Fencelines

[Dotch]

They sure do Steve, sure do. I wish only the best for you and Molly and I don't envy your position. Borders are very special animals, almost human at times. Lucy is aging, thus far gracefully but that day will come just as it does for us all. In the meantime, know we are treasuring every day we have with Lucy. Next week my schedule is pretty clear so Lucy and Gus will probably get to go to the office to celebrate her birthday. The guys make a fuss over them. They live for that as well as riding in "their" truck.

[Steve Foss]

You know, it's a wonder border collies even let us drive their trucks. It's a known fact that they're plenty smart enough to drive (well, opposable thumbs WOULD help), and I've seen LOTS of (Contact Us Please) drivers on the road who could take lessons in intelligence from the BCs.

[Dotch]

A winter's day, in a deep and dark December...

The scurs were tracking more than snow last week with a pretty good idea of what the weather was up to. Can they deliver on a decent holiday forecast? All indications point to “yes”. Starting with Wednesday, look for a high of 30 and a low of 15 – 20. Much the same Thursday with a high of 30 and a low of 15. Slight chance of light snow. Slightly cooler Friday and Saturday with highs both days near 25 and lows of 15 – 20. Slight chance of light snow on Friday night into Saturday. Sunday and Monday highs range from 20 – 25 and lows dipping to 10 above. Christmas Day could see a slight thaw with a high of 30 – 35 and a low of 15. Normal high for December 21st is 25 and normal low is 6. Normal high for Christmas Day is 24 and normal low is 5. Starting on the 18th we experience our shortest day lengths at 8 hours and 54 minutes through Christmas Day. On the 21st, we will have only lost 2 minutes from 1 week previously. On the 26th, we get one more minute of daylight back so if you see the scurs out celebrating, you’ll know why.

The 23rd brings us the Full Moon for the month, becoming full at 7:16 p.m. Once again we run into the calendar vs. Universal Time issue. The free calendars most of us get this time of year are designed based on Universal Time and those of us on CST need to subtract 6 hours for the time to be accurate. The moon is actually full the day prior to when the calendar claims it is. This Full Moon is known as the Full Cold Moon or the Long Nights Moon. Indeed the nights are long and the moon stays above the horizon for a long time. On the 23rd for instance, it rises at 4:04 p.m. and sets the following morning at 8:44 a.m. making for 16 hours and 40 minutes of mooning pleasure, if it isn’t cloudy of course.

Birds continue to flock to the feeders although the flicker may have flown the coop. No matter, there are enough new goldfinches to make up the difference for several flickers. Did a little experiment with the goldfinches to see whether they could tell new thistle seed from some that had been in a feeder not being consumed for awhile. Thistle seed is not getting any cheaper. In the feeder they were consistently emptying, I secretly switched that seed with the old stuff they weren’t eating just to see if they could tell the difference. Sounds sorta like one of those old Folger’s coffee crystals commercials, doesn’t it? Nothing visually wrong with the seed, nor could one detect any musty odor. Sure enough, they went to the other feeders and still turned their noses, er, beaks up at the old seed in the feeder they had previously favored. Gotta get up purty early in the morning to fool a goldfinch.

At the Mall for Men the little fat buddies continue hiding and gathering near the Festivus pole. Every day high level discussions are conducted concerning crucial matters such as where the fish are biting, lying about crop yields as well as home economics. Yes, home economics. We’re especially concerned about food safety this time of year, particularly food spoilage. The consensus of the panel of experts was that the best way to avoid food spoilage is to eat it. Judging by the snug fitting “coverhauls” of one of the panel members, the strategy works despite claims of the Mrs. washing the Carhartts in hot water.

Went out and did my level best once again to Christmas shop for the staff at the Star Eagle. Enlisted the scurs help as there are a bunch more people to buy for. For Jim I found a nice pillow containing a tiny hidden speaker that constantly plays “Double Mark’s salary” for those long winter naps. For Nancy, some of my homegrown 4 O’clock seeds. I know they’re out there under the snow and ice someplace. For Betts, some micro-chips; you know, like those crunched up Doritos at the bottom of the bag that fit so nicely down between the couch cushions. For Al, I figured he needed a new hat as the one in that photo has got to be getting a little gamey. For Jody, I located an autographed copy of “In the Navy” by the Village People. For Kathy, a Chatty Cathy doll with a really long string. For Dick, more of those now 2 year-old dehydrated wax worms. Just add water! Speaking of water, for Ray I procured a bottle of Bugtussle’s finest dihydrogen monoxide from the tap and a flu shot. For Reed I purchased a pack of heaters but he can only have them if he promises to smoke them outside. And for those wondering, yes, I am getting Kugie another athletic supporter but this year, I’m getting him a blonde.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Got the soul of a ragpicker, Got the mind of a slug

I keep sweeping problems, Under my rug

After hitting a little bump in the weather road that was the weekend, the scurs are tanned, rested and ready for another week’s forecast. This week should be moderate temperature-wise but bring with it chances of snow mid-week through Friday. Wednesday’s high of 30 should be easy to take along with the low of 15. Thursday and Friday the highs should be 25 and lows should be 10 – 15. Saturday through New Years Eve Day, highs of 20 – 25 and lows of 10 – 15. New Years Day, high of 30 and low of 10 – 15 with a chance of snow. Normal high for December 28th is 24 and normal low is 4. We have gained 2 minutes of daylight since December 21st. The scurs are readying their snowshoes after watching Sgt. Preston of the Yukon reruns.

In the heavens, we are still seeing Venus as one of the bright features of the morning sky before sunup and after dusk, the red planet Mars is noticed in the western sky. It is the closest to Earth it has been in over 2 years. Look for Jupiter to reappear in the morning sky again next month as you continue to rise earlier than the sun to get to work. The sun pillar on Christmas Eve morning was nothing short of spectacular. Ice crystals suspended in the air made for an awesome view on the heels of the fleeing winter storm.

Was a weekend to entertain as we had the family get-togethers for both sides of the Cheviot family at the ranch. Yours truly spent lots of time cleaning and scrubbing the floors prior to that. My janitorial experience from my college days comes in handy once in awhile. Was great to have everyone together though and it went smoother than could’ve been expected. Everyone brought so much food and a good time seemed to be had by all. Even the dogs enjoyed themselves. Leftover giblets are prime doggie treats and special attention was paid to the canine guests as well as Gus and Lucy. Lots of petting and cooing over them and they loved every minute of it.

The weekend weather was foretold by lots of squirrel activity both in town and out in the country. Around the Mall for Men, lots of gray squirrels were on the move Friday including Stubby. Stubby is a gray squirrel with a 3” – 4” tail. Distinctive looking little bugger and can always tell which rodent it is. Outside Bugtussle, the fox squirrels were busy on Friday and Saturday. Stubby’s country cousin Tubby is the fox squirrel we share with neighbor David. Tubby was busy feasting after running from his home across the pasture to his favorite ear corn feeder. His behind was facing the wind and his tail was up over his back protecting him from the wind as he chowed down on kernel after kernel. There’s a reason he’s called Tubby and it isn’t because he can coach basketball. With Sunday’s brutal wind and snow, was a safe bet he was busy sleeping off his feast in a nest or tree cavity someplace.

Bird activity was frantic most of the weekend as well. The goldfinches number nearly two dozen now and when they’re hungry, they pull pretty hard on the feeders. Even when the weather was whooping it up, they clung to the leeward side of the feeders for dear life. The mourning doves for being symbols of peace were pretty mean to the other birds. The blue jays were around too, prompting new brother-in-law Joe to proclaim them to be the biggest, fattest blue jays he’d ever seen. We made him aware they were small compared to the 22 lb. model grilled on the Weber as the main course.

Was wondering when I’d find time with the Vikings game changed to Sunday night to get this column done. After reeling off 5 in a row, was beginning to think they might have something going on. After seeing the results of the first half, that problem was solved quickly. Morgan Mundane pointed out on Saturday morning that Joe Gibbs was 5 – 0 at the Metrodome. After Sunday’s debacle, make that 6 – 0. Having watched all the Vikings Super Bowl losses and all the teams that looked promising but just never quite made it, have decided they’re pro football’s answer to the Cubs in baseball. Might as well go about your business and not get too excited about them because you know full well if you get your hopes up, they’re only gonna dash ‘em to bits. To quote a former Vikings head coach, they are who we thought they were. My only solace for the weekend: The Packers were annihilated by none other than “Da Bears”!

Mrs. Cheviot wasted no time recovering from last year’s Christmas tree-less Christmas with a flurry, placing 5 Christmas trees around the abode. There’s even one in the bathroom where I sit and read my toilet book. The “real” Charlie Brown tree purchased at the last minute even turned out pretty well although I sure had my doubts when tossing it in the back of the Silver Bullet. Took me awhile to find all the strategically placed trees. Hopefully when it’s time to take them down, I can be strategically placed so it’ll take Mrs. Cheviot awhile to find me. Will see if some of my training sessions with the little fat buddies have paid off.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

The question to everyone's answer...

New Year’s Day wind up a little cooler than expected? Yep, but the snowfall pattern was exactly as the scurs thought. Wednesday starts off cool but the temps should warm as the week goes on. Look for Wednesday’s high around 10 with a low of 5. Thursday and Friday, highs of 25 – 30 and lows of 20 – 25. Warmer Saturday and Sunday with a slight chance of rain beginning what should be an early January thaw. High of 35 through Tuesday with lows staying 25 – 30 for Saturday and Sunday. Lows should taper off to around 20 for Monday and Tuesday. Normal high for January 4th is 22 and the normal low is 2. We’ve gained 5 minutes of daylight since December 28th. We’re now up to a whopping 9 hours and 1 minute. The scurs will be sharpening the blades on their ice skates to take advantage of the warmer than normal temperatures.

Does it look like winter out there? You betcha, although it has been moderate temperature-wise thus far. The 30 day outlook for January looks to continue the above normal pattern we’ll see this week. Oh sure, there will be some seesawing and if winter holds true to form, March could dump a pile of wet heavy snow on us. However, we’ve chewed off a large hunk of winter already and it hopefully won’t seem to drag on forever. The one fly in the ointment is the ice thickness on area lakes remains inconsistent. With no extended cold snap, there are thin spots, especially where there is current or waterfowl worked at keeping areas open for awhile before migrating. Yes people are driving on the lakes but with warm temperatures forthcoming, always a good idea to exercise caution.

Weren’t the trees gorgeous on Sunday morning? Covered in hoar frost, they looked just like they’d been coated with that white flocking used on Christmas trees. What exactly is hoar frost and how does it form? Hoar frost is defined by the NWS as: “A deposit of interlocking ice crystals formed by direct sublimation on objects, usually those of small diameter freely exposed to the air, such as tree branches, plants, wires, poles, etc. The deposition of hoar frost is similar to the process by which dew is formed, except that the temperature of the frosted object must be below freezing. It forms when air with a dew point below freezing is brought to saturation by cooling”. All I know is the trees just look pretty.

Did Little Jerry the rooster pheasant make reappearance in our yard recently? Could’ve been. A large, beautifully colored rooster was busy taking advantage of the ear corn feeder in the corner of the lawn. He’d managed to pull an ear out of the feeder and was busy rolling it around in the snow, trying to get every last kernel off it he could. After getting his fill, he slunk back in the thicket to hide for a couple days. With the pheasant hunting season closing on January 1st, he was taking no chances. How are the pheasants doing across the area in general? They are certainly visible and so far there sure have been lots of hens spotted on the road picking up grit for their gizzards. While the earlier ice didn’t help their cause, the amount of header loss in both corn and soybeans was substantial. Moderating temperatures and some melting off in the fields should continue to help. A special thank you to my neighbor Mark for leaving such a generous food plot along his CRP. The pheasants spend a fair amount of time in there.

Are the gray partridge making a comeback? There is a small group of Hungarian partridge hanging around between the ranch and neighboring farmsteads. Saw them flying around the Dubya’s yard the other day then heard them calling to each other north of the house here as the group must’ve become separated. Slowly but surely it looks like the Huns are on the increase again. In my travels over the summer, ran across more of these little “round rockets” than I’ve seen in quite some time.

What are Gus and Lucy up to? They’ve been keeping the stray cats, bunnies and squirrels exercised. Lord knows there are enough cottontails around the ranch that if one sewed all their pelts together, you could make a furry hot air balloon. Other than that, the doggies took care of the last morsels from the holiday turkey and Gus is shedding, like all border collies constantly do.

Have I been enjoying my Christmas gifts so far? No doubt, particularly the goodies from the crack management staff at the Star Eagle. It helps me maintain my fighting weight. Especially liked the fruit cake. For those who don’t know, some wiseacre had taken cleverly taken the label off a fruitcake and glued it onto a wooden box. Not wanting to offend anyone or look a gift horse in the mouth, I ate it anyway. It was a little dry but with a glass of milk and lots of butter, much better tasting than most fruitcakes. I hope they enjoy the possum sausage and jerky I’m sending them for New Year’s.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Purple haze all around...

Just as the scurs thought, the speed-bump like cold snap didn’t last long and were treated to lots of fog and haze. It did melt plenty of the ice on area driveways and city streets however. The cause of the recent warm spell? No question it was due to the hot air being blown up from IA during last week’s caucuses. This week we ease our way back into winter with colder temperatures and an increasing promise of more snow. Highs Wednesday and Thursday should be near 30 and lows of 15 – 20. Chances of snow both days. Friday, highs of 25 – 30 with a low of 10 – 15. Saturday and Sunday, highs near 20 and lows around 10. Snow possible Sunday into Monday. Monday and Tuesday, colder with highs of 15 and lows of 5 – 10. Normal high for January 11 is 22 and normal low is 2. We’ve gained nearly 9 minutes of daylight since January 4th even though the sun will continue to rise at 7:48 until January 12th, the same as it has since December 28th. Our gain thus far has come from a later sunset. After taking down their Christmas decorations, the scurs are ready to settle in for a long winters nap.

The sun dogs on New Year’s Day were nothing short of marvelous. With as much blowing snow in the lower atmosphere and ice crystals aloft, the parentheses around the sun were huge. And following weather lore to a “T”, it did become much colder just as we all knew it would. The minus 8 reading on the truck thermometer the morning of January 2nd served as a reminder I didn’t need after chores.

It is amazing to watch the birds respond to the increase day length. In mid to late December, by 4:30 in the afternoon, they had left the feeders for their overnight roost. Now one can see them until 5 pm, still picking that last sunflower seed out of the feeder and flying up into the tree to crack it open. The warmer weather seemed to make a difference too. The goldfinches that were crowding the thistle socks were more erratic. Suspect when the temperatures cool down they’ll be back. Did discover there wasn’t just one Little Jerry the rooster pheasant, there were actually 5. Some armchair wildlife biologists might argue that it’s too many in a group. However, there are 4 to 5 times that many hens right in the same general proximity. Mother Nature takes care of her own fairly well. As predicted last week, now the fields are fairly free from ice and snow, there is plenty of access to grain from this past season’s harvest.

Was good to see my little fat buddy from Ellendale was hired by the crack management staff to cover Ellendale city council events. Would expect he will get plenty of valuable advice and input from his little fat buddy in Geneva while they’re moonlighting together on their daytime jobs.

With Christmas and New Years Day falling in the middle of the week, has been one of those holiday seasons where one is never just exactly sure when it’s really over with. Seems like it depends on who you are. Some won’t leave the decorations up a day past New Years Day and others will keep their lights up and going until well into February. The easy solution to that problem: Just don’t put any up.

Was afraid with the holiday season winding to a close, the little fat buddies would go into mourning as the Christmas goody supply is dwindling. However, hope was restored Monday morning when a huge pan full of apple crisp and whipped topping appeared. There really is a Santa Claus!

Mrs. Cheviot got her dander up and decided it was time to remove the Charlie Brown Christmas tree on Sunday. Yours truly had just awoken from his 2nd nap of the afternoon. Tanned, rested and ready, it was time to do battle. Almost hated to see the tree go but the needles were starting to be an issue. After we stuffed it out the patio doors, we discovered it left a gaping hole in the dining room decor. Of course as usual, my ideas to fill that void met with disapproval. Thought a gun cabinet might’ve added a nice touch or maybe with that much space, one of the old couches from the office would fit to catch those winter afternoon’s sunrays. Or perhaps a basketball hoop. It’s a good thing we’re both short.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Keep me warm, let me wear your coat

For those wanting snow, the scurs have been having a rough time getting 2 snowflakes to rub together to make a snowball. That’s OK, that’s what they predicted for this past week. This week may generate more of the same light flurries but result in little in the way of accumulation. It will definitely generate a higher heating bill however. Starting Wednesday, we’ll be blessed with highs of 15 – 20 and lows of 0 to 5 above. Slight chance of snow in the afternoon and evening. Thursday, cooler with a high of 10 – 15 and lows of 0 to 5 above. Cold Friday, a slight chance of light snow, with a high of 5 and an overnight low of – 10. Saturday, it will struggle to make 0 for a high and lows will remain at – 10. Sunday, slightly warmer, a high near 5 with lows between 0 and 5 below. Monday and Tuesday, a tad warmer with highs around 10 and lows of 0 to 5 below. Normal high for January 18th is 22 and normal low is 2. We’ve gained approximately 11 minutes of daylight in the past week. The scurs are staying toasty by burning old Fencelines rough drafts in their pot-bellied stove.

The cold we’re experiencing is certainly not unprecedented and in fact, it’s somewhat unusual we haven’t encountered s deep cold snap long before this. The period from January 4th – 20th usually brings with it some of the coldest weather we’ll encounter over the course of a winter. We’ve used up a large portion of January and hopefully the duration of this Arctic air will ease up as we head toward month’s end. It will make ice conditions on area lakes more stable, something that will make anglers smile. Often times though, when we encounter extreme cold, fishing slows down. There is no law however stating that one actually has to fish in a fish house.

Monday morning’s sun dogs and sun pillar brought in the new work week with an indication of what’s in store for us. – 5 temps also were a part of the equation. The Full Moon this month occurs on the 22nd and is known as the Full Wolf Moon as the wolves would be around the Indian settlements at this time of year. It is also known as the Moon after the Yule. The Sioux knew this as the Moon When Frost is in the Tipi. One can only imagine especially given the temperatures experienced in January on the plains.

Saw a lot of squirrel activity this past week along local roadways. Squirrel? Well, we have no deal with THEM! Was asked an intriguing question by Milf the other day regarding the gestation period on squirrels. When asked why, he indicated that he was seeing activity under his bird feeders suggesting they were mating. Indeed the tree dwelling rodents are mating. The 2 primary species of squirrels we see here in SC MN are gray squirrels and fox squirrels. The greatest concentration of gray squirrels tends to be in towns while the fox squirrels tend to be more rural inhabitants.

There are 2 main periods of squirrel mating activity, one occurring from late December to February and another one in June and July. Males are polygyandrous meaning they aren’t tied to any one female. Female fox squirrels normally produce 1 brood per year but do sometimes produce a second. Gray squirrels more commonly produce 2 broods per year. Gestation for both squirrels runs about 44 – 45 days. Both squirrel species average 3 offspring per litter with the young being born naked in tree cavities or those leafy nests one sees in the treetops. Gray squirrels are weaned at about 10 weeks whereas fox squirrels are weaned closer to 8 weeks.

More leftover goodies continue to surface at the Mall for Men. Yet another pan of apple crisp graced the hallowed halls last week. Along with the goodies, all last week’s cloudy, gloomy weather was fodder for many an afternoon snooze. Given a tummy full of food, a murmuring football or basketball game on TV and a warm blankie, naps broke out across much of the greater Bugtussle area this past weekend.

While getting ready for church the other day, found myself still confused by the definition of “good clothes”. It’s all backwards. Seems like if they were really good clothes, they’d be warm, versatile and comfortable. Instead, they’re usually some thin fabric with little functional qualities to them. If you’ve ever had to change a flat tire in the middle of a snowstorm in a suit and tie or chase some critters around the mud when they’re out you know exactly what I’m talking about. “Good clothes”? Good for what? Never have to worry about getting every day clothes dirty because it’s usually already too late for that. And, they’re warm. If they weren’t, I wouldn’t put them on in the first place. Give me my “cufferhauls” and longhandles any day.

Made a trek to my favorite store outside of Bugtussle, the one where they use the big orange silo as a bathroom. Decided that it was time to stock up on some supplies and I needed to get some razor blades as well. Was dreading going across the street to Target (definitely a women’s store) for those but luckily was able to find acceptable toiletries while perusing the aisles discovering other bargains. Appears camo must be “in”. Found a camo extension cord which I thought would be real nice until I didn’t see it and ran over it with the lawnmower. The other product that really caught my eye was a camo nose hair trimmer. I mean, is someone actually concerned that ducks, geese and deer might see you sticking something on your lanyard up your nose? Apparently so.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Sheltered inside from the cold of the snow...

Despite missing the overnight lows on the weekend by 5 degrees, the scurs forecast definitely made the heating fuel man smile. By Friday however, the below zero weather will be a faded memory as we head into some warmer days. Wednesday will continue the cooler pattern with a slight chance of snow, high of 5 and a low of 10 below. Thursday, high of 10 and low of 0. Friday we’re greeted with 20 degrees for a high and a low of 10. Warmer yet for the weekend with highs Saturday and Sunday of 25 and lows of 15. Monday and Tuesday, slightly cooler with highs around 20 and lows of 10. Possible snow both days. Normal high for January 25th is 23 and the normal low is 3. We’ve gained about 15 minutes of daylight in the past week and since New Years day, a whopping 38 minutes. The scurs will be able to stay out a little later as they take their toboggan down the hill one last time before supper.

The extra daylight is indeed becoming more noticeable. The birds at the feeders are often there past 5 p.m. and are starting their day by around 7:30 a.m. This past weekend’s – 15 degree lows may have put a damper on some activities but for those with chores, they have to be done regardless. Takes a lot of the fun out of it but once they’re done, there’s not much reason to stay outside. Makes it much easier to stay inside and watch basketball or football in the meantime.

As mentioned, the birds stay active later and the snow and colder weather brought more numbers to the feeders. The goldfinches came back and cleaned out the thistle feeders on Saturday. The chickadees, juncos and blue jays are in constant motion it seems. Decided this was good weekend to put the heated birdbath out again. Not many takers right off the bat except for one starling which made my trigger finger begin to itch. We’re down to 1 lone mourning dove now. Apparently the dozen or so that had been hanging around sought a different locale, hopefully a warmer one.

The recliner provided an excellent spot for yours truly to rest his bones on Saturday and catch a few Z’s during halftime. Never fails, something usually disrupts those savored, peaceful moments when the world goes away for awhile. The phone usually rings, the dogs bark or Mrs. Cheviot wakes me up. Always amazes me how women can state the obvious. While about midway through sawing a log I hear this, “You’re snoring!” I’ve solved that: When she asks if I’m sleeping the answer is always “Yes!”

The dogs have made it through the winter so far relatively unscathed. As well they should. Sleeping in a garage with floor heat isn’t exactly a terrible existence and I remind them of that every time I feed them and change their water. They are the quintessential border collies, not unlike those that Jon Katz writes about in “A Dog Year”. Like Orson, when I come home with the truck, Lucy always lets out a big ‘rooooo!’ and Gus comes boiling out from under the garage door when it opens. Both like routine and structure of course, and anything incongruous with that receives their immediate scrutiny. Lately they’ve taken a shine to barking at those C-130 transport planes flying low level routes over the area. Could hire them out to the Air Force for tracking planes although they also bark when a neighbor sneezes.

We ventured forth Thursday night to the new restaurant in town only to watch Tubby and the Gophers go down to defeat against Indiana. We sat in the non-smoking area as the smoking area looked a little chilly. So happened that our guest that night was from Indiana and was actually a Hoosier fan. Was nice to treat her to a taste of our home town cuisine although before the Willows opened, I had secretly hoped for a Pakistani restaurant. Maybe with a steaming hot face cloth for your pleasure.

At The Mall for Men, goodies continue to arrive in mass quantities. The last delivery was a 5 gallon bucket of cookies. The crowd was somewhat diminished what with several meetings to attend this past week so the cookies lasted almost 2 days. We’re considering putting up a bulk bin outside. The trick is to auger the cookies into the building without crumbling them all up. Maybe an air delivery system. Fortunately we have the rest of the winter to work on that problem. It’s what we do.

See you next week…real good then.

[Steve Foss]

Thanks, Dotch. I got a nice kick out of the border collies tracking C-130s. When the floatplanes take off from Shagawa Lake near our house, our border collie is the same way.

[Dotch]

Thanks Steve. Couldn't figure out what in the blazes they were so upset about until I stuck my head out the door, listened, and saw the planes. Almost have to own a border collie to understand just how bizarre their behavior can be. How's Molly been wintering thus far?

[Steve Foss]

Molly, at 14, is stiffening up. Some days she bounces around in the snow like a 4-year-old and other days it seems she has a hard time even climbing on the couch. Last night she didn't even try to come upstairs to bed with us.

She'll be VERY happy when spring rolls around, but our time together is running out.

[Dotch]

There are pyramids in my head, there's one underneath my bed...

The scurs managed to forecast their way out of another cold snap and not a moment too soon. With a low on the 24th of – 20 and the mercury struggling to get above zero for highs, 40 degrees on the 28th was a welcome respite from the icebox we were stuck in. What’s in store this week? Unlikely to reach 40 anytime soon but we should resume seasonal temperatures after a cold midweek. Highs Wednesday of zero to 5 above and lows of 0 to – 5. Thursday a little warmer with a high of 15 and a low of 0 to 5 above. Friday through Monday, highs of 20 to 25 and lows hovering between 5 to 10 above. Chance of snow Monday into Tuesday, with Tuesday’s high near 15 and the low of 5 to 10 above. Normal high is 25 and normal low is 5, much the same as we’d expect over the Christmas holiday. We’ll have 9 hours and 52 minutes of daylight on February 1st and have gained 16 hours since last Friday. Before you know it, the scurs will be getting their lawn furniture out.

Last week was a good one to stay close to the fire. Luckily no pipes or hydrants froze. Doing chores in the cold really tuckers one out but the sheep with their long fleeces don’t seem to notice. Some of them actually sleep outside on those subzero nights as long as it isn’t windy. After a lively hour of hauling pails, tossing bales and smashing ice out of buckets, one really doesn’t feel like venturing out much. Unless of course it’s to go ice fishing.

Yep, finally got the fish house out last week thanks to the “Cherman”. Yours truly had to affix the license on it first as we planned on leaving it out overnight. The DNR has some work to do on their licenses methinks. Fish house licenses come as a printed-off piece of plastic material without adhesive backing. They do however have some slots or tabs where it’s suggested that one place string or wire through them. As the Cherman noted, attached that way, the licensing wouldn’t stay on past the end of the driveway. Maybe part of their grand plan to generate more tickets, I’m not sure. Anyway, was proud of myself for taking the window out and doing a stellar job of taping the license to it. However, upon putting the window back in, noticed we could read the information inside the house! Quickly remedied that as I tore it loose and reattached it on the outside of the window and inside the screen. Why does one have a window screen on a fish house? To keep the ice flies and snow fleas out, of course!

The Cherman hauled the fish house out to the lake where one of my little fat buddies lives. Very handy if we need to use the bathroom or run out of refreshments and munchies. And, with 500’ of extension cord we can also borrow his big screen TV although it gets a little crowded in the fish house. Reception is pretty good though. As long as we put it back and don’t drop the thing, he’ll never know we borrowed it. Probably a good thing to have some entertainment. too. So far, we haven’t managed to catch much other than a cold. Oh well, someone will probably have a cake for us at the Mall for Men and sing “Get well soon, we wish you to get well…”

Not much new bird activity to report here the past week other than one can see lots of pheasant tracks in the yard after the fluffy snow. They love to hang out under the pines and around the dogwood. When the days were cold, goldfinch activity was high but as temps warmed, they became scarcer. The downies, chickadees and juncos are always faithful though, usually the first one’s there in the morning and amongst the last to leave in the evening. Mom had a pileated woodpecker at her feeder right outside the kitchen window last week, something not all that common even in that area of the country.

This column marks the start of the 6th action packed year of Fencelines and my stint as a regular columnist, as opposed to an irregular columnist. To all my loyal readers: Thank you; your check is in the mail. Some have had some questions about how it’s written. Normally the writing happens on Sunday night although there are literally dozens of little square sheets of paper containing ideas scattered around the house from my notepad. The column’s written on a laptop confuser known as the Latitude with an attitude, not unlike Cannon’s Terrible Tone from the basement studio. We try to write in plain old-fashioned everyday rural southern MN English although from time to time, there are references to our ethnic heritage that apparently give the editor’s spell-check a hissy fit. For example “chorse”. Chores are what non-Scandinavian farmers do and “chorse” (rhymes with horse) are what the Swede and Norwegian farmers do. This week the alien is back so after a nonproductive treatment with couch grass, cramp bark and a pyramid, the column is being written under the influence of over the counter cold medicines. Can just hear some readers now: “See? I told you he had to be on something!”

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

I tried so hard to stand as I stumbled and fell to the ground...

The scurs were as on target as an Eli Manning pass last week, pulling off an unbelievable upset. Eli Manning that is. The scurs are thinking we should see more near normal conditions this week. Starting with Wednesday, highs should make 25 with lows of 15. Thursday, highs of 25 – 30 and lows of 10 – 15. Chance of snow Wednesday night into Thursday. Friday and Saturday, high of 20 – 25 with lows ranging from 10 to 15. Sunday and Monday, warmer, with highs of 30 – 35 and lows of 20. Tuesday will cool slightly with a high of 25 and low of 15. Snow possible Monday and/or Tuesday. Normal high is 27 and normal low is 7. We’ve gained about 18 minutes or approximately 2 ½ minutes of daylight per day since February 1. After cashing in on the Super Bowl, the scurs dipped the chip, took a bite and dipped again.

The ground hog did not see his shadow last Saturday which by folklore means spring should be just around the corner. In reality, can only remember one time when it was actually fit to plant anything in the field in late February and that was some small grain back in 1987. It got cold after that, the ground re-froze and it was nip and tuck as to whether the crop would survive. One could pry the frozen inch of crust off the top and peer at the sprouted seedlings just beneath it and wonder how much longer it was going to stay cold. The crop survived, the stand was adequate, and it yielded respectably but was no record breaker. Apparently a bit more to it than just planting early.

The goldfinches are becoming more numerous again, well over two dozen at the feeders at last count. They’ve taken a real liking to the birdbath and use it routinely. For the first time in several years, they outnumber the house sparrows coming to the feeders and not just by a little. Control methods can pay off if one sticks to them.

While the snow we’ve received to this point has contained relatively little moisture, it’s been just enough to make nice patches of ice to trip and fall on around farm yards. Disguised by a skifting of snow, it makes walking around treacherous especially with bales or buckets in tow. Every few days one goes for a digger if you’re not careful making it that much easier to scrape the yard bare the next time it snows to help avoid that situation.

And what would cold weather be without colds? One thing about it, it gives one time to practice up on their farmer nose blowing technique. This was one of the things growing that my Dad did that totally impressed my younger brother and I. Outside, without a hankie, he’d use one finger and voila! Didn’t need one! Took awhile but we mastered it although we did later figure out why he never grew a full beard at least on our watch.

Had the zipper blow out on my “cufferhauls” the other day and really didn’t want to quit wearing them just yet. After all, it was just the zipper that was worn out. What to do? I remembered the pair of coveralls my Mom used to wear to the barn. The buttons on those were shot so she improvised and used diaper pins. Well, if you show sheep, especially breeding stock like we have, you have an abundance of sheep blanket pins that look like a diaper pin on steroids. They’re useful not only for pinning hoods on sheep blankets but have dozens of other uses. Have seen them used in a pinch as safety pins in implement draw pins, as replacement suspender snaps and in hasps in place of padlocks. Work on “cufferhauls” too. Darn near as useful around the farm as duct tape and bale twine.

Some dear friends and Cheviot breeders near Janesville WI experienced the unthinkable during last Wednesday morning’s bitter cold: A fire consumed the Richard and Judy Schambow family’s steel pole building containing their flock of sheep. Of the 75 or so sheep, all their Cheviots were lost and all but 3 Suffolks perished. Check out the story at: http://www.channel3000.com/news/15180342/detail.html

Fortunately, we own a ram jointly with them and he happens to be over-wintering here. Since BernaRRd is a mild-mannered big fellow, loves to be scratched and eat out of your hand, you can bet he’s been receiving special attention. Along with that, the outpouring of help to rebuild the Schambow flock from people across the country has been incredible. People have offered their excavation help to bury the rubble, brought food and even offered to give them sheep to help replace those they lost. There really are some wonderful people out there and their response shows that they, especially the sheep people are some of the most giving, caring individuals you’ll ever want to meet. It truly isn’t about the money.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

They had to count them all...

After laying an egg forecasting last weekend’s bone-chilling conditions, the scurs have set their sights on delivering a sure to warm your heart Valentines Day prognostication. Starting with Wednesday, look for a high of 25 and a low of 10. Snow likely Wednesday night into Thursday. Cooler Valentine’s Day, with highs of 15 – 20 and lows near 5. Cooler yet on Friday. High of 10 and low of 0. Warmer Saturday, high of 25 and low of 10 with a chance of snow. Sunday and Monday, highs of 25 and lows near 15. Warmer Tuesday, high of 30 and low of 20 with a chance for sleet and snow. Normal high for February 15th is 30 and normal low is 9, the same we encounter in early to mid-December. On the 15th, we’ve added another 20 minutes of daylight since last Friday, or approximately 2.8571428 minutes per day, give or take .0000001 minutes. The scurs are getting out the slide rule to calculate next week’s daylight changes.

While the weather took a nasty turn last Saturday, we were definitely fortunate that the snowfall amounts in the last couple “mini-blizzards” were as light as they were. The snow from the last storm really didn’t fill in much around most people’s yards but as usual, plopped drifts in front of doors and gates where they’re unwelcome. With the ice crystals forming snowflakes being so severely beaten and broken up by the wind, the resulting snow banks packed like concrete. Hitting them on the road was like running over a plank.

If you look at your calendar, you’ll notice we should experience a total lunar eclipse on February 21st. However, do not be fooled by the old Universal Time trick again. In our area of the world, the eclipse will actually take place on February 20th with totality occurring at 9 p.m., the middle of the eclipse coming at 9:26 p.m. then coming back out of the eclipse at 9:51 p.m. If you wait until the 21st, you’ll be waiting until 2010 to see another total lunar eclipse. Might miss it anyway if it’s cloudy; we’ll see next week.

What have the little fat buddies been up to at the Mall for Men? Why, we’ve been busy planning for Valentine’s Day of course. Naturally, we need to keep our strength up and given the brownies, leftover Christmas cookies, chocolate covered cherries and extremely creamy fudge we consumed last week, we might survive this week’s grueling forays to the shopping mall or flower shop. Of course in order to buy Valentine’s gifts, we’ve first focused on making sure our money was legal tender. We counted the ridges on the edges of dimes and quarters and conclusively determined there are 118 on dimes and 119 on quarters. If they have more or less than that, they are likely counterfeit.

We can’t help watching the grain markets either. Last week’s nearby wheat closes were nothing short of astounding, at over $15 per bushel. New crop September bids are over $11. Now if there was actually any wheat seed to be had, there is a chance we’d see more of the amber waves of grain sung about in America the Beautiful. As it is, the competition for acreage is fierce and there are few kernels of wheat to be had in bins and granaries across the land.

Area pheasants appear to be wintering well even with the recent cold snap. Some took shelter in the plum and sumac thicket on the edge of the yard during the storm where they had ear corn to eat. The next morning, a group of hens thundered out of their overnight roost and sailed into the Indiangrass, still erect despite all the wind and snow. The little birds in the yard even favored the feeders on the south side of the house. The goldfinches are beginning to show the faintest hint of a color change. Maybe it will be spring someday after all. After last weekend, you coulda fooled me. They fooled me, Jerry.

The weather even cancelled the local fishing contests but fear not, they are back on for this coming weekend. The Beaver Lake contest is Sunday February 17th from noon until 1:30 p.m. and the St. Olaf Lake contest follows from 2 – 3:30 p.m. Speaking of ice fishing, have the honor of taking a young lady from deep in the heart of Texas ice fishing for the first time in a couple weeks. Since driving on the ice usually freaks newbies out, I’ll be sure to let her know that we typically only fall through 4 or 5 times a season but someone always comes along to fish us out. That should calm her nerves.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Long ago it must be, I have a photograph...

Calling the mid-week forecast about right, the scurs are having a rough time recently getting the longer range call correct. Not easy to do this time of year when the jet stream suddenly sags and leaves the back door from Canada open. Starting with Wednesday this week we should see warmer conditions return. Wednesday’s high should be 5 – 10 above with a low of – 5. For those lunar eclipse watchers, partly cloudy skies should allow a glimpse starting around 9 p.m. Warmer Thursday and Friday with a high of 20 - 25 and a low of 10 - 15. Chance of light snow starting Friday night and continuing into early next week. Saturday and Sunday bring highs of 30 and lows of 15. Monday, above freezing with a high near 35 and a low of 15 – 20. Cooler Tuesday, highs of 25 – 30 and low of 15. Normal high for February 22 is 32 and normal low is 12. Days are continuing to get longer; there isn’t nearly as much time for the scurs wet mitties and snow pants to dry before their next go-round.

February 20th marks the occurrence of the Full Moon for the month. This moon is known by the Indian tribes of the Northeast as the Full Snow Moon or the Full Hunger Moon as food stocks were often dwindling. Closer to home the Ojibwe called this the Full Sucker Moon as the suckers were running in rivers and streams. The Sioux called this the Raccoon Moon or the Moon of Dark Red Calves. The raccoons do start becoming active again when we have warmer weather and the prior year’s buffalo calves would turn a reddish color due to the weathering of their outer coat, not unlike that which occurs on a natural colored sheep fleece over the course of a year.

Speaking of fleeces, was time to shear once again this past weekend and just in the nick of time. The sheep barely noticed the difference when the high reached 37 degrees on Saturday. With dry fleeces, wonderful catching help and an expert shearer shearing, it went about as smoothly as could be expected. Ralph and George got to watch the process, something not every kid growing up these days gets to see anymore. Not sure what they thought about the shearing but they sure seemed to like the ice cream we had for dessert after lunch.

The morning after shearing as if on cue, there were new lambs on the ground. A black ewe had a set of twins during chores, one white and one black and a yearling had a big single ewe lamb around noon. It is so nice to have ewes shorn prior to lambing for several reasons. The lambs can get at the food source more easily, the ewes lamb inside out of the elements, they give off more heat to keep the lambs warm and the barn stays drier without those fleeces carrying moisture into the building, just to name a few. By keeping the building dry, getting the ewe stripped out and making sure the lambs get colostrum into their system, little in the way of supplemental heat is necessary.

On the mornings when it’s calm out, the birds greet us when we come out the door for chores. Upon seeing their thistle feeders filled the night before, the goldfinches say “sweeeeeeeeeeet!” and the chickadees always add their “dee-dee-dee-dee!” to the mix. Blue jays have been competing with Tubby the squirrel for corn and the mourning dove numbers have been increasing as of late at the feeders. Was a little surprised Sunday afternoon to see a rough-legged hawk sitting in the elm tree in plain view of the bird feeders, yet the feeding birds seemed to pay little attention to him. Not too surprisingly, the squirrel and the bunnies were nowhere to be seen as this hawk has a preference for rodents.

We lost another icon this past week in New Richland. With Paul Pfeffer’s passing, it left a gaping hole in the town’s color and character as well as in the hearts of those who knew him. Here was a guy who always could make you smile and you just knew by the big grin on his face that he was going to get his squawker out and say something to make you laugh. Personally didn’t get to know Pauly all that well until we moved our office to New Richland back in ‘92. Wouldn’t you know, the telephone number the phone company gave us happened to be the same as Paul’s disconnected towing business number. Wasn’t exactly sure what to do at first when callers would insist they had called the right number, so would look up his home number in the book and give it to them. After awhile, I just called him myself and told him to call so and so back. Without realizing it, I had suddenly become his dispatcher! Only in a small town.

One could always bet if there were practical jokes being played on people around town, Paul and his A & P Corporation partner in crime probably had a hand in it. Margaret Engesser and Joyce Hansen always seemed to be among their prime targets. Even when they hadn’t done the deed, it was easiest just to assume they had. Others caught onto this and found great amusement in it when an accuser would confront the A & P CEO’s about a prank they hadn’t committed. One knew they were guilty until proven innocent.

Countless numbers of us had our autos towed over the years by Paul in his tow truck, nicknamed the “hooker-truck” by the gang at the restaurant. Wearing his signature dark blue two-piece uniform, didn’t matter where you were, he’d come and scrape your dead vehicle off the road, then haul it to the repair shop. Somewhere, in one of the drawers in my messy desk at work, there are some Paul’s Towing billing slips. We had talked about sending someone a falsified bill as a joke several years back but we never finalized the project. While he’d probably appreciate the humor in it if I pulled a stunt on someone from beyond the grave, will more likely keep them as a memento along with a receipt from Bruzek’s Hardware and a newspaper clipping with Margaret’s picture on it. Be in pretty good company I’d say.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

And the band played on...

Took awhile for the scurs to get untracked last week but by the weekend they were on the money. For the last week in February, they’re thinking we should see conditions closer to normal. For Wednesday, a high of 20 and a low of 10. Thursday and Friday, warmer with highs of 25 – 30 and lows of 15. Chance of snow Thursday into Friday. Near normal Saturday and Sunday, highs of 35 and lows of 15 – 20. Chance of snow Sunday into Monday. Monday and Tuesday, highs of 20 and lows of 10 – 15. Normal high for February 28th is 34 and normal low is 15. As of February 29th, we will have gained 2 hours and 16 minutes of daylight since the winter solstice. The scurs will be celebrating Leap Year on their toboggan.

Friday marks the additional day to our calendar making it known as Leap Year. Normally, those years evenly divisible by 4 are so designated. There are exceptions to this rule as those years evenly divisible by 100 must also be evenly divisible by 400. There is a long drawn out explanation for this in that the Solar Year contains slightly less than 365.25 days. To adjust for this, the designers of the Gregorian calendar determined an additional day would be added to the calendar to keep the vernal equinox very close to the same date. Thus Easter can remain on the 1st Sunday following the 1st Full Moon on or after March 21st.

Back here on planet Earth, spring is beginning to peer out from under the snirt, in the form of blackened fields. With as little moisture as there has been in much of the snow that has fallen this winter, it doesn’t take long on exposed soil for melting to occur. Was wondering where the horned larks were and on Friday, they appeared along the side of the road. There still isn’t enough bare ground in the pasture for them to show there but given the south facing slope, it won’t take long.

Recently read an article indicating that we receive abundant nitrogen in snowfall, positively impacting farmers producing crops. It’s not the first time I’ve read something like this but guess it depends on what one calls abundant and where one lives. On average, the nitrogen content in the total precipitation for a year amounts to somewhere in the vicinity of 5 – 10 lbs./acre. More recent studies at Waseca showed an average of 10 - 14 lbs./acre total. Since roughly 20% of our precip falls as snow, that amounts to 2 - 3 lbs./acre of N from snow annually. When one considers that nitrogen fertilizer recommendations for a corn crop are in the 110 – 120 lbs./acre range for corn following soybeans, the amount contained in snowfall is essentially a drop in the bucket. And, even if there were more substantial amounts of nitrogen in snow, given that the ground is frozen, nitrate nitrogen moves with water, and much of the water contained in snow runs off, it would have very little impact regardless of the concentration in the snowfall.

Nutrients contained in snow runoff are definitely a factor in surface water however and that’s why places such as wetlands are so important. They serve as filters or buffers to help keep the nutrients on the landscape and provide valuable habitat for many species of wildlife. Visited our CREP wetland on Sunday for the first time this winter and while it appeared pretty lifeless on the surface, one could see the tracks of the wildlife using it including fox, pheasants, cottontail rabbits and deer mice. Checked the wood duck house to see if it might be harboring a winter guest. Nope, just a little snow so it will need a good cleaning out and fresh cedar shavings to start the season.

It may be a slower than what we’ve become accustomed to start to the spring if the depth of the ice and frost in the ground are any indication. Most area lakes are sporting a couple feet of ice and frost depths are at least that deep on bare soils. Permanent ice shelters need to be off the ice as of Friday night but can be put back on for the day after that as long as they’re occupied. Thank goodness the fishing & shelter licenses now follow the fishing seasons so the license you bought last year is good through April 30th. Makes sense.

Had the privilege to take in the Waseca Co. Corn and Soybean Growers banquet last weekend. Lt. Governor Carol Molnau was the guest speaker and being a dairy farmer, she does have man hands. With Tim Pawlenty being touted as one of McCain’s potential running mates, who knows? We may have been looking at the next governor of Minnesota. Because of her arm wrestling credentials (she was a national champion once upon a time) no one should give her much sass.

Will never forget the first banquet I ever went to. Think I was 6 or 7 and it was a Father-Son banquet held at the old Methodist church in Spring Valley. When told about it, it came across as “The Band Quit”. Being the inquisitive young lad I was, was curious to know why the band quit or for that matter why anyone would be celebrating that fact. Imagine my disappointment when I got there to find there was no band, quitting or otherwise. Another of life’s mysteries that remains unsolved to this day.

See you next week…real good then.

[Steve Foss]

Dotch, don't feel bad about the Band Quit. There was awhile as a boy that I thought the name of the famous Pittsburgh Steeler running back was Frank O'Harris.

Nice read, as always.

[Dotch]

You mean, he really wasn't Irish?

Thanks Steve! Keep those exquisite photo's coming.

[MARINERMAGNUM]

Here Dotch,just for you.

[Dotch]

Horned larks are so "February" here in this part of the state. And that is one sweet photo, just awesome. Thanks so much for sharing it.

[Dotch]

Will the wind ever remember...

The scurs forecasts continue to be steady by j-e-r-k-s, otherwise known as poor word usage. Following the early week cool down, the weekend and early week promise to bring warmer temperatures. Wednesday, cloudy with highs of 25 and lows near 10. Chance of snow. Thursday and Friday, partly cloudy, colder with a high near 20 and low of 5. Saturday, high of 30 and low of 15 with partly cloudy skies. Warmer Sunday under partly cloudy skies, high of 40 and low of 25 – 30. Warmer Monday and Tuesday, cloudy skies with a rain/snow mix overnight. Highs of 45 and lows of 30. Normal high for March 7th is 37 and normal low is 18. We are gaining daylight at approximately 3 minutes a day. The scurs are scouring the instruction book to reset their aging VCR clock.

Yes, it’s that time again. At 2 a.m. on March 9th, you must get up and set your clock ahead one hour. Of course, you could set it ahead before you go to bed but that just wouldn’t be the politically correct thing to do. I mean, after all we’re all in this together to save that hypothetical 300,000 barrels of oil by running Daylight Saving Time for a good chunk of March. Any bets that the hypothetical price of oil doesn’t come down and that farmers who have livestock would like to perform some hypothetical surgery on the rocket scientists who keep coming up with such nonsense?

Losing that hour is cause for a nap however. I read in Betty’s column that she is not a napper and remember that Al Batt once told me he isn’t either. Sounds like there’s potential for a cottage industry in Nap Therapy. Everyone likes free professional advice so here goes: Given all the cloudy weather we saw in February and wind we’ll likely feel in March, first buy a flock of sheep due to lamb in those months. I can definitely help you out there. After turning off your phones, start off with a big noon meal on Sunday and set the TV on murmur tuned to something like watching paint dry. Usually golf, bowling or car racing will suffice. Sitting in a recliner while reading a newspaper or magazine will normally help set the tone. Rest your eyes during commercials and when you wake up, it will be time to go back outside and do chores again. Fortunately, they are partially done. You will have already counted the sheep.

At The Mall for Men, well rested napping professionals continue to meet daily to solve the world’s problems. With Valentines leftovers becoming scarce, the Girl Scout cookies arrived last week just in the nick of time. One has to be careful however not to leave your stash lying around where someone else might find it. Always pretty easy to spot the culprits however. Chocolate in the corners of their mouths and the hint of Thin Mints on their breath are both dead giveaways.

The goldfinches continue to pull hard on the thistle socks and the chickadees are singing their spring “fee-bee!” song more frequently. Hairies, downies and the occasional red-bellied woodpeckers keep consuming suet at a near record pace. A few Lapland longspurs were checking out the pasture on Monday morning. At the Willows, the distinct “Whoit! Whoit! Whoit!” song of a male cardinal could be heard from the brush. More subtle signs that spring is coming.

Was sad to see the little ice shelter villages disappear from the frozen surfaces of the area lakes for yet another year. The Cherman and I retrieved our house from St. Olaf late Friday afternoon and there were still a few shelters left. Didn’t see much evidence of the trash that gets left behind on a lot of lakes. Know there was nothing we left behind and no reason to. If you haul it out with you, you haul it off with you. Simple rule but it works. Was hoping our friend from Texas would make it ice fishing but alas, due to some conflicts those plans had to be scrapped. How was the fishing? Who cares? With no real vacation in over 20 years, most importantly it’s time not spent at work with people you enjoy.

Speaking of work, getting to work close to on time during lambing season gets tough. Takes awhile to get cleaned up. Started off the other morning feeding a bale of hay when a ewe decided to blow her nose, leaving a nice mess on my spectacles. Part of the job. After feeding, haying and hauling water to the pens, had to check a ewe for milk. Sprayed colostrum all over my “cufferhauls” and chore boots. She hadn’t cleaned yet so while she was whipping around the jug as I was trying to grab her, she was also smearing placenta all over me. By the time I got in the house, I stunk. Showered up, jumped in the truck and headed off to work and thought to myself, it still smells! Got to work, sat down, had a cup of coffee and it was still there. Couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. Smelled my shirt, looked at my pants, ran my fingers through my hair, smelled my hand; nothing. Happened to look at my wrist watch and sure enough there was a big hunk of sheep goo stuck on it. Not unlike humans, guess ovines are just full of the juices of life.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Three years on this range since they started the range war...

The scurs are beginning to realize the snow pack in IA has had a nasty impact on area temperatures. After some subzero starts last week, it’s not warming as fast as we’d like to see. There is better news on the horizon however. Under mostly cloudy skies on Wednesday, we should toy with the mid to upper 40’s for highs. We should also see a chance for precipitation with an overnight low of 30. Cooler on Thursday, mostly cloudy with a chance of snow, a high of 40 and a low of 20. Friday, partly cloudy with a high of 35 and a low of 15. Cool sunshine on Saturday, high of 30 and lows of 15 – 20. Partly cloudy and warmer Sunday, high of 35 and lows of 15 – 20. Monday’s high tops out at 40 under partly cloudy skies with a chance of rain changing to snow developing. Lows of 20 – 25. Tuesday, cooler, highs of 30 – 35 and lows of 10 – 15. Normal high for March 14 is 40 and normal low is 21, about what we would experience the week before Thanksgiving. The scurs are hoping they’ve built their last snow fort for the winter.

As of this writing, have seen no robins but with the warmer temperatures, that’s bound to change. Rooster pheasants appear to be setting up territories as they can be heard during morning chores scattered across the landscape. At the feeders, the heated birdbath continues to be a big attraction. The cold weather has made puddles nothing but a fall on the ice waiting to happen. While birds will eat snow, it takes more energy for them to convert it to water than when in liquid form.

March has come in like a chilled lamb and there have been plenty of them this past week. Checking the lambing pens, one needs to make sure the new arrivals are alert and not suffering from the cold. Getting them prompt attention makes the difference between saving them and losing them when the weather has been as cold as it’s been. Usually this involves taking the lamb out of the pen, getting them inside, putting them in a box and warming them up, just as Grandpa and Grandma used to do behind their wood burning kitchen range. Nowadays, tube feeding them with some warm milk warms them from the inside out and having floor heat makes the job easier.

Was one of those weekends where staying busy was no issue. Good thing Mrs. Cheviot had run to get some milk replacer before leaving to visit her folks in Ostrander. Even at $46 a bag, the show must go on. On Saturday after chores, went to get some straw from the cattle feeding Dubya’s. Always entertaining but as Matt pointed out, I’d probably have a bunch of lambs to deal with when I got home. Little did he know….upon arriving home decided it was a good idea to toss off a couple bales by the lambing barn. Peeked in the door and sure enough, a set of twins had been born while I was away. There was another lamb that was groggy and chilled in one of the pens. To make matters worse, another ewe was telegraphing signs that she wasn’t far off in the maternity ward. First things first, so told the ewe with twins to hold that thought as I took the chilled lamb to the house.

After stabilizing that situation, headed back out to the barn. No room at the inn so time to spring into action and move a couple ewes with lambs to the loafing area in the big barn. With Gus and Lucy helping, it didn’t take long and it’s important they feel included. No sooner had I penned up the ewe with twins and checked her for milk, the other ewe suddenly dumped out the first lamb with the next one right on its heels. Not a problem, with pen space available, the ewe followed eagerly as I picked up the soaking wet youngsters and closed the gate behind her. Checking the ewe, all systems were “Go” so time to get on to feeding the bottle lambs. After feeding them, it was time for feeding me, and you guessed it, a quick but well deserved snooze. My excuse: Had to get mentally prepared to unload and stack the straw!

Sunday brought with it the dreaded Daylight Wasting Time and doing chores again at dark thirty in the morning. Was a day brightener though as the wind was down and the temps had moderated. That and we had tickets to the 4-H Pancake Breakfast. Anything to get away from the barn for a few hours and relax. Even had an extra ticket that I tried to scalp outside but all my little fat buddies had already bought theirs. Later in the afternoon we had guests: Our adopted 60-something year old son Roger and the 4-H kids with a guest who helped feed bottle lambs. As they were leaving, another ewe decided to start the birthing process and after a short delivery, a natural colored lamb was born. Aren’t sheep naturally colored white?

Mankind selected for that trait. When sheep were first domesticated some 10,000 years ago, they were assorted in color, ranging from black to brown to gray and some white. As man selected more for wool-type sheep and less for hair-type, spinning wool evolved nearly 3500 years ago. Even today, breeds such as the multi-colored Jacob sheep can be traced back to a well established sheep and wool trade prevalent during Biblical times. A long time prior to the Revolutionary War (partially fought due to sheep and wool trade) and our western range wars, white wool became preferable as it would take dye and the resulting colors would be more vibrant. Even though the white wool color trait has been selected for centuries, one will occasionally see a throwback to natural colors common in early domestication, not unlike that of the little gray Cheviot lamb we nicknamed Ashley.

See you next week…real good then.

[Steve Foss]

Thanks, Dotch. Didn't know that wool history, either. We never had much truck with sheep on the gparents' Wisconsin dairy farm, so that's something I learned today!

[Dotch]

Thanks Steve. All I know is when I can remember stuff like that, it tells you how old I'm getting to be! Need to see if I can find the digital camera again and try to post a few photos of some of the new arrivals. That little natural colored ewe lamb is the definition of cute. Well, one of them anyway.

[MARINERMAGNUM]

Dotch,approximately how far south in Minny are you? I used to live in the Adams/Rose creek area. Just curious.

thanks.