The scurs got it to cool down finally, but not before it reached 95 degrees first. Have we seen the last of the 90s for this year? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with a slight chance of rain. Highs around 70 and lows near 45. Thursday, partly cloudy and a little cooler with a modest chance of an overnight shower. Highs of 65 and lows of 45. Partly cloudy Friday with a slight chance of a shower. Highs near 60 and lows around 40. Saturday and Sunday, partly cloudy to mostly sunny, highs of 65 and lows of 40 – 45. Monday, mostly sunny, highs of 70 and lows of 40 – 45. Partly cloudy with a chance of a shower. Highs 65 – 70 and lows of 40 – 45. The normal high for the first day of autumn on September 22nd is 71 and the normal low is 45. Sunrise on the 21st will be at 7:01 a.m. and on the 25th, we will be back to 12 hours of daylight. We are losing daylight at the rate of approximately 3 minutes per day. The scurs will be trying to figure where all the lost daylight went and how to get it back.
Another week of scant precipitation meant harvest progress continued largely unabated. This is one for the record books as most would tend to agree. To have as much corn out of the fields as we have is unheard of. Yields have been far above expectations and the quality is part of the reason. Much of the wet corn coming out of the fields at 20% moisture is above 56-lb. test weight. It should pick up another point or two making it some extremely heavy corn. I know the screenings picked up at the kindly neighbor’s so far are very heavy, nearly the same weight as ground corn. The only holdup on soybeans has been the number of green beans yet in the sample. The soybeans have been testing 8 – 10% moisture, but the green material collecting on the outside of a bin is sure to cause headaches down the road for those who have to store them.
It has been tinder dry in the field and the shallow wetlands that provide resting areas for migrating waterfowl are almost all dried up. The pond here has a growth of smartweed in the main part of the basin. It makes excellent forage for ducks and geese but they need some water in order to get at it. Even the deeper pond at the neighbor’s to the north is drier than I ever recall seeing it, with areas where the bottom is no longer covered with water. The LeSueur River around the golf course is just about where it was last year at this time. There are a few shallow pools and puddles in places, but it isn’t running much.
Around the yard at the ranch, signs that fall is here continue to mount. White-lined sphinx moths have taken the evening shift on the impatiens while the hummingbirds have continued their daytime duty. It likely won’t be too much longer although they were still here on the morning of the 18th. We’ll be counting the days we still have them as a blessing. Most of the goldfinches have become occasional visitors once again. I often wondered where they went, but a visit to the CRP gave me a clue as to where some are anyway. There are plenty of native prairie plants in the aster family there making for some fresh, new food for them.
One such plant as pointed out by E.G. was prairie dock, sometimes known as prairie rosinweed. This perennial plant starts out with some large basal rosette leaves that remind one of a scrawny burdock. The leaves are scratchy however and before you know, it has shot some tall flower spikes skyward, sometimes 6’ – 8’ in height. The flowers are yellow and when mature, they have seeds that are very similar to a sunflower around the inside of the outer portion of the flower head. Another plant he identified was called rattlesnake master. This carrot-family plant isn’t of great importance for wildlife other than certain bees, but it does have a distinctive spikey white inflorescence. Interesting to note how the plant got its name. While the heads, when dried, were used by American Indians as rattles, the name came from the pioneers who believed the root of the plant was an effective antidote for the treatment of rattlesnake bites. Turns out they were mistaken.
Had occasion to travel to Preston over the past weekend to attend the retirement party of my brother-in-law. The trip brought back many memories of my youth and probably more than I would’ve imagined when we left home. Motoring down MN Hwy 16, recalled many a trip to the Fillmore Co. Fair over the years. The Branding Iron was our destination and that too brought back many memories of gatherings there over the years. I wondered whether some of my old Preston acquaintances ever ate there, but figured the chances of seeing them were slim and none. When we got there the establishment was just as I remembered. Very open and with a spectacular view of the countryside from its perch atop the hill overlooking Preston. We were greeted by the party and the festivities began, with Jim pointing out that a black bear had been spotted not all that long ago on the football field below.
The party was relaxing and the food was delicious. As attendees began leaving for home I spotted some folks just coming in who looked familiar. I couldn’t place where I’d seen them, but it really wasn’t important. After we’d visited a little more I glanced over at the table where the people were seated and suddenly it dawned on me that one of them was the wife of an old high school friend and classmate. She was also the sister of a friend I’d known in college. Sure enough, he appeared from the salad bar along with his wife, as did my old high school classmate, who also happens to be the state representative from Preston. We couldn’t believe that we’d all suddenly run into each other like that. It had been 30 odd years since I’d seen my old college friend and 6 or 7 years since I’d seen my high school buddy. What were the odds? We talked a while and then their food came so we had to cut it short. It was probably a good thing. We were starting to delve into the sordid past of our Bailey Hall days. This included tales of death defying feats such as shoe polishing north wing toilet seats, frying squirrels in the dorm room and trips to visit Dr. Shnoxel. We were just trying to have us some fun. Honest.
See you next week…real good then.