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 snow blower.
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 five of the kestrel eggs hatched! A quick check Sunday morning revealed five 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.