Full Sucker Moon as the suckers would be running. The Sioux called this the Raccoon Moon as frequently the raccoons would awaken from their slumber to forage for food during a February thaw. This also coincides with the little fat buddies beginning to forage for goodies after all the Christmas goodies have finally been consumed.

Other happenings in the February evening sky continue to include the nightly show by Venus and Jupiter. Venus continues to stay out a little longer each night and the moon’s recent conjunctions with Jupiter have been beautiful. The distance in the sky between the two planets will become less as the month wears on. Mars is becoming bigger and brighter with each passing night as earth catches up to its orbit. Mars will rise about 3 hours after sunset in the east on the 1st and by the end of the month, it will appear just after sunset. Saturn is rising just after midnight and by the end of the month, it will rise about 10 p.m. With clear nights predicted it should be a good time for viewing other members of our solar system. The sky will be crowded with all the planetary activity.

We continued back on our lower than normal precipitation track in January after being close to normal in December. At the ranch we’ve tallied .71” of liquid precip for January and roughly 7.7” of snow. Interestingly enough, last January we only generated about 3.5” of snow. The difference was it stayed cold and blew it around every other day. Compare that to the 30 year normal at the SROC from 1971 – 2000 of 1.39” and 13.1” of snow. What does February look like? So far NOAA’s predictions are for better than even odds of continued above normal temperatures and even odds of above or below normal precipitation. We continue to be classified in a severe drought, one that as of January 19th is predicted to persist through the end of April. That could change however if La Niña decides to disappear prior to planting season. Only time will tell.

A big “thank you” should go out to all those who bought snow blowers and other snow removal equipment this winter. We all owe you. A good percentage of the moisture we have had has likely gone into the ground. While we have lost some to evaporation, the thawing and refreezing has created some room for the snow melt. Along with that, there simply hasn’t been enough moisture for runoff to occur. Streams are not increasing in flow and wetlands are showing no sign of being recharged. The wetting followed by freezing and thawing we have seen should also help break down some of the large clods resulting from last fall’s tillage operations. One negative to all the warm weather has been the short stay on the ice for many of the permanent fish houses. Monday’s warm temps brought a mass exodus from area lakes. Not only can the ice become shaky with water on the ice swirling around the houses, the accesses can become rutted and not easily traversed. Time to get ‘em off while the getting’s good.

We did actually have some colder weather and snow on the ground this past week for a while, bringing more activity back to the birdfeeders. However, at the ranch we had a sharp-shinned hawk hanging around for a few days. That seemed to dampen the enthusiasm of the smaller feathered friends. Still, there were a half-dozen goldfinches, 2 white-breasted nuthatches, 4 of the leghorn-sized blue jays, some downies and hairies as well as a return visit from a couple chickadees. They seemed absolutely delighted by the smorgasbord of sunflower seed, thistle seed and suet, bringing a smile to my face while observing their antics.

Ruby spent much of the past weekend watching out the window for her squirrel. Just before I was ready to go to town for more tax paperwork work, she began growling loudly and frantically scratching at the sliding glass door to go out. At first glance there was no squirrel out there. Upon closer observation, there was no squirrel evident but suddenly there was a squirrel tail waving fanatically from the tree trunk in an attempt to taunt the little Border Collie. After Ruby made a quick trip out the front door, the squirrel beat it back up into the branches, thankful that small, lightning quick red and white dogs can’t climb trees.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

The song remains the same

The scurs were a tad too pessimistic on temperature and a little too optimistic about cloud cover. Stargazing this past week left a little to be desired. Will we stay out of the fog this week? Starting Wednesday, mostly sunny with highs of 25 – 30 and lows around 20. Mostly clear on Thursday with highs near 30 and lows dropping to 5 – 10. Mostly sunny and cooler for Friday with highs of only 15 and lows close to 10. Partly cloudy and warmer on Saturday. Highs of 20 and lows around 10. Sunday for Lincoln’s Birthday, partly cloudy with highs of 30 and lows of 20. Partly cloudy on Monday and warmer. Highs of 30 and lows near 20. Partly cloudy and slightly cooler for Valentine’s Day. Highs of 35 – 40 and lows of 20. The normal high for Valentine’s Day is 27 and the normal low is 9. The scurs remind you to get your sweetie pie something sweet or face the consequences.

More warm temperatures last week continued to make this a warmer than normal winter. And, about the time it sounds like it’s going to cool down, we get a few days as an added bonus like last Saturday. Permanent fish houses have become an endangered species on most area lakes. By Tuesday, only a small handful remained on St. Olaf Lake. The annual St. Olaf Lake fishing contest has been cancelled and reports of vehicles breaking through the ice elsewhere in the area continue to abound.

Bird feeding reports continue to parallel what we’re seeing at the ranch. Unless you’re in an absolute bird watching Shangri-La, you’re likely not seeing a great deal of activity and are probably saving money on birdseed this winter. Sure there are some birds and we are fortunate the chickadees have decided to hang around but it has gone up to two weeks between fillings on the feeders. Sometimes it changes from bird watching to “bird hearing”. One of the clear mornings when there was no fog, a rooster pheasant crowed down in the pond area right about sun up. Another one echoed his sentiments from neighbor Mark’s habitat area. While they’ve had a rough go of it, there are still some pheasants around. Plentiful food and cover along with lack of snow and ice should help get them by until spring.

Another Super Bowl is in the books and it was actually a decent, competitively played game with the outcome in doubt right down to the last play. It’s always nice to see some of these athletes reach their ultimate goal, like my relative Rocky Bernard for instance. He toiled many years playing for the Seattle Seahawks then came to the Giants a few years ago. He probably isn’t real closely related however as he doesn’t appear to be Irish.

Lambing season started off suddenly on Saturday. It was getting time to tighten the lambing barn up ahead of shearing and ewes starting to drop lambs. As I approached the building, one of the black ewes shot out of the door with a water bag trailing behind her. Hmmm…timing couldn’t have been much closer. After a couple hours of some painstaking measures to button up the building, there was already a little buck lamb on the ground outside in the mud. I grabbed the lamb and taking backwards baby steps was able to slowly coax the ewe back into the lambing barn. I then caught her quickly to strip her bag out and decided to let them bond for a while. It was warm out and sometimes messing with a lamb trying to get it to nurse is exactly the wrong thing to do. Besides, it was time to eat and I needed a break. Checking back in the lambing barn in a couple hours there was a little ewe lamb, making for a nice set of twins. By chore time, both lambs were up having supper. Said it before, I love it when a plan comes together. I love it even more when the shearer comes so the ewes lamb inside the buildings.

The next afternoon following the Gopher basketball game, it was time to move some oats around. Mrs. Cheviot’s boss would’ve marveled at my ingenuity and efficiency. About the time I was finishing up that project, I spied another ewe out back of the barn. This is never a good sign. Sure enough in the increasingly low light there was a little white blob next to the ewe. All the ewes were bellering as it was nearing feeding time. Mrs. Cheviot wasn’t home yet so it was up to Ruby and I to make a management decision. If we played our cards right, feeding the brood ewes would probably separate the freshly lambed ewe from the group as she’d stay with her lamb. This would give us an opportunity to move her through the gate into the loafing pen where we’d deposited the previous day’s ewe and lambs. We made the call and it was go time. Sure enough, the ewes nearly plowed me over to get at their grain. I grabbed the lamb and got the ewe to follow slowly but surely through the gate. I needed to set the lamb down to wire the gate back shut so Ruby took over running interference. Once that was done, getting her into the shed took some patience but once inside, I set the lamb down and quickly closed the overhead door. Ruby again distracted the ewe so she was more interested in her lamb than running off through the rest of the barn to escape. In under a minute we had the ewe and lamb moved into the loafing pen. All was well. The little buck was dried off and his tummy full as he drifted off to sleep under his mother’s watchful eye.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

'Cause the man from Mars stopped eatin' cars and eatin' bars…

The scurs missed the Monday snow but nailed just about everything else to a “T”. This past weekend served as a reminder that it’s still winter and will be until it decides to be spring. What’s in store this week? Starting on Wednesday, partly cloudy becoming mostly cloudy with a chance of snow in the evening. Highs near 40 and lows around 20. Partly cloudy on Thursday with a slight chance of snow and/or light freezing drizzle. Highs of 35 and lows of 20. Partly cloudy Friday and Saturday with highs both days of 35 – 40 with lows Friday of 20 and lows on Saturday night of 25. Partly cloudy becoming mostly clear on Sunday with highs of 35 and lows of 25. Washington’s Birthday (observed), mostly cloudy with a chance of a rain/snow mix. Highs near 40 and lows around 25. Continued cloudy on Tuesday with a chance of icy drizzle. Highs near 35 and lows near 25. On the 15th we will be at 10 hours and 30 minutes of daylight, about the same amount of daylight we see on October 26th. The normal high for February 19th is 29 and the normal low is 11. The scurs will be cleaning the pool soon and setting out the beach umbrellas.

The trend of sparse precipitation with above normal temps followed by cold snaps of short duration continues. However, anecdotal information coming from the fields indicates there has been some recharge in the top foot of soil. Monday’s snowfall was the first measureable precip recorded at the ranch for the month. It added about 1.7” of snow and another .16” of liquid equivalent to the seasonal total. Personally, not having to move snow around every day is still not breaking my heart and having livestock to tend morning and evening in the dark has been a treat after last winter. There was an interesting note in Mark Seeley’s weekly WeatherTalk in regard to planting in February. In 1878, temperatures were in the 40’s and 50’s for half the month. With soils thawed and dry enough for tillage, much of the barley, oats and wheat were sowed. He goes on to say that this was the only time in history that a large portion of the state was planted in February. There was one instance of wheat being planted in late February locally back in 1987 although the ground re-froze after it had germinated. While this caused some concern, prying the layer of frozen soil off the top of the wheat with a screwdriver, one could see it was still alive and well. It went on to produce a decent crop.

In the heavens there have been some evenings recently that have been good for star gazing. At about 7 p.m. the Big Dipper is in the lower part of the NE sky pointed almost straight up with its handle down. Some nights there have been enough thin clouds to make finding the North Star (Polaris) a little difficult. When skies are clear, one can draw an imaginary line from the front lip of the Big Dipper across the sky to Polaris, which is also the star at the end of the handle on the Little Dipper. Mars has also become a more predominant feature in the eastern sky, having risen high in the eastern sky by 10 p.m. during lamb check. Look for the Red Planet along the same general track as you would for the moon or the other planets. As long as the sky is clear, it’s probably there even if you aren’t out checking for lambs.

The goldfinches were absent at the birdfeeders during the cold end to last week. There was however usually some activity at our birdfeeders. The suet was popular with the nuthatches, downies and hairies while the chickadees were delighted that they could pluck sunflower seeds from any hole in the feeders after they were filled. Even the squirrel decided it was time to venture down out of his nest and consume some corn. Tormenting Ruby was also part of his grand scheme to be sure but there wasn’t much time for her to give him some exercise. Shearing on Saturday took precedence over everything.

Shearing day was cold although with the crew we had, it was one of the most no-nonsense shearing’s we’ve ever had. The shearer brought a super catcher from the Nicollet area who in turn had his girlfriend along to help. There were also some folks from near Austin who graded and tagged the fleeces on a table as we were going along, bagging those that fit their specifications separately and putting the rest in the main wool bag. One of our 4-H kids stopped by to assist us with the shots, the delousing procedure and re-tagging some ewes as well as helping get dinner ready when we got closer to that. Add to that the most professional shearer I’ve ever seen who also happens to be a neighbor and friend doing his usual exceptionally smooth job and a dreaded task suddenly doesn’t seem so bad anymore.

We didn’t get started until almost 9 a.m. and had to set up again down in the big barn once we had the brood ewes shorn. By 1 p.m. though we were done, had everything put away and 45 sheep were shorn for the season. It was interesting to hear the comments as they were grading the fleeces because there were some obvious differences in them. These fleeces were likely to be made into socks so we’ll be curious to see how they turn out. Even though everyone kept moving and busy, it was time to get inside the warm house where hot food and coffee awaited us. As usual the warmth and aroma of the house were in stark contrast to being out in the barn. We got cleaned up and sat down to the feast Mrs. Cheviot had put together. It consisted of barbecue sandwiches, cheesy potatoes, cherry salad and dessert baked by my Mom. Little did she know when she’d given them to me earlier in the week that the bars would be the hit a dinnertime hit. They of course were especially delicious as they were made with black walnuts supplied by none other than a local Bandwagon star. The meal was just as special as some of those I recall from nearly a half-century ago. Why? It was enjoyed by folks who’d shared in the hard work and the homespun humor that only sheep people can appreciate.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

And the choice is up to you ‘cause they come in two classes:

Rhinestone shades or cheap sunglasses

The scurs managed another near flawless forecast period as we continue munching our way through February. What will they conjure up for this week? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with a slight chance of snow with chances increasing overnight. Highs of 35 – 40 and lows around 25. Mostly cloudy on Thursday with a chance of snow. Highs 35 - 40 and lows near 20. Friday, mostly cloudy with a continued slight chance of snow. Highs of 30 with overnight lows dropping to 15. Partly cloudy on Saturday with a chance of snow overnight into Sunday. Highs of 30 and lows around 20. Sunday, mostly cloudy with a good chance of snow. Highs 30 – 35 and lows of 10 - 15. Mostly cloudy on Monday with a chance of rain and ice. Highs of 20 - 25 and lows near 10. Mostly cloudy Tuesday with a slight chance of icy rain. Highs of 20 - 25 and lows around 15. The normal high for February 28th is 32 and the normal low is 15 so we should be seeing some rather seasonal temperatures. On the 26th we will be over 11 hours of daylight for the first time since mid-October. The sun will set at 6 p.m. on the 28th. The scurs will be enjoying a few more weeks before those insipid time bandit evildoers require us to set the clocks ahead.

Snowfall totals from the area varied but at the ranch we garnered roughly 2.5” of sticky, wet snow which melted down to a whopping .59” of liquid equivalent. Typically the snows from earlier in the season have run .07” - .1” per inch of snow accumulation. It looked pretty wet when moving it as the pile resulting from the snowdrift in front of the garage resembled a stack of white cheese curds. The weather pattern may be making a sudden change. This week marks one of the few times all winter that we’ve seen a forecast for precipitation nearly every day. Precipitation at this point is a good thing as some of it will likely find its way into the ground. What’s more as we get into March, the 30 day outlook is calling for better than even odds of above normal precipitation and temperatures. If that holds true, the trend of receiving more of our precipitation in March as rainfall rather than snow would be likely to continue.

The recent stormy weather brought about some noticeable changes in bird behavior at the feeders. Two pine siskins showed up on Saturday out of nowhere and made the goldfinches look large in comparison. Some of the suddenly numerous goldfinches are just beginning to exhibit a slight yellowish cast as they pick at the black oil sunflower and thistle seed. Two chickadees have become regulars as have the nuthatches. The blue jays seemed to be eating more corn than the squirrels while the downies and hairies continued to tap away on the suet. Rooster pheasants can be heard crowing here and there across the landscape and are spotted occasionally in the standing corn stalks neighbor Mark left across the road. Along area roads, large flocks of horned larks are noted. There’s been some debate as to whether they migrate or whether they’re here all the time. If they stay, it’s not always apparent everywhere as they first showed up in large numbers in early February.

Ruby has been keeping us amused. The Westminster Dog Show was a riot as she seemed convinced some of the dogs were coming right out of the TV screen. The growing and barking interspersed with her nightly ball playing meant constant activity until bedtime. Her vocabulary has continued to expand, especially when the Gopher’s basketball or hockey teams are playing. If you say “Gophers?” out of the blue she’s instantly on alert, probably because the word is frequently associated with “chores”. We typically announce to her we’re doing chores a little early on the game nights so we can get back inside to watch Gopher’s games. Apparently she’s picked up on it as she tenses up and cocks her head as if to say, “What are you idiots talking about? Chores are done!”

The lambing process took a couple week hiatus until last Saturday. We had a ram get sick last fall and apparently after breeding the first 3 ewes, he must not have been up to the task after that. We quickly put another ram in with the ewes so chores will become more time consuming with all the new arrivals. It’s always best for everyone including those doing chores to get the ewes and lambs moved out of the lambing barn and down to the loafing barn ASAP. Small pens and cramped quarters do no one any favors. The ewes would rather be in a group than in individual pens as sheep are naturally clannish. The lambs are happier to have more room to run as well as access to a creep feeder. The sooner they get on solid feed the sooner they can be weaned and the ewes put out to pasture.

With driver’s license renewal time looming large on the horizon, it was time to get the eyes checked out and order new glasses as well as trying out some daily wear contact lenses. After 8 years your eyes can change I guess. Not wearing glasses is nice when going in and out of buildings as we do frequently this time of year. As anyone who has livestock can attest, steamed up glasses are a pain in the neck. However all this monkeying around meant with these older eyes I have to wear cheaters for reading and sunglasses for driving. Suddenly going from one pair of beat up glasses to 4 after repairing the beat up pair for a spare was quite a switch too. Remembering where I put them will be the challenge methinks. Checking out the selection I was surprised to find no cheap decent non-prescription sunglasses that were worth wearing, What’s more some of them were ladies glasses and they were all mixed together. I finally selected a pair that would suffice and was amazed the cheaters were cheaper than the sunglasses. Heck, there were even some cheater sunglasses for less than a buck although thinking about it, I’m not sure what they’d really be good for. Maybe for lounging around poolside reading back issues of some accumulated periodicals. Based on my bloated retirement fund from the NRHEG Star Eagle, that should happen any minute now.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

You don’t pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger and you don’t mess around with Jim…

The scurs were right about the chances of snow, it just wasn’t of the measurable variety for much of last week. Will our fortunes change? Starting Wednesday, cloudy with a good chance of snow. Highs around 30 and lows of 15 – 20. Thursday, partly cloudy with a chance of some overnight snow. Highs again near 30 and lows of 20 – 25. Friday, partly cloudy with a slight chance of snow. Highs of 30 – 35 and lows of 15 – 20. Mostly cloudy on Saturday with another slight chance of snow. Highs of 25 and lows around 15. Sunday brings partly cloudy skies with highs around 30 and lows near 20. Monday and Tuesday, mostly sunny with highs of 40 and lows of 25 – 30. The normal high for March 1st is 33 and the normal low is 16. The scurs are guessing that there may be one more snowstorm of major proportions before March Madness is said and done.

Warm temps last week brought the boxelder bugs out to sun themselves on the south side of the Mall for Men. More precip last week too but not much in the way of thawed ground yet to allow much penetration. The SROC in Waseca was still indicating a frost depth of 14” on bare ground as of February 27th. Some of moisture in the snow we’ve had is lost to evaporation, especially with the high winds we received over the weekend. It’s a little difficult to gauge exactly how much but one can surmise by watching the sidewalk in front of the house dry of it is substantial in the top inch or so. Is the weather pattern changing? Slowly perhaps but it does appear to be. March may not come in like a lion per se but it may be more like a lamb that needs to be dried off.

Speaking of lambs, their numbers in the past week quintupled at the ranch. Fortunately Mrs. Cheviot was around to ride herd on them so they were well cared for and off to a great start. The creep feeder was installed over the weekend and more ewes with lambs were moved to the loafing area. This allows more space in the lambing barn although when the temperature takes a dive, having enough body heat isn’t always a bad thing. Keeping the barn well bedded so it stays dry during wet weather is critical. Pneumonia is lurking just around the corner if you don’t. The ear tags arrived so it’s time to process the lambs and ewes, making note of who is who. Ewes that aren’t milking up to snuff get a red tag so they’ll be easier to spot when it’s time to cull them. Bottle lambs are cute but oh what a nuisance. There are few times when one of them actually manages to become a contributing member of the flock.

The bird activity continues to remain at a higher level than what we’ve seen for much of the winter. The consumption of black oil sunflower seed in the last two weeks primarily by goldfinches surpassed what was consumed in the past two months. They’ve also tagged the thistle hard so it’s probably about time for a new bag of that. The chickadees have been singing their little two note “fee-bee” spring song. We haven’t seen any robins just yet but they can’t be too far off. There are still some crabapples on the Indian Magic tree to tide them over until the earthworms make the soil surface.

The appearance of the little fat buddies this winter has at best been staggered and haphazard. Perhaps it’s the jet propelled pop machine that keeps anyone from hearing anything other than loud grunts. Perhaps it’s just the weather too. It simply hasn’t been nasty enough to force them to come into to town to tell everyone how bad the roads are just yet. Some signs their habits may be changing: A reappearance of Vista’s noted Swedish astronomer. He recently returned from a trip to Mexico and claimed the stars and planets were the same ones we see here. About in the same spot in the sky also. Who knew?

Something that may lure the little fat buddies back into the fold include the recent Girl Scout cookie sale. They do seem to work wonders. Last Friday I made a run to the accountant’s office and then stopped at the license bureau to purchase several license tabs, a boat license as well as to renew my driver’s license. It went smoothly and when it was all finished the gal who had waited on me told me to have a good weekend. I took off feeling good about all the odds and ends I’d tied up to end the week. Upon returning to the office I got an envelope ready to mail then received a call that the hay supplier to the stars was about to drop a round bale off. I swung by the post office and then quickly home to watch the gate so the sheep didn’t go roundabout. It was late enough so it was about chore time so we got that done and went in the house to watch Gopher hockey.

During the first period something was bothering me. There was something I’d forgotten to do. Then suddenly it dawned on me: Had I paid the lady at the license bureau? I couldn’t remember writing the check although I had seen the receipt in the package of stuff I’d procured. I fished through my wallet and sure enough, I still had the check! Their offices were already closed but I felt terrible. Some poor lady had probably tried to reconcile the books for the day and they likely didn’t balance so she was probably wondering where the error was all weekend. Some may have thought, hey, I got by with one, I don’t have to pay. Not me, I’m just not wired that way. When Monday morning rolled around I made a call as soon as I could while en route to their offices to explain the situation. I apologized for spacing it out and they in true MN Nice fashion said it was as much their fault as it was mine. They hadn’t discovered the error yet so when I got there I wrote the check out and left some Girl Scout cookies to atone for my sins. As I headed out the door I could hear them say, “Who was that masked man anyway?” “I don’t know but he left this box of Tagalongs.”

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Things they would not teach me of in college…

The scurs were on target once again although the high temps for Tuesday were a little cloudy in their crystal ball. What’s in store for this week? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with a good chance of rain. Highs of 40 with lows around 25. Mostly clear on Thursday with highs around 40 and lows near 25. Sunny on Friday with highs near 45 and lows around 30. Partly cloudy on Saturday with highs near 50 and lows staying above freezing at 35. Partly cloudy on Sunday with a moderate chance of some showers. Highs of 50 – 55 and lows near 40. Partly cloudy becoming mostly cloudy on Monday with a slight chance of a shower. Highs 50 – 55 and lows near 35. Tuesday, partly cloudy with a possible lingering shower. Highs near 50 and lows near 35. The normal high for March 10th is 37 and the normal low is 35. The scurs remind you to get up at 2 a.m. Sunday to set your clocks ahead an hour as required by law.

The Full Moon for the month of March falls on the 8th this year and goes by numerous names. The most common is the Full Worm Moon because it is during this month that the ground thaws allowing earthworms to reach the surface leaving their castings, while providing food for birds such as robins and grackles. It also goes by the Full Crow Moon as crows are bunching up making my little fat vertically challenged Swede buddy’s trigger finger itch. The moon also goes by the Full Sap Moon as it is usually time for collecting sap for maple syrup. It is also known as the Full Lenten Moon, signaling the last full moon of winter. The Ojibwe knew this as the Full Crust Moon as a crust would form overnight on top of the snow after thawing during the day. The Sioux called this the Moon When Buffalo Drop Their Calves, a very important part of a culture relying on the bison for sustenance. At the ranch, this is known as The Moon When Stinky Little Red and White Border Collies Are Caked with Mud.

Rainfall amounts last week surprised almost everyone especially since there were no major power outages due to ice accumulations on the power lines. Amounts varied around the area from 1.96” at the SROC in Waseca, 1.82” west of Bugtussle and 1.37” at the ranch. 1.37” was also received in Albert’s Leaf. How much of this rainfall went in the ground? Guesstimates from people like Mark Seeley would suggest perhaps around half of it and perhaps more in areas where the ground was tilled last fall, leaving pockets in which it could collect. This bodes favorably for early season crop growth as we should have enough in the top foot to get a crop started without worrying. For others, it was just nice to know it could still rain that much in one rainfall event. The last time it rained that much at the ranch was during the 16th of July when 2.8” was measured.

Bird activity continues at a rapid pace although no robins yet at the ranch. Others have seen or heard them however and south at my brother’s place in IA, they showed up in numbers Tuesday morning. Something tells me by the time this reaches print, they should be plentiful here. The ground may not be totally thawed so earthworms may be a short commodity until it does. In the meantime at the ranch, our Indian Magic crabapple has plenty of fruit on it to tide them over. The building of house sparrow nests in the barn has already started which is a little peculiar. This is the earliest I can remember seeing the males build them. Is this an indication of global warming? Not necessarily but it is an indication they will be defecating on things in the barn earlier than usual.

Ruby had a big weekend as we moved ewes with lambs from the lambing pens into their new home in the loafing barn. She gets to impress us with her speed, footwork and uncanny ability to keep a ewe preoccupied while we bring up the rear so they don’t double back on us. Once in the shed she lets the ewe into the alleyway and becomes a drover, something that at least makes the ewe think twice about making a run for it until we get there. Ruby apparently looks forward to this activity if the celebratory whining and whimpering following heaps of praise is any indication. It’s short lived however as once each group is in their proper place, it’s time to move another bunch. Thus the process starts all over again. The nicest thing about all of this is we haven’t had to teach the dog any of it. After running through it a few times, Ruby knows the drill.

She was curious about what I was doing during lamb check the other night when we’d started for the house though. I heard a ewe bleating where it didn’t belong. Sure enough there was one off by itself in front of the east side of the barn. After corralling the ewe and getting an ear tag number, she belonged in the other barn so I started to drag her uphill across the yard. About that time I encountered a patch of ice, discovered I was airborne and gonna land on my back, hard. After impact I determined nothing was injured except my pride and lying on her side, the ewe had apparently found the same patch of ice. Looking up, there was Ruby staring at me quizzically wondering why I was lounging around on the ground. Her eyes were saying, “Get up, dummy! We have sheep to move”! I quickly dusted myself off, grabbed the ewe and Ruby tailed her as we made our way across the yard to the proper facility. All in a day’s work.

The little fat buddies missed out on a treat on Monday. Apparently their busy schedules got the best of them and they weren’t present when CS stopped in with fresh caramel rolls. They were just as scrumptious as I remembered. The fact there was no quorum present to sample them was fine. There were more for those of us who had become famished after a long morning of seeking wisdom and knowledge. And not necessarily the kind they taught in school.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

I’m a space cowboy, bet you weren’t ready for that…

Those wily scurs were certain we were in for a warm up but were playing it a little too close to the vest again. Based on that, wait until you get a load of what’s in store for us this week. Starting Wednesday, mostly clear with highs of 70 – 75 and lows near 45. Mostly clear both Thursday and Friday with highs near 70 and lows of 50 – 55. Partly cloudy Saturday through Monday with a slight chance of rain on Monday. Highs of 65 - 70 and lows around 55. Tuesday, partly cloudy with a chance of rain. Highs around 60 and lows near 40. We will see over 12 hours of daylight on St. Patty’s Day. The normal high for St. Patty’s Day is 40 and the normal low is 23. The forecast highs and lows are more like May 17th. The scurs are wondering how long before we pay the price for all this nice May weather

Yes, the vernal equinox will also occur on the Tuesday the 20th at about 12:14 a.m. so it’s that time of year once again when chicken eggs stand on end making the hens more vicious than ever. It’s also when we curse the government for its exceptional ineptitude. Time for road postings and to set the clocks ahead. The road postings I can understand but the time change? Leave the clocks alone already or at least for another month. Getting up in the dark for 2 – 3 weeks after just starting to enjoy sunlight in the morning is not only foolish it’s dangerous. The number of traffic accidents suddenly spikes as do workplace accidents. Why? People are half asleep. Some would argue that there is a corresponding decrease in accidents when the clock is turned back in the fall. Using that logic, we should periodically turn it back another hour so we could really reap the benefits!

The night sky this winter has been fascinating to watch. Jupiter and Venus have both been very bright and in close proximity of each other high in the western sky. Mars has become more distinctive as well and is a little higher in the eastern sky each night at 10 p.m. during lamb check. It has dimmed slightly however as it was closest to earth back on the 5th. With Daylight Saving Time, Mars now sets around sunrise. Several have asked about my apparent fascination with the moon and the night sky among other things. The night sky has been reminding me during chores since I was a boy that we are a part of something larger. Of course, sneaking up in the attic to get out our older brother’s Gilbert telescope probably helped stimulate our imaginations as much as anything. It was almost as much fun as playing cowboys and Indians.

There was lots of phenology worthy of note at the ranch this past week. A few geese were moving around Monday but it was tough to tell if they were locals or the scout team sent in to see if there was open water in which to land. Within about an hour of the deadline time for the column there were 2 robins bobbing along in the yard on the 6th. The next morning there were killdeers calling from the pasture. The 8th brought the first red-winged blackbird. The following day a striped gopher was observed on the shoulder of the road east of the substation on St. Olaf Lake. By Saturday the skies were full of wave after wave of red-winged blackbirds and wedge upon wedge of geese moving in a northwesterly direction. Interestingly enough they were not all Canada’s. Up high there was a familiar higher pitched honking, that of several hundred snows and blues. They were adult birds, all the snows with black wing tips and blues with white heads, a striking appearance against the blue sky. There was also one small group of white-fronted or speckle-bellied geese making their way noisily across the sky. Thought I was back in North Dakota again. As of Monday morning, St. Olaf Lake has a ring of water around it and the ice is dark. Won’t be long, folks.

Small area wetlands continue to hold water, providing migrating waterfowl resting areas and potential nesting sites. Apparently the small amount of snow we had didn’t go anyplace and runoff from the February rain certainly didn’t hurt. Still haven’t heard the western chorus frogs yet but one of these warm days it will happen. One of the rooster pheasants has staked a claim to the plum thicket, likely a descendant of Little Jerry. This one is a little coyer than Little Jerry was so hopefully he will be around for a while. The frost is largely out of the ground in the fields especially after Monday’s rain. Poking around the yard and pasture Sunday with the divining rod (a specially designed electric fence post) it was out already on the south-facing slopes. On the flat and on north facing slopes it was only thawed down 2” – 4” depending on where one probed. With continued warm temps, some small grain seeding is anticipated along with dry fertilizer and anhydrous ammonia application. There is a slight hint of green starting to show in area lawns and pastures. Alfalfa breaking dormancy is also a distinct possibility. This is not without its perils however. A sudden cold snap has killed alfalfa before after breaking dormancy early and the potential exists for that to happen. As Kermit the frog pointed out, “It’s not easy being green”.

Ruby and the sheep entertained a group of very well behaved youngsters and their parents in Saturday’s breezy conditions. The little Border Collie thrives on attention and being out with the sheep so she was in her element. There was time to ride in the Gator as well until one of the adults riding in the back complained of waffle-butt. The next day meant catching up after being robbed of the hour of daylight. There were tags to install and tails to dock so ewes and lambs could be moved to make room at the inn. Of course there was Ruby help involved there too but that will soon be coming to a halt. There are only 6 or 7 more ewes to come in yet. The lambs on the ground have grown extremely rapidly. The warm, dry weather has agreed with them insomuch as they haven’t needed to burn much energy staying warm. It helps too that some of the older ewes in the flock that probably aren’t milking as they once did are able to care for their lambs without supplemental help from the shepherds. Bottle lambs are only cute if you aren’t the one feeding several of them several times a day.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

One day, without no warning, things start jumping up from the ground.

The scurs were pretty sure we were in for a rare treat and were we ever! Will we head back into anytime winter soon? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with an increasing chance of rain towards evening. Highs of 65 – 70 and lows of 50 - 55. Thursday, mostly cloudy with a good chance of rain. Highs of 65 and lows around 50. Partly cloudy on Friday with a slight chance of showers. Highs of 65 and lows of 50. Partly cloudy on Saturday with a high of 60 and lows of 40. Partly sunny Sunday through Monday with highs of 65 - 70 with lows around 50. Slightly cooler on Tuesday with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs of 65 and lows of 35 – 40. The normal high for March 25th is 46 and the normal low is 26. Now that June weather has come and gone the scurs are thinking about setting off some fireworks. Surely the fireworks police wouldn’t expect anything yet.

What a week of record setting March weather! Every day brought more warmth and a little higher temperatures. At the ranch we topped out on St. Patrick’s Day with a high of 79. Several of our car thermometers read as high as 80. Pastures have greened up and as if on cue, several of the last ewes decided to lamb. One of the main reasons to shear the ewes before lambing in February is so they will lamb inside. However when it’s nearly 80 degrees, that goes out the window so they decide to drop them wherever it’s convenient away from the other ewes. Makes the lambs a dirty mess sometimes but the ewes lick them off so it’s all good. In the fields as expected, small grains were seeded and fertilizer applications have begun. Alfalfa has broken dormancy and so far the survival looks good.

The evening skies were also a treat as the planets Venus and Jupiter continued to impress, low in the western sky when coming in from the barn about 11 p.m. Mars has also been at about 10 o’clock in the sky around 8 p.m. in the evening. Vista’s noted Swedish astronomer recently phoned me with a startling discovery. The 3 planets as viewed through his telescope are still round!

There have been several firsts for the season as a result of the warm weather. A few western chorus frogs were first heard on the pond at the ranch on the evening of the 15th. The next night they were at full volume, with thousands of them all croaking at a fever pitch. March 15th was also the night I saw my first mosquito. The thing was huge, almost the size of a buzzard and I stared in disbelief as it landed on my arm and attempted to bite me. This meant one thing: It was time to start Ruby on her heartworm meds already. Trouble was, we’d given her the last dose back in December. Luckily good old Gus had left behind a couple unused tubes of topical material that also controls ticks, something else that will no doubt be running ahead of schedule. Am purposely staying out of the tall grass. I don’t want to know if the ticks are out there although tormenting them once discovered gives me perverse pleasure.

Ruby had another big weekend. The world’s largest Border Collie, Zip and his owner along with another friend were visiting so Ruby had someone to play with. In addition Ruby shared her sheep with Zip so he could enjoy staring and growling at them too. Ruby enjoyed to wrestling with Zip so it seemed like there was always some action somewhere. The wrestling matches were fine except when they took place inside the house. When they started crashing into the furniture it was time to take it outside. Not much different than a couple kids truth be told. Older dogs like Zip can teach younger dogs new tricks too. While watching TV we heard a strange sound the other night: Ruby lapping water from the toilet. She’s never done that. Monkey see monkey do.

The weekend brought with it a whole list of things to get done before spring. It was time to pick up the pruning mess from the weekend before, move ewes and lambs, take the tree wrap off, and plant some early garden. Again, there was plenty of dog help especially with Zip being a stick lover. Taking off the tree wrap is always a good way to take stock of the progress the trees are making. All the trees appear to be in excellent condition even the peach tree. The pears were heavily budded and close to breaking dormancy as were the apple trees. The nannyberries were starting to leaf out too. Outside the window where I work at my confuser, the silver maple was flowering. Spring has sprung.

The aforementioned weekend guests pitched in and helped out with chores including moving ewes with lambs. Unfortunately there were no newbies born over the weekend so the opportunity for them to witness a live birth went unfulfilled. The odds of seeing one are getting slimmer. There are only 3 or 4 ewes left to come in. After resisting temptation on Saturday, Sunday I had to plant some garden. The ground worked up beautifully with just one pass. Cherry Belle and Scarlet Globe radishes to put in along with some Oregon sugar pod peas. Will they make it? Hard to say but if they don’t, there should be plenty of time to plant more. If they do produce, being early season crops it should allow us to plant something after they’re done. Double cropping!

I would be remiss if I didn’t congratulate the NRHEG Panther girls’ basketball team. While we haven’t made any games this year we have listened in on the broadcasts on the radio. It probably doesn’t hurt that we’ve watched these young ladies grow up right before our eyes. Even though they didn’t bring home the big prize, they played well enough to bring home the 3rd place hardware, something no other basketball team has ever done here. And the not so little anymore neighbor girl set the single game tournament scoring record at 48 as well as the 3-game tournament record at 112 points. All in all, very impressive and important enough so that all things at the ranch came to a screeching halt as history was being made. That takes some doing. Congratulations ladies!

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

So listen up buster and listen up good, stop wishin’ for bad luck and knockin’ on wood.

We managed to grab more above normal temperatures as well as a little rain as the scurs predicted this past week. Will we see a repeat performance? Starting Wednesday, mostly clear with highs of 60 – 65 and lows of 35 – 40. Thursday, more clear skies during the day but clouding up by evening with a good chance of rain. Highs 60 – 65 and lows near 45. Partly cloudy on Friday with a slight chance of showers. High near 60 and lows of 45 – 50. Partly cloudy and warmer with an increased chance of a shower or thunderstorm on Saturday. Highs of 65 – 70 and lows around 50. April Fool’s Day, partly cloudy with a slight chance of a shower. Highs near 65 and lows around 45. Partly cloudy on Monday with highs of 60 and lows near freezing. Clear and cooler on Tuesday. Highs around 50 and lows around 35. The normal high for April 1st is 49 and the normal low is 29. Due to the time change, we will see the sun rise once again at 7 a.m. on the 29th, the same as it did back on the 24th of February. The scurs remain puzzled by how moist the soils are. One would think with the recent extra hour of daylight, they would dry out faster.

Some of the zeal for early fieldwork last week was suddenly tempered by rainfall on consecutive days, cooler temperatures and cloudy skies. Soils dried slowly and tacky surface conditions didn’t improve much. Underneath soils remain in good spring working condition. Alfalfa really took off with the rain and is making some nervous that a dramatic temperature drop could spell its demise. This could be but in the foreseeable future none of that appears imminent. The unanimous opinion of those who have done some field work seems to be that soils are working up marvelously. The huge hunks of soil leftover from last fall seem to have disintegrated where there has been an initial tillage pass.

In the garden at the ranch, the radishes planted on March 18th were up already on the 23rd so they could be rowed from the patio window. The peas haven’t peeked their heads out just yet and that’s probably OK. They’re probably a touch more sensitive than the radishes to a frost anyway although in either instance, there is plenty of time to replant them even though crop insurance won’t pay for it. The green rhubarb is a foot tall and the red which is a little slower is about 6” in height. The lawn is getting about that tall too in places so that means Mr. Cheviot needs to get the mower ready for action once again. Sometimes it would be easier to just run about another 200’ of electric fence and let the sheep do their thing.

More phenology at the ranch includes a little toad outside the lambing barn hopping around the night of the 21st. The first tree swallows were seen around noon on the 23rd. Highly doubtful there is any correlation between their appearance and radish emergence however. There have been large groups of juncos around the feeders, likely making their way through to their summer abodes to the north. The trees also continue far ahead of schedule with small trees such as the nannyberries leafed out already. There haven’t been any blooms as of yet but with forecast temperatures continuing to run above normal it’s only a matter of time.

Received a call from one of my little fat buddies regarding the location of a nursery establishment. I was having a difficult time describing the exact how to get there as the landmark selection was somewhat limited. Anywhere a guy would go anyway. However, when I triangulated the site in relation to the local Dairy Queen the light suddenly came on. There was no question after that. Programming GPS units with that information should be considered essential.

Ruby has remained busy helping move ewes and lambs to the loafing barn. She is so proud of herself and rightfully so. The ewes respect her and she’s always in position to keep them under control. There has been more company too visiting the new lamb crop so she’s in doggie heaven. The last of the lambs hit the ground last Saturday, we think. There is still one big fat ewe that has nothing of an udder yet so wouldn’t count our chicks, er, lambs before they hatch. We thought we were done on Friday and then we saw the same goofball ewe I had slipped on the ice with a month ago suddenly bag up, almost within 24 hours. She was almost as cooperative about lambing too, deciding that a good place was behind the brush pile down in the pasture. I had other ideas thinking that perhaps closer to the barn would be a tad more convenient when attempting to coax her into a pen so we could monitor the situation. I chased her back up into the yard with the others and thought she’d stay there where there was a nice dry area to lie down. Wrong. A half hour later I looked and she was nowhere to be found. Common sense told me she’d go right back to the brush pile and that’s exactly where she went. I tried convincing her again she’d be better off up in the yard . This time she’d had enough persuasion, and tore off for the far end of the pasture! I finally got her headed the right direction and back up into the barn yard.

She then decided going behind the big barn was a safe bet only this time I stayed outside to keep an eye on her from a distance. She’d peek her head around the corner of the barn to see if I was still there then disappear again. After about a half hour of this baloney, I tired of the game and went back in the house, convinced she’d probably go back to her original plan. Besides, I was hungry. Within minutes Mrs. Cheviot arrived home so she went out to check on the ewe I had named Fruit Loop because of all her antics. About 20 minutes passed so I put on my outdoor clothes again as Mrs. Cheviot came in the garage and announced. “All done.” “All done what?” I asked. “The ewe lambed, followed me back to the barn, she’s in the pen, lamb is muddy but fine.” Mrs. Cheviot replied. Geesh, the ewe is half crazy, I wind up putting in a couple hours of roadwork chasing her around and Mrs. Cheviot comes home and just falls into it. Go figure. It has been a relatively easy lambing season though and we should be counting our blessings rather than wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood. Few bottle lambs, no pulling lambs and a very healthy group overall. Things could’ve been much, much worse.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

What is the color when black is burned?

The scurs were talking more seasonal temperatures and that’s exactly what we wound up with. More of the same or does winter make an encore performance? Starting Wednesday, mostly clear with highs near 60 and lows around 40. Mostly clear becoming partly cloudy on Thursday with highs of 55- 60. Partly cloudy on Friday with a slight chance of rain by evening. Highs again near 60 and lows around 45. Mostly cloudy on Saturday with a chance of rain then clearing by evening. Highs of 60 and lows of 40. Partly cloudy on Sunday with highs again near 60 and lows in the 40 range. Partly cloudy on Monday with a slight chance of showers. Highs of 55 and lows dropping to near 30. Mostly cloudy and cooler on Tuesday with a good chance of rain. Highs around 50 and lows of 35 – 40. On April 6th we will see a Full Moon and will be above 13 hours of daylight for the first time since early last September. The normal high for April 8th is 53 and the normal low is 32. The scurs will have to wear their jacket when planting their potatoes on Good Friday.

The Full Moon for April 6th happens to occur on Good Friday. Traditionally it is known as the Full Pink Moon for the flowers that would bloom in the forest floor of the Northeast. It also goes by the Full Sprouting Grass Moon, The Full Egg Moon and the Full Fish Moon. The Ojibwe called this the Broken Snowshoe Moon and the Sioux knew it as the Moon of Greening Grass. This year there is no question the grass is greening and the ewes on pasture have been enjoying every sweet blade of it much to the chagrin of our hay supplier.

There has been some steady fieldwork but most are convinced there could be a price to be paid for corn planted much before mid-April. Such was the case in 2010 when the largest corn froze hard and made farmers scratch their heads for several weeks as it struggled to recover. Annual broadleaf weeds such as lambsquarters, giant and common ragweed are appearing on unworked ground so there will be an opportunity to remove them with the first tillage pass. Small grains are loving the weather conditions we’ve had and hopefully the early start will help the wheat get by the bacterial leaf streak that has hounded it the past 2 seasons. Alfalfa has also enjoyed the early start. If the weather stays warm and we get some beneficial rains, we could see some harvested by mid-May. Not that there is a hay shortage just yet but there could be by the time fall rolls around given the amount of hay ripped up in favor of planting corn. Every cutting counts. Rainfall continues to fall in small, measured amounts, a pattern that has been in place since late last summer. For the month of March at the ranch we recorded 1.33” and at the SROC in Waseca 1.93. In addition, temperature records were shattered although with 4 consecutive days at 79 degrees, we never did see an official 80 degree high there or at the ranch. It is still the warmest March on record though.

In the garden at the ranch the radishes have grown but perhaps not as fast as one would’ve guessed. Windy, cooler cloudy weather this past week put a damper on their progress. The peas emerged very spotty although as was mentioned previously, there is still plenty of time to plant more. That’s the plan anyway as the seed order arrived Monday with plenty of snap peas for the early garden. The early potatoes will go in on Good Friday weather permitting of course. Some new Yukon Gold and baby red Norland spuds sound mighty tasty come July. The rhubarb obviously has stolen the show. The green rhubarb plant is now about 3’ across and the juncos are using it as a place to hide. Combined with some stems from the red plants, there should be plenty to make a colorful Easter dinner dessert. On Monday, the first of the wild plums in the thicket bordering the yard began blooming as did the Patten pear. The Parker was right on its heels. Hopefully the smell of the plums in bloom should help the bees and flies to locate the pears.

The lawnmower was readied and just to say I’d done it, I mowed a patch in front of the house on March 31st. However, the fact it was only about 45 degrees and I could see my breath soon dampened my enthusiasm so I put the mower back in the garage. I mowed the rest of it the next day as Ruby picked up her favorite empty plastic bottle before I ran over it. I was almost done but not before TB and his band of merry men showed up out of nowhere to burn off the CRP. I’d known they were coming sometime this spring and they had tried to call but I left the cell phone inside as I typically do when I’m trying to get something done outside. Off they went with me in tow to renew and restore what we had originally sown back in 2003. It was breezy on Sunday but not to the point where it would carry sparks long distances. They very carefully yet efficiently set the fire while protecting things like the fiberglass electric fence posts and the neighbor’s fenceline. Within a half hour they had completely burned off the 7 acres leaving it blackened and looking barren. Luckily it was pretty early for pheasants to be nesting and the teal made a beeline for the water again once the flames subsided. Little Jerry’s grandson has been camped in the yard most of the spring anyway, scaring the bejeezus out of us when we stumble across him crowing within yards of the house or barn. Checking on the burn after chores for hotspots, the wood duck house is occupied. A female kestrel flew out of the hole like a feathered missile then landed a safe distance away in a tree. The fire didn’t seem to bother her one bit. Between the kestrel, the geese and ducks, all was well with their world again as I pointed the Gator into the sun and headed towards home.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone…

The scurs made the best of a generally nice but cooler week of weather. More seasonal temps again or back to June this week? Starting Wednesday, mostly sunny with highs around and lows near 35. Partly cloudy Thursday becoming mostly cloudy by evening with a good chance of showers particularly in the overnight hours. Highs around 60 and lows about 45. Friday, mostly cloudy with a good chance of rain. Highs again near 60 and lows near 50. Mostly cloudy and warmer on Saturday with an increasing chance of showers and thunderstorms into the evening hours. Highs 65 and lows around 50. Sunday, mostly cloudy becoming partly cloudy with a chance of lingering showers prior to evening. Highs 60 and lows of 50. Mostly cloudy on Monday and cooler with highs of 55 and lows near 40. Tuesday, partly cloudy with a chance of showers in the afternoon into evening. Highs near 60 with lows around 35. The normal high for April 15th is 57 and the normal low is 35. Sunrise will occur on April 15th and the sun will set on the 16th. There will be over 13 hours and 30 minutes of daylight on the 16th as we continue to gain daylight at about 3 minutes per day. The scurs will be sharpening their pencil to fill in their Form 1040 on the evening of the 16th.

After consulting with Vista’s noted Swedish astronomer, he informed me that Jupiter will be setting about the same as the sun by the end of April. At that point it will disappear from the evening sky until next winter. That might explain why I can no longer see it when I wander out to feed lambs shortly after 10 p.m. That or it’s cloudy out. Venus however is still very bright in the western sky however, appearing as a “mini-moon”. Mars is overhead at 10 p.m., the reddish orange glow of the planet making it distinctive and easy to pick out. The Big Dipper is nearly straight up at 10 p.m. and upside down. As legend would have it, it’s reputedly pours out its water in the spring to bring life to the landscape after the long winter break. Only trouble is so far this spring, it must have a hole in it.

Some corn went in the ground this past week and whether that was a good or a bad thing remains to be seen. All data seems to indicate little benefit from planting much before the 21st and recent experience indicates an increased amount of risk from frost and reduced stands due to cold soil conditions. Small grains look absolutely fantastic as well they should with the planting conditions and dates. Temperatures recently have been to small grain’s liking and dry weather has meant that conditions are less favorable to the development of early season disease. Alfalfa continues to thunder along and depending on what the frost does to it, there is a good chance that first cutting could occur about mid-May. This is about 2 weeks ahead of what we normally would even consider.

Speaking of ahead of schedule, the yard and garden at the ranch continue to defy the calendar date. The rhubarb was bountiful for Easter dinner and there was plenty to send home. Best of all it was hard to tell any had even been picked. There is even some corn up likely courtesy of one of the squirrels frequenting the ear corn feeder. Some disappointment too though as the radishes are progressing slowly and the sugar pod peas have emerged unevenly. Then what do you expect planted on March 18th? The pear trees planted last year have flowered like mad. One would think those flowers would smell sweet like an apple blossom: They don’t. They smell like the liquid fly bait we use in the fly traps in the barn. Odd but not so odd perhaps when one thinks about it. They flower very early and there are few bees around to pollinate them so they have to rely on other insects. Lo and behold there were lots of flies on the flowers during the warmer days. Let’s just hope the frost didn’t put a damper on the fruit set. Ditto on the apples. With a low of 21 at Waseca Tuesday morning, all bets are off for a while.

In the yard things are slowly changing over from the winter birds to our more permanent summer residents. There are still lots of downies, nuthatches, hairies, blue jays and a smattering of goldfinches occasionally. However the tree swallows are back in force, occupying almost every nesting box. A brown creeper showed up on Saturday, looking like a mobile know on the ash by the patio. The pond area has come to life too as a waterfowl hangout. Weekend observations yielded several pair of wood ducks, a dozen or so blue-winged teal, mallards and Canada geese. The kestrel is now setting on 4 brownish eggs with small splotches of darker reddish-brown on them. The eggs are huge considering this kestrel isn’t much bigger than a robin. The eggs measure a little over an inch long and about an inch in diameter. Seeing the wood ducks and knowing the lone wood duck house was being occupied by a kestrel again, it was time to put another house up on Sunday. It didn’t take long to do and there were still some prospective occupants in the area as of Monday night.

Easter was one of those made for memories. Thanks to the talents of a Mayo doctor, Mom’s eyesight had been recently restored to its previous level. It made the weekend very special as she could see and appreciate the visual part of the ranch more fully. Also one reason we spent more time cleaning up than we otherwise might have! My older brother brought Mom and her Border Collie Fudgie over on Saturday after the showers had passed. He got the dollar tour of the ranch and was on his way back to his castle north of the Twin Cities. Mom was so happy to feed the bottle lambs and they of course were more than happy to eat. Ruby of course was delighted to have Fudgie to play with.

On Easter Sunday we had my sister and nephew as guests along with Auntie Mar Mar. We all contributed something to the feast. I made lamb chops on the grill and luckily no one called the fire department. Mrs. Cheviot made a strawberry pie worthy of Martha Stewart and some gluten-free rhubarb bars that were actually extremely good. Mom made a large batch of her marvelous cherry fruit salad. My sister put together some mean potato salad. Auntie Mar Mar brought her exquisite but lethal bean recipe. They worked their magic too and by late afternoon I was blaming the strange noises on the icemaker again. Ruby kept everyone entertained and was her typical busybody self as there was always something going on she could be involved in. By the time the day was over and it was time for folks to go home, the time had flown by. With Fudgie packed up and good-bye’s said, the house became suddenly quiet as the Suburban rolled down the road. We were back to our normal routine. Ruby was back to hers as well, a red and white blur racing to the barn then back to the house, making sure we were on our way to do chores.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

The apples of the valley hold the seeds of happiness…

After a much more seasonal week the scurs set their sights on the third week in April. Will the cooler temperature trend continue or will we return to the St. Patrick’s Day heat wave? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with a slight chance of showers in the forenoon becoming mostly cloudy by afternoon. Highs 65 - 70 and lows around 45. Cloudy on Thursday with a good chance for showers especially in the daylight hours. Highs of 50 - 55 with lows of 35. Partly cloudy on Friday with highs of 50 - 55 and lows near 35. Partly cloudy Saturday with a slight chance of a shower. Highs around 55 and lows near 40. Sunday, partly cloudy a warming trend into next week. Highs of 60 and lows of 40 – 45. Mostly sunny on Monday with highs near 65 and lows of 45. Mostly sunny and warmer with highs of 65 - 70 and lows of 50. The normal high for April 21st is 60 and the normal low is 38. The scurs will be having a weenie roast with all the sticks and branches from the highs winds now the trash fire police have lifted the burning ban.

Progress in the fields was localized with some completing corn planting, some getting a start and some holding off. Who is right? Everyone potentially. With ideal corn planting dates from now until the end of the month, everyone has a chance to cash in on our good fortune in the weather department. Rainfall has been more abundant especially to our west but with all the showers added together, it tends to average out. It has continued the tendency of spotty rains with accumulations of an inch or more being the exception and not the rule. Sunday’s sky and weather were definitely threatening in appearance although when looking at some of the suspicious low hanging clouds they were scud clouds with no rotation. On Friday there was rain off to our west that had a dickens of a time getting here as the air was so dry, much of it was evaporating as the moist air was meeting the drier air over the top of us. Now we have overcome that to some extent and it will be interesting to see if we’ve primed the pump or merely given ourselves some hope that timely rains will come.

The spotty rains did allow me to get the rest of the early garden planted. The potatoes didn’t make it in the ground on Good Friday but did this past Saturday along with Don’s onions, some sugar snap peas, lettuce and a packet of free radish seed. Oh I’m sure I paid for it in the order somehow but it’s always fun to plant something you wouldn’t have otherwise tried. That’s part of what makes raising a garden so entertaining. You never know how it’ll turn out you plant it. Take the first planting of radishes for instance. Planted day after St. Patrick’s Day on ground with a south facing slope that has countless loader buckets of composted sheep manure, they emerged in less than 5 days. A slam dunk to have radishes in 23 – 25 days just like it said on the package, right? You are wrong, brassica breath. They responded negatively to the cooling temperature trend and the frost bleached the leaves to the point that it looked like they’d been sprayed with something. They’re alive but in order to truly thrive they need to string together more than a day or two at a time with high temperatures over 60 degrees.

Frost did a number on some of the trees and other plants around the yard too. The rhubarb was a little droopy but has since recovered to its former grandeur. Likewise the apples appeared to have taken it better than initially thought as did the pears. There will be some fruit mortality but likely there will be some fruit set. Some of the trees really didn’t bloom that much this spring anyway after bearing heavily last year coupled with a dry late summer and fall. The wildlife may be the biggest loser in all this and it may translate farther than just our yard. The bur oak tree was just starting to leaf out and flower when the frost hit. All the leaves the size of a squirrel’s ear froze off and within days were crispy reminders that it was seriously cold. The story was similar on the northern red oak and pin oak although there are signs on some branches there may be some buds that weren’t completely damaged. On some larger trees, it appears in the upper stories that the frost didn’t hurt them as much. In other words the oaks may have taken a hit and that could translate into fewer acorns available for things like squirrels, deer and wild turkeys.

It’s doubtful the birds and squirrels will suffer too much at the ranch. The ear corn gathered last fall was virtually untouched so it should keep fine until it’s needed. The birds of course always have sunflower and thistle seed to snack on so they’ll be fine too. Speaking of birds some new arrivals here in the yard as well as by the pond. A brown thrasher was doing his best Jimmy Page impression, hidden in the leaves atop of one of the poplar trees. Actually I think Jimmy Page probably does a brown thrasher impression with his guitar but I digress. A pair of sandhill cranes made a brief visit, their eerily primitive sounding call echoing from the hollow below the hill. There was one more egg in our pet kestrel’s nesting box at the edge of the pond. It appears 5 is all she’ll have. That’ll be plenty of little mouths to feed once they hatch. I wouldn’t want to be a small rodent out in the open during that timeframe.

Ruby had another big weekend as it was time for her annual pilgrimage to the vet’s office for vaccination and heartworm checkup day. There were doggies and owners of all kinds and it was good for her to get that exposure. She’ll remember it’s necessary to behave and listen in that scenario even more the next time out. Ruby did about as well as one might expect a 2 year-old Border Collie to do. Her attention span isn’t perhaps what it could be but there were other dogs that wanted to play and it’s tough to resist that urge with an active dog. Perhaps the best part of that day was that Ruby got to meet Agnes, one of my faithful readers. While she didn’t look like I’d told her she would, Ruby liked her anyway. On Sunday as a reward for all of the good behavior, Ruby spied leftover French toast and pancakes from another Lions Pancake Feed. She gobbled the first pancake down, tail wagging, sure in the knowledge that there would be many more to devour over the course of the week.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz? My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.

10 font locked and loaded, the scurs venture forth into another week of weather forecasting. Will it finally decide to be May or will we remain stuck in our mid-April trance? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with a moderate chance of showers and thunderstorms. Warm with highs near 75 and lows dropping to 40 - 45. Partly clear on Thursday with a slight chance of an evening shower. Highs of 45 and lows of 35. Friday, mostly cloudy and colder with a good chance of showers. Highs of 55 and lows near 40. Mostly cloudy on Saturday with a moderate chance of showers decreasing into the overnight hours as skies clear. Highs of 45 - 50 and lows back below freezing at 30. Partly cloudy Sunday with highs around 55 and lows in the 35 range. Monday, mostly sunny with highs of 55 and lows of 45.. Mostly cloudy and warmer with a chance of showers and thunderstorms on Tuesday. Highs near 60 and lows around 45. The normal high for May 1st is 64 and the normal low is 42. On April 26th we break above 14 hours of daylight as we continue to gain daylight at just under 3 minutes per day. With their Easter goodie supplies rapidly dwindling, the scurs will be keeping an eye out for those May baskets on Tuesday.

Field progress was slowed by measurable precipitation recorded 6 out of 7 days since April 14th as of the 20th and 8 out of 10 days as of April 23rd at the ranch. Still, the amount has not been insurmountable and the total accumulation since the 14th has only been 1.87”. With the subsoil as dry as they was, a few good drying days strung together and fieldwork could commence once again in earnest. Early planted corn in the area looked healthy as of last Friday and this Monday. The first planted corn should emerge sometime this week. That corn which hasn’t emerged yet appears healthy and the soils remain friable underneath yet, not saturated. Small grains and alfalfa continue to look very impressive although the cooler temperatures have slowed their growth relative to what we saw initially back in late March and early April. There has already been a lot of handwringing and worrying about insect pressure due to the early spring. It’s a little early to get too flustered about that just yet. Some of the same freezing temperatures that zinged vegetation may have had the same effect on emerged insects so time will tell.

Some inquiries have been made about the large number of small black and orange butterflies in the area. This spring has made for a phenomenal migration of red admiral butterflies. I had been meaning to write about these as early as late March when they first began to show up out at the ranch. The larvae from these butterflies feed primarily on stinging nettles so unless you are propagating nettles for tea or to torment your nosey neighbors, consider these butterflies the “good guys”.

Around the pond there are a few small patches of nettles but would venture to guess they won’t amount to much. The blackened ground surrounding the wetland from the earlier burn has become a green carpet since timely rains have occurred. The kestrel continues to set on a clutch of 5 eggs and would expect to see some hatchlings in the next week or so. No activity in the new nesting box but with the rains the water level in the pond has increased. There are a couple pair of blue-winged teal normally on the water and frequently Canada geese using it as an area to rest after feeding on the new green grass surrounding it. On the warmer evenings, the western chorus frogs and the American toads blend their chirps and trills together into a soft, sweet, white-noise lullaby. Sleeping with the windows open is pure heaven when that occurs.

In the yard this week we witnessed the first of the white-throated sparrow migration, typically a precursor or vice-versa to the appearance of Harris and white-crowned sparrows here. Sure enough, Monday morning the white-crowned sparrows arrived along with the first barn swallow of the season. Along with that, there are some male goldfinches dressed in their full colored bright yellow suits. That usually means one thing: It’s time to start stocking up on jelly for the Baltimore orioles that can’t be far behind. Last year set some kind of record for us with somewhere near 30 orioles in the trees on the south side of the house at once. That meant some serious jelly consumption to be sure. It will be interesting to see if we encounter those numbers again or if that was just an anomaly.

The garden progress continues to follow that of area farmers as in slowly. Some of the vegetables planted back on the 14th have started to emerge including the lettuce and radishes. The last of the early garden was actually planted on the 17th as conditions dried enough on the surface to allow it. The carrots and beets went in nicely then received several rains after that. Last Sunday the late potatoes were procured. Even my potato producing buddy from ND claims that Pontiacs are still about the best tasting red potato out there. Apparently they are somewhat disease prone but here they seem to thrive. The Norkotah russets fast became a favorite after last year. They kept well into the spring and made for some great baked potatoes especially on some of those cold nights. The vine crops were also seeded Sunday. I thought we had cut back but there were still 6 flats with 108 total hills started. There will be several hills of cucumbers direct seeded and at least a couple hills of zucchini planted yet too. Oh yeah, we really cut back alright. This is sorta how Congress operates, isn’t it?

The rainy weekend weather allowed some work to progress on the Studebaker project once again. Getting the water jacket on the engine cleaned out before sticking the newly refurbished radiator back in it had been on my list for quite some time. Doing it without everything in the way is always a plus. Using the flush kit I modified to accomplish the task it was surprising how little crud was actually in it. Much of that had apparently come out earlier when the radiator itself was removed. The flushing operation came off without a hitch except that I discovered the water pump leaked. A new water pump is available so may as well get that installed before placing the radiator back in front of the170 cu. in. flathead six beast under the hood. A leaky water pump comes as no surprise since the car had set since 1983. Something that may come as a surprise to some readers is the fact that from 1957 to 1963, Studebaker was the importer for Mercedes Benz automobiles with many dealers offering the import as an additional line. What could’ve happened if Studebaker had continued their arrangement with Mercedes? I guess we’ll never know.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Now don’t be sad ‘cause two out of three ain’t bad.

The scurs were correct in thinking we were going to see more mid-April temps and that we would see some April showers. Will they bring May flowers? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with a good chance of showers and thunderstorms. High near 80 and lows around 60. Thursday, mostly cloudy in the morning becoming partly with a moderate chance of an evening shower. Highs 75 – 80 and lows of 60. Partly cloudy Friday with a slight chance of a shower during the day with a good chance of an evening shower or thunderstorm. Highs 75 – 80 and lows of 55 – 60. Saturday, partly cloudy with a slight chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs 70 – 75 and lows near 55. Mostly cloudy on Sunday with a good chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs around 65 and lows near 50. Monday and Tuesday, partly cloudy with highs near 65 and lows near 50. On May 5th, also the day of the Full Moon for the month, the sun will rise at 6 a.m. The normal high for May 5th is 67 and the normal low is 45. The scurs will be sweeping the patio for the lawn furniture and officially retiring the toboggan for the season.

The Full Moon for the month as mentioned falls on May 5th. This moon goes by several names the most common being the Full Flower Moon. It also goes by The Full Corn Planting Moon and the Full Milk Moon as farmers would turn their cows out on pasture, hence increasing milk production. The Ojibwe knew this as the Blossom Moon and the Sioux as the Moon When Ponies Shed. At the ranch, Ruby has pretty well shed off already as evidenced by the lack of dog hair on the floor and her new, sleek spring coat. This is good news for all the couches and beds she likes to sleep on when she can get away with it.

Progress in the fields was widespread across much of the area last week as corn went in the ground quickly. We are probably somewhere in the 70% planted range as of Tuesday a.m. Soil conditions were about as fit as they’ve been although temperatures at times reminded one very little of corn planting weather. The sleet rainbow on Friday morning was the icing on the cake, pun intended. Some of the early planted corn was emerged as of last Friday and some of the corn planted around April 12th – 14th was beginning to emerge as of Monday. Some soybeans have been planted and while some are thinking it’s early, it is already May. Fortunately April left us with better soil moisture than what we started with but we are still several inches from a full soil moisture profile yet. The month was characterized by several small rainfall events, all of which added up to 2.56” at the ranch, allowing fieldwork and gardening to commence. Measurable precipitation however was recorded on 14 out of the 30 days for the month and temps were cold, slowing the drying process. Only a trace of the precipitation that fell was snow. Two out of three ain’t bad.

At the ranch garden progress has continued to be slow although when it does decide to warm up, things grow at an astonishing rate. We did harvest some of the radishes planted March 18th and they have been a little on the stout side. They’re supposed to be otherwise they’d be turnips. The late potatoes were planted on April 27th, one of the last days it was fit to plant. Between the Pontiac’s and Norkotah’s, I managed to stab in 18 hills. The snap peas are still emerging in the main garden and there are some carrots beginning to peek through. The transplants at the greenhouse have emerged with the exception of the watermelon and a few hills of Mooregold squash. Given the warmer temps, they should come along soon.

The spring bird migration and courting season continues in and around the yard at the ranch. Sunday was a day to repair some of the roofs on the nesting boxes. Luckily there were some pieces of leftover Trex that fit the bill. Several of the houses closest to our dwelling and neighbor David’s were occupied with house sparrows so they were rudely evicted. Others have tree swallows that are always welcome as they eat a lot of bugs and do not defecate in our buildings. Sunday was also the day the first house wren was heard in the plum thicket. Monday evening I went to check on the progress of the kestrel and no hatchlings yet. I was however able to remove the female kestrel from the nest and get a close-up look at her, wearing leather gloves of course. She hunched down and was determined to stay on the eggs, almost like she was injured or feigning injury just as a killdeer had done on my excursion down to the wetland. I was careful to be very gentle as I examined her. She appeared to be fine. I photographed the little falcon and carefully placed her back in the nesting box where she settled back in. Tuesday morning we were graced with the appearance of two male rose-breasted grosbeaks. They were primarily interested in the leftover corn from the squirrel and ate some of the jelly placed in expectation for the arrival of the orioles. No Harris’ sparrows yet so there’s still time.

Progress continued on the Studebaker project over the weekend if you could call it that. Lately it’s more one step forward and two steps back. The heater core was leaking and when the hose was removed from the nipple on the heat control valve, the nipple was about half eroded away. That and of course the valve itself is stuck tight. There are parts available however and it’s just a matter of what you want to spend or how long you want to diddle around waiting for repairs. There isn’t a lot of call for Studebaker parts these days so those projects tend to get back- burnered at some establishments. The heater core may be able to be repaired and if not, a new or refurbished one isn’t much different in price than what one would pay for those found in today’s automobiles. Whatever gets spent it’ll still be better than discovering down the road you’ve been left high and dry because parts weren’t replaced when the opportunity was there. And besides, I have a sneaking suspicion that in spite of global warming/climate change, heat might not be a bad thing to have in this country when leaf watching in the fall.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

And everywhere was song and celebration.

The scurs wasted no time predicting the precipitation last week. The precipitation wasted no time falling either. Will we see more of the same this week? Starting Wednesday, mostly clear with highs of 65 and lows near 45. Clear again for Thursday and slightly warmer with highs around 70 and lows of 55. Partly cloudy Friday with a fair chance of daytime showers or a thunderstorm with decreasing chances into the evening. Highs of 70 and lows of 45 - 50. Mostly sunny for Saturday and Sunday with highs of 65- 70 and lows of 45 - 50. Mostly cloudy Monday and warmer with highs of 75 and lows falling to 55- 60. Mostly sunny becoming mostly cloudy by evening with chance of a shower. Highs near 70 and lows of 55 - 60. The normal high for May 13th is 69 and the normal low is 46. The scurs remind you that Sunday is the mother of all holidays.

Fieldwork progress was hit and miss depending on location last week. May 3rd and 4th allowed some to finish their corn planting while others focused on the soybean planting. Corn has emerged and generally very well. The rains that fell this past week have caused some erosion concerns in areas due to the intensity of the storms. However, rainfall amounts while generous were not overwhelmingly damaging in most cases. If we can get the faucet at least turned down a tad we should be able to finish planting. Remember, don’t pray for rain, pray for favorable weather.

In the yard this week it was almost all for the birds. Starting on Tuesday, meadowlarks were heard in the pasture as I toiled in the garden. On May 3rd, the first 2 male Baltimore orioles appeared and at almost the same time, one of the Harris sparrows that usually appears in early May. The next day there was a male orchard oriole at the jelly feeder and with rumors of hummingbirds in the area, it was time to break out the sugar water feeders. The next morning I was rewarded for my efforts with 2 male ruby-throated hummingbirds darting from feeder to feeder. A red-headed woodpecker also decided to appear at the sunflower feeder so I made sure it was well stocked. It also seems to enjoy the jelly feeder. A catbird sampled some jelly not long after that and the final arrival for the day was a male indigo bunting. We haven’t seen them every year here but we’re always glad they decide to stop.

Around the wetland the recent rains have been cause for song and celebration. The noise from the thousands of frogs and toads is almost deafening. The basin is at about 2/3 – ¾ of capacity. One of the kestrel eggs had hatched as of Sunday night, putting a crowning touch on the day. The mother was on break as I photographed the newbie and I quickly left the area so as not to frighten the adults. Luckily there huge numbers of relatively large insects including moths and most recently June bugs for the parents to catch and feed to the offspring. There are also plenty of small rodents and of course house sparrows that they will hopefully tap into.

The radish crop has been very bountiful. Apparently planting them March 18th was to their liking. The harvest yielded not one but two 2 gallon pails full of the red globes and after the processing, put a small dent in the scads of margarine containers we have. The potatoes planted a week after Good Friday have finally started to emerge. Cold temperatures didn’t allow much to happen for several weeks. I was thankful to see them. It’s a pain to replant them and buying potatoes from the store just isn’t the same. The yard had become such a fright so that it was mowed between weekend thunderstorms. Like many area lawns, the dandelions make it look like it wasn’t touched two days later. The nannyberries and chokecherries should be in full bloom this week as the freeze(s) earlier this spring apparently didn’t hurt them much. The burr oak tree is finally coming around after taking a hit from the freeze. It appears the pear trees have no fruit set. Even though some of the apples took a year off, the Snow Sweet tree appears ready to bear its first apples.

Mother’s Day is fast approaching and I couldn’t help but think of Mom last week when I was applying for a passport. A passport is not helpful to get into Canada for a fishing trip these days, it’s a necessity. As proof of identification for the application, I needed a certified copy of my birth certificate or my long since expired and presumed lost passport. When I called her, she was on her way out and said she’d look for it when she got back. Let me back up a moment though to tell you Mom has always kept meticulous records. For example, a couple years ago, the co-op had called her and claimed she owed rent on an LP tank at our farm near Stewartville. Mom told them she was sure we owned the tank while the guy from the co-op was insistent that their computerized records were correct. She said she had the receipt somewhere and would call back to confirm that information. She found it and called him back, rattling off the tank serial number on the purchase she and Dad had made back in 1957. The guy on the other end of the line had to be dumbfounded when she asked if she should bring the receipt in. He said no, that was OK, that their computerized records didn’t go back that far and that he needed to do some more checking. He called her back later, apologizing, saying that apparently there had been a duplication of that serial number on another tank at the manufacturer. Score: Mom 1, computerized record keeping system 0.

Back to the birth certificate. Mom had called and left a message saying she had found it and I should call her back when I got the chance. In order for a birth certificate to be considered a certified copy, it needs to be one issued by the courthouse with a dated, embossed seal. There are also unofficial hospital copies that are given to new parents which was what I was afraid Mom would have so I called her back. Nope. It was the real McCoy she had stashed away after we had taken a family vacation to visit my oldest brother who was in the Peace Corps in Venezuela. The date that document was procured: 1967. And you guessed it, she also found my passport from 1974, teasing me that I looked like I was about 12 in the photo. I bet I was at least 16 and might’ve even been shaving. No wonder we never got by with anything as kids. She remembered everything, reading us like a book and was always one step ahead of us. Our friends would often wonder why some of the hair-brained schemes we’d cook up were snuffed out long before we could pull them off. She was even accused of having radar by some kids at one point. Looking back now, even though we’d pool our intelligence and resources, both of which were extremely meager, it’s no wonder we couldn’t put anything past her: We had no idea who we were messin’ with! Happy Mother’s Day Mom!

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

I have a friend I’ve never seen…

The scurs were spot on with a dry forecast with seasonal temperatures. Will we continue down that path? Starting Wednesday, mostly sunny with a slight chance of an evening shower. Highs of 75 – 80 and lows around 55. Partly cloudy on Thursday with a chance of overnight showers. Highs of 80 and lows of 60. Partly cloudy on Friday highs of 80 - 85 and lows around 65. Saturday, partly cloudy with a chance of an evening shower. Highs of 85 and lows around 65. Partly cloudy on Sunday with a chance of a shower. Highs near 75 and lows of 55. Monday, mostly sunny and cooler. Highs of 70 and lows of 55. Mostly cloudy on Tuesday with highs of 70 – 75 and lows near 55. The normal high for May 19th is 70 and the normal low is 49. On the 22nd, we will have reached 15 hours of daylight. The scurs are thinking that since there is only about a month until the days start getting shorter, it’ll be a good time to check out the snowblower.

Progress was rapid in the fields after the dry, breezy days. The remaining corn acres went in quickly and the soybean planting commenced. The only fly in the ointment was the crusting and water ponding on some of the corn acres planted just prior to the heavy rains the week before. Otherwise we are off to a tremendous start. Pre emerge herbicides appear to be working well and most fields are remaining relatively clean. Alfalfa harvest has started in some areas and small grain has responded well to the warmer temperatures we are experiencing.

Birds are changing with the seasons as they always do. The juncos preceded them and now the white-throated, white-crowned and Harris sparrows that appear every spring at the ranch have made their way north. There were some newcomers however. On May 8th, a male redstart was picking through the foliage on the ash trees and the female orioles made their first appearance. On the 9th a male yellow-headed blackbird made himself known with his raucous call. Another couple new arrivals include the common yellowthroat and a warbling vireo. They’re old friends but seldom if ever seen. While they’re not migratory, the first Hungarian partridge I had seen in quite some time appeared when I happened by a filter strip on a field west of Bugtussle. We still hear rooster pheasants crowing in the morning although they’re not nearly as obnoxious as the robins who crank it up about 4:30 a.m. By 5:30 they must be searching for food because they’re quiet. All that can be heard is the soft cooing of the mourning doves. It’s hard to make yourself wake up once that is heard.

All 5 of the kestrel eggs hatched! A quick check Sunday morning revealed 5 fuzzy little occupants in the wood duck house. So far so good as they all look healthy and well nourished. Have been a little concerned that there has been no male seen in the area. They reputedly help with the feeding chores. Luckily we have had a target rich environment with large numbers of moths for them to feed on. The June bug supply seems to be holding its own as well. Eventually they may get to dine on small rodents that the parents tear into small pieces. Their sloppy housekeeping however sure makes for a messy dwelling by the time they’re done with it so the house will need to be taken down and thoroughly cleaned before next spring arrives.

In the evening Venus continues to reign supreme in the western sky although by month’s end it will be just above the horizon at sunset. Mars is high in the south-southwest and Saturn is likewise in the south-southeast. On the 20th there will be a partial eclipse of the sun beginning around 7:15 p.m. and continuing through sunset. Approximately half the sun’s surface will be blocked by the moon. It is never safe to stare at the sun so unless you have equipment designed for that purpose, it’s safest to view it on TV.

The garden has been on hold for a while until there is sufficient time to plant everything. Every transplant we seeded grew so will try to get them into the ground in a little more timely fashion than we did last year. Almost all the potatoes have emerged now including the Pontiacs and Norkotah’s . Recent warm temperatures have helped push the snow peas planted on March 18th into more respectable looking plants. Only about 1/3 of them grew so they have lots of space.

The pastures have responded well since our abundant early May rains. Some of the first lambs born were weaned from their mothers on Sunday morning. The ewes were then trailered to the off-site pasture owned by our kindly neighbors to the south. Either they’re real good sports about it or the ewes get far enough away from their house so they can’t hear them. The remainder of the ewes and lambs will be weaned here soon and it never fails that we can hear the bellering for about 3 days. When we throw them out there, it always seems that the summer is long and the sheep can survive forever on the belly-deep grass. Unfortunately that’s never the case. Too soon summer is gone; we’re bringing ewes back home and feeding hay again. We need to enjoy it while it lasts.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

The waiting is the hardest part.

The scurs had it pretty close to right although the rain for last Saturday didn’t materialize. Will we see some welcome precipitation this week? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy becoming mostly cloudy with an increasing chance of rain into the evening hours. Highs near 85 and lows around 60. Mostly cloudy becoming partly cloudy and slightly cooler with a chance of showers in the daytime. Highs of 75 and lows of 55. Cooler again on Friday under partly cloudy skies with a slight chance of a shower. Highs 70 – 75 and lows near 60. Partly cloudy on Saturday with a slight chance of a shower during the daytime hours increasing slightly by evening. Highs of 80 and lows around 65. Showers and thunderstorms likely for Sunday with highs of 85 and lows of 65. Cooler on Memorial Day Monday with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs of 75 and lows near 55. Mostly sunny on Tuesday with highs around 80 and lows of 60. The normal for May 28th is 73 and the normal low is 52. By then the rate of increase on our daylight will have slowed to roughly a minute per day. The scurs will be cooking out and remembering those who fought and died so they could do so.

The weather namely the wind kept everyone occupied last week. Some crop damage occurred although it was minimal. Leaves were tattered in areas on some corn fields and soybeans were not emerged for the most part so they were spared from the wrath of the blowing soil. Fields this time of year remain very vulnerable to erosion by the wind and water both. Once a canopy forms to help protect the soil, the vulnerability decreases somewhat, particularly to wind erosion. After seeing some 30 to 40 odd fields this last week that had some sort of erosion related issues, it’s probably a good idea to put in a plug for the folks at the NRCS and SWCD. There are programs to help decrease the severity of these issues available. All you have to do is inquire. Corn grew rapidly with the warm temperatures and soybeans began to emerge on the early planted field this past week. Early planted small grain is in the boot stage and looks very impressive.

At the ranch it was weaning time once again Sunday. The ewes at the kindly neighbors pasture seem to get over the process much more quickly than those that remain here. Part of it here is they can see their lambs and part of it is they seem to enjoy bellering anyway for the sake of bellering. Just coming out of the house is enough to set them off. I enjoy tormenting them after the last several weeks of feeding them when they almost knock you over trying to get at the feed. That behavior wears thin after a while, especially when knee and hip joints are as expensive to repair or replace as they are. Feed is expensive too and the grass is plentiful so it’s just plain silly to keep putting up with that nonsense. Ruby seems largely unimpressed by all the commotion especially since she has to wait outside of the panels we set up until the sorting process is over. Tough to do sometimes when you’re hard-wired for action.

Finally was able to get on top of the weedy parts of the garden so they are ready for planting transplants. The hot windy conditions last week made for an excellent kill on weeds such as lambsquarters, horseweed and shepherd’s purse. 6 rows of Indian corn were slipped in quickly just before dark on the 15th. It should be emerging any day now. Most of the garden is doing OK although rains would benefit some of the peas and beets. The potatoes are really starting to take off, especially the Pontiacs and Norkotah’s. Apparently they appreciated the treatment with composted manure they received before planting if their dark green leaves are any indication.

The weekly trip to the wetland on Sunday night was a real treat. When approaching the basin 30 or so giant Canada geese took off, looking a little like a bunch of B-52’s as they launched into the wind. The little kestrels are continuing to grow and are becoming defiant. They’ve started doing the little kestrel version of the adult kestrel call and hissing when the door is opened. Of course when it’s as cool as it was Sunday night with a stiff northwest breeze, they’re probably expressing their opinion of the draft they’ve been subjected to. I may have seen the male finally as he left the nesting box although both parents right now are constantly on the move foraging for food to feed the youngsters. In the nesting box put in place Easter Sunday, a new wood duck nest was discovered after I’d checked out the kestrel progress. When opening the nesting box it was readily apparent that the cedar shavings had been rearranged. On top of them was white fuzz, breast feathers placed on top of the nest from the hen. Fishing down through the soft, dry nest I plucked beige colored egg that was no doubt from a wood duck. Placing the egg back in its place was a great way to end my weekly visit I thought to myself.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

As the swift bird flies over the grasses…

The scurs couldn’t miss last week as it rained just at the mere mention of precipitation. Will our rainy stretch continue? Starting Wednesday, mostly sunny becoming partly cloudy with a fair chance of some evening showers. Highs near 60 and lows around 50. Mostly cloudy on Thursday with a continued chance of showers. Highs again around 60 and lows dropping to 45. Friday, partly cloudy and starting a warming trend with a slight chance of showers. Highs of 65 and lows of 50. Saturday, partly cloudy with a slight chance of a shower. Highs of 70 and lows of 55. Partly cloudy and much warmer on Sunday and Monday with a continued slight chance of a shower. Highs 80 – 85 and lows around 65. Tuesday should be mostly sunny with a high of 85 and lows near 55. The normal high for June 1st is 75 and the normal low is 54. The scurs will be checking to see who monkeyed with the thermostat and that the calendar says that it really is May and not March.

There are many astronomical events coming at us this week. First, the Full Moon for the month falls on the 4th, being known as the Full Strawberry Moon. Both the Sioux and Ojibwe were in agreement on this one and it’s no wonder. The wild strawberries while small are tasty morsels for young and old to enjoy and savor. We will have another partial eclipse of the moon on the 4th as well. The only problem is the moon will be setting as it is going on, similar to the last one. The eclipse will start about 3:46 a.m. and the moon will set a 5:40 a.m. The most exciting and unusual event involves the transit of Venus across the face of the sun on June 5th. Just as we mentioned before it is never a good idea to look directly at the sun so it will probably be most safely viewed on TV. The transit will begin at 5:04 p.m. and will be halfway across the sun by 8:26 p.m. just before sunset. The thing that makes this event so unique is the fact it will not happen again until 2117. If you miss it, better mark your calendars. For more information go to: http://www.astro.umn.edu/venustransit

More rainfall in the last week at the ranch and all over the greater Bugtussle area. We tallied 3.08” at the ranch and other places were showing similar amounts. Prior to the rains were strong winds gusting to over 40 mph that were responsible for windblown soil capable of causing crop damage. The jury is still out on a few of these fields although most are recovering. Even though the rains were spread over the course of 5 days, the common denominator with most of the rainfall has been the intensity with which it has fallen. It has caused more gully erosion and will make these fields rough to traverse once they become dry enough. Something that has been surprising however is the slow pace of the wetlands to become fully recharged. The wetland here at the ranch still is not at full capacity despite the nearly 6 inches of precipitation that has fallen in May.

Around the ranch it’s been interesting to watch the new babies of all sorts as they make their appearance. There are 4 young fox squirrels that are content to clean up under the birdfeeders. They of course drive Ruby crazy as they play on her turf and she goes after them with a vengeance, exploding through the door once it’s opened a crack. The kestrels in the wetland continue to develop rapidly. After being little fuzz balls a week ago, they’ve already grown the brown feathers typical of young kestrels on their backs. As fast as they’re growing, one can see Ma and Pa Kestrel nearby most of the time. They almost have to be in order to keep that tribe fed.

At the kindly neighbors I’ve been greeted by a killdeer feigning injury every night when stopping on my way home to check the ewes there. Couldn’t figure out where the babies might be that she was trying to protect until I almost stepped in the nest. Tucked in the large crushed rock the coloration of the eggs made it almost undetectable. I marked it with a small piece of orange plastic so we didn’t step in it. Later in the weekend I was trimming under the fences at the kindly neighbors and checking on bluebird nesting boxes as I went along. The nesting box that has hosted bluebirds for many years was occupied by a house sparrow nest which I quickly dispatched. Two other nesting boxes contained tree swallows which are always welcome especially when the biting flies and mosquitoes are out. The last house I came to had been unoccupied last year so I was pleasantly surprised to peer inside and see a female bluebird on the nest staring up at me. I thought about photographing her but slowly closed the lid and latched it instead. They had come back again just as they always had and I didn’t want to do anything that might make them change their minds.

The garden, lawn and weeds also continue to grow, well, like weeds! On Memorial Day it had been a while since the last mowing due to dry conditions so the bromegrass (June grass for you old-timers) was heading out making the lawn look more like poor excuse for a hayfield. There needs to be some serious time spent soon in the carrot and beet patch as the weeds are threatening to take over. The beets in particular are a little thin so they need all the help they can get. 6 flats of vine crop transplants were planted Sunday in the mud after the Saturday downpour. They were fortunate to be watered in with the overnight showers in the wee hours of Monday morning. Even after a windy Memorial Day, they looked none the worse for wear, showing no signs of moisture stress. As wet as the soil is and with cooler temps forecast in the near term, they should be in good shape. Now all that’s left to plant are some sweet corn, cukes, tomatoes and string beans. Oh and one hill of zucchini. Should be several years’ supply right there.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

But it's my destiny to be the king of pain...

The scurs were tracking well last week, calling the rain as predicted. Will they be as fortunate this time around? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with a slight chance of an evening shower. Highs around 80 and lows near 60. Partly cloudy on Thursday with a moderate chance of an evening shower or thunderstorm. Highs of 80 and lows of 65. Friday, partly cloudy and warmer with a moderate chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs of 80 – 85 and lows around 65. Saturday partly cloudy and warmish with a slight chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs 85 – 90 and lows near 70. Mostly sunny for Sunday with continued heat and mugginess along with a slight chance of an evening shower or thunderstorm. Highs around 90 and lows close to 70. Mostly cloudy on Monday with some relief from the heat along with a good chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs around 80 and lows of 55 – 60. Remaining mostly cloudy and cooler on Tuesday with highs of 75 – 80 and lows around 65. The normal high for June 10th is 78 and the normal low is 62. The scurs will be lounging beside their cement pond .

Aside from the surprise .52” of rain at the ranch on Wednesday last week it has remained relatively warm and dry since Saturday. This allowed many fields of corn to be sprayed for weeds under ideal conditions. It was definitely time as some of the weeds that had escaped the digger earlier this spring were large and becoming a concern. Soybean emergence had also been an issue as evidenced by some unevenness in the stands. Fortunately soybeans are fairly resilient and once they shrug off the “uglies” from the iron deficiency chlorosis, they begin to resemble a real crop. Small grains are heading out and alfalfa has benefitted greatly from the rainfall the last part of May. First cutting was disappointing in some places with some eager to blame insects based on their presence at the time of cutting. However weather after the crop broke dormancy was not always “alfalfa-friendly” and led to slower than anticipated growth given the early start. The lack of precipitation from last fall and subsequent low subsoil moisture was not a positive factor either.

This week brought more activity from our feathered friends around the ranch. The young kestrels are approaching the time to fledge from their now extremely messy home. I went down to check on them Sunday night as I have for many weeks now and upon opening the inspection door on the nesting box, one of them hopped out and fluttered about 10’ into the grass below. I closed the door quickly so no more of them were tempted to come out, retrieved the escapee and stuffed it back in the entrance hole. I’ve been keeping a weekly photo record of their progress so the only way to get a photograph was to put the cell phone camera in the hole and snap the picture. It was hard to tell whether they were all in there yet but judging by how crowded they were, it appears they’re all there. I would expect by next week they’ll be on the wing if the Sunday night’s performance was any indication.

In the yard, we had a female cardinal picking up under the sunflower feeder on Sunday. Cardinals are still a novelty at our place although they have been appearing with greater frequency the past several years as the bushes grow in size. The female orchard oriole has been making an appearance lately with her mate at the jelly feeder. A catbird or catbirds seem to have a taste for jelly along with a house finch or two. Probably the most significant observations involved the bluebirds. On Saturday a female bluebird was seen resting on the eave trough, then flew into the trees by the driveway. On Monday morning, the unmistakable royal blue of the male was spotted going away towards the pasture where there are 3 bluebird nesting boxes that are possible nesting sites. Will be interesting to see if they’re nesting in one of them or simply passing through. They’re always a treat to see regardless.

The Canada thistle population in the pasture around the yard required some attention. Some had attained a height of nearly 3’ since the May rains. Before going to a graduation Sunday, it was time to do battle. Having purchased some Milestone recently, the conditions were perfect. By the time we returned from the graduation a few hours later, some of them were already starting to writhe in agony. By the next morning they were all in a state of distress. Something about making thistles miserable that satisfies the inner sadist in me.

Sadly the last of the radishes were consumed the other night. They had a pretty good run though supplying many meals worth and allowing us to share them with several others. Was a good a thing too as the second planting a few weeks later amounted to only some pencil thin roots and tops that bolted. Tomatoes, peppers, string beans and cucumbers were planted quickly Sunday night just before dusk so everything is in with the exception of some sweet corn. The weeds have really taken off with the recent warm temperatures so it will be a full time job to keep them at bay. Once the squash and pumpkins get rolling though there are few weeds that can compete with them. Rotating them around the garden not only helps keep the weeds down, they have the effect of mellowing the soil probably by deflecting some of the pounding rain with their huge leaves. Lord knows we’ve had plenty of hard rains thus far. The sphinx moths continue to work over the beautiful pots and planters Mrs. Cheviot has placed in front of the house while the toads ride shotgun for any flying insects that meet their criteria. All is right with the world…

See you next week…real good then.

[MN Shutterbug]

I'm sure glad I got to talk to you personally and find out where they had moved your column. I'd been missing it.

[Dotch]

heh, heh, heh...I think they were just trying to protect those poor folks in the Birdwatching threads from me...

[Dotch]

They call me the hunter, that's how I got my fame…

The scurs were a little unsure of themselves after most of the area missed out on any accumulation from late week showers. Will they be more confident this week? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with a modest chance of a shower or thunderstorms in the daytime with a better chance of evening rain. Highs around 75 and lows near 60. Thursday, partly cloudy with a fair chance of a shower with decreasing chances for the evening. Highs of 80 and lows of 65. Partly cloudy, sticky, icky and warmer on Friday with another slight chance of a shower. Highs near 85 and lows around 70. Partly cloudy on Saturday with a moderate chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs of 85 and lows around 65. Partly cloudy Sunday with a modest chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs around 80 and lows near 60. A good chance for showers and thunderstorms on Monday with highs near 80 and lows around 60. Partly sunny for Tuesday and cooler with a continuing good chance for showers and thunderstorms. Highs around 75 and lows near 65. The normal high for June 15th is 79 and the normal low is 58. We will see 15 hours and 28 minutes of daylight on the 16th and will only gain a few seconds by the Summer Solstice on the 20th. The sun will set at 9 p.m. on the 19th. The scurs have their swim fins ready in case we really do see some substantial rain.

Last week was just what the doctor ordered for corn and soybean development. It also gave area farmers a chance to catch up on their weed control. Even some soybean fields were beginning to be treated with herbicides as the weeds also appreciated the warm, sunny weather. Corn made knee high by the 4th, of June that is in some fields so we are definitely ahead of schedule as of right now. Strong winds over the weekend made herbicide applications difficult for most although the cooler temperatures following the rain from Sunday night are likely to produce more favorable results than spraying in the heat anyway. Spring seeded small grain has pollinated and would benefit from some cooler temperatures and rainfall in much of the area.

The weekend winds meant I could actually mow the lawn during daylight hours for a change. With Mrs. Cheviot finishing her last weekend stint at the greenhouse before it closes, it was a pretty uneventful day other than it was windy and very hot. It didn’t stop Ruby from biting the tires on both lawnmowers as they were driven out of the garage. It had been a long time since the last mowing so it took a while to get it all done. It needs to be done though otherwise the abandoned farmstead look attracts undesirable elements such as woodchucks. Yes they’re fun to shoot but they’ve usually dug holes under a foundation somewhere by then.

Ah, but the garden has been one of my favorite hiding places. I leave the cell phone in the house when I go out there because I’m not going to hear it in the first place. Besides, that’s where the dam things belong this time of year. The garden is pretty much complete now with string beans and cucumbers planted last week all emerging and off to a good start. Even the sweet corn planted on Tuesday night was starting to emerge as of the following Monday morning. The plants that are stealing the show thus far however are the muskmelons. Already beginning to sprawl, they are flowering in response to the ideal growing conditions. Most of the pumpkins and squash too are starting to get good dark green color to them and given an inch of rain, they will explode. Mrs. Cheviot brought home lots of salvia plants and yours truly planted his traditional 4 o’clocks. Both should satisfy the hummingbirds who visit the yard daily.

My other favorite hiding place has been anywhere I can keep an eye on my little fat feathered buddies. The killdeer still has not hatched out her young as of Monday night. She drags her wing and messes with my mind but she also lets me get within about 4’. She takes a good photograph too. The kestrels fledged on Tuesday much to our surprise. They apparently developed enough wing strength from Sunday to Tuesday to make it as far as the trees in the fenceline. It was somewhat bittersweet as they were fun to watch develop and that a professional photographer friend had come from 2 ½ hours away to photograph them. The adult kestrels were not very cooperative, hunting from high altitudes and were constantly on the move. He did get one outstanding photo of an adult carrying a mouse back to the trees where the youngsters were waiting so it wasn’t all for naught. It was a fantastic shot, showing what kestrels do best: Hunt.

As mentioned last week, we saw bluebirds and discovered this week that they are indeed nesting. In fact they are nesting in the bluebird house attached to the depth adjustment lever on the old No. 8 International plow in the pasture. It’s just great to have bluebirds back at the ranch once again. In addition, near the garden in a spruce tree probably planted by the red-headed 4-Her, a brown thrasher nest was discovered complete with 4 cream colored eggs with reddish speckles. And, as an added bonus, when fixing fence Monday night, I checked the wood duck nesting box in the wetland. The hen blasted out of the box like she’d been shot out of a cannon as I approached. Not sure how many eggs she may be setting on but there appears to be a full clutch under all that fluffy down. In the background the young kestrels could be heard from their perches in the trees behind me, calling for more food. The parents were Johnny on the spot, answering and hauling edibles into the trees, then back out on the hunt again.

See you next week…real good then.

[MN Shutterbug]

It sounds like your acreage is a natural nursery.