The scurs were right about it being hot. They just missed the part about it staying hot and not cooling down for the 4th.
Since the column goes out to a select Internet crowd, they get another crack at it. Starting Wednesday the 4th, partly cloudy with a slight chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs near 95 and lows around 75. Mostly clear for Thursday with highs again near 75 and lows around 75. Partly cloudy on Friday with a slight chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs 95 and lows of 70. Partly cloudy and slightly cooler on Saturday with a modest chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs near 90 and lows of 65 -70. Partly cloudy for Sunday’s Farm and City Day parade with a moderate chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs near 80 and lows around 65. Monday and Tuesday, mostly sunny with highs of 80 – 85 and lows of 60 – 65. The normal high for July 8th is 83 and the normal low is 62. On the 8th, we will have lost approximately 11 minutes of daylight since the summer solstice. The scurs will be glad because it will be easier to elude the much vaunted Fireworks Police under the cover of darkness.
With the odd holiday in the middle of the week going on, we somehow overlooked the Full Moon for the month. Not to worry, the Internet subscribers will still be able to read about it in a timely fashion and in reality, the Full Moon name actually describes a timeframe and not the individual date where the Full Moon happens to fall.
This month’s Full Moon occurs on the 3rd and is generally known as the Full Buck Moon, as the bucks’ antlers are in the velvet. The moon also goes by the Full Thunder Moon for the thunderstorms that are common or supposed to be for the month of July. It also goes by the Full Hay moon.
The Ojibwe knew this as the Full Raspberry Moon and there are indeed wild raspberries ripening locally, until the birds eat them that is. The Sioux were also fruit eaters, calling this the Moon When the Wild Cherries are Ripe. At the ranch, we know it by several names, including the Where Did I Put the Bug Spray Moon.
Crop progress has been a little more mixed this week depending on where you live. The “haves” who got more rain have been surviving the heat relatively unscathed. The “have-nots” who were on the short end of the rainfall have noticed the corn leaves beginning to roll on the hot afternoons.
It isn’t quite such a big deal prior to silking, but during silking, four hours of leaf rolling adds up to 1% yield loss as per a presentation by Dr. Jeff Coulter, the only Extension agronomist named after a plow part. Soybeans are continuing to look less like an afterthought and more like a real crop, particularly where they’ve started to outgrow the iron deficiency chlorosis. Small grain fields turned rapidly towards the end of last week, something that typically does not bode well for phenomenal type yields. My neighbor’s Spring Treat sweet corn should be about ready. I can’t wait.
It was a good week to get familiar with the air conditioning unit once again at the ranch. Prior to about Wednesday of last week however, it was nice to open the windows at night to let the house cool down then close them during the day. Coming back into the house, it rarely got above 74. By about Wednesday though, Ruby and I’d had about enough.
The high was 97 and it wasn’t cooling off in the overnight, so we flicked the switch. The weather did relent on Friday night and we opened the windows up once again to listen to the grasshoppers and toads sing.
There are once again scads of small toads in the yard with most of them concentrated in the road ditch where the culvert frequently contains water. There are also some large toads hopping around in the barn catching flies.
Judging by their girth, they're fairly successful little hunters even though they give a person a little start when discovered behind a bucket or bag of feed. The mosquitoes have done what everyone expected they would; become a nuisance for those needing to be outdoors.
They’ve been bad even during the daytime. When one is out of the breeze they come lookin’ for you. They aren’t nearly as fun as the fireflies whose rise from the grasses just after dusk is nothing short of surreal.
Luckily, we have the toads to help out as well as an abundance of recently fledged barn swallows and tree swallows. Both seem to enjoy snapping flying insects out of the air and there are plenty to grab.
The barn swallows have developed a real distaste for Ruby though, although she seems to enjoy chasing them around. It appeared the orioles’ consumption of jelly and nectar was slowing somewhat until late last week when they brought the youngster along to feed.
In short order, they cleaned out both the nectar and jelly feeders Friday afternoon, then scolded me when I went to refill them. That’s gratitude for ya!
There is a young male orchard oriole that has been making regular visits now and he must’ve informed the chickadees that jelly is good stuff because they’re eating it too. The birds suddenly missing in action are the hummingbirds.
It’s likely that the females are busy feeding the young at this point so they’re preoccupied with catching insects for them. The males stay away from the nests so as not to attract predators that see their bright throat patch.
They’re likely busy with some of the many flowers in bloom in the wild presently. When the young fledge from the nest, don’t be surprised if there are more hummingbirds than ever at the feeders and plants around the yard.
See you next week…real good then.