The scurs were on their game once again, unfortunately. After Saturday, one wished they hadn’t been. Will they be in sync this week? Starting Wednesday and Thursday, partly cloudy with highs near 50 and lows around 30. Friday, slightly cooler under mostly sunny skies with highs of 45 and lows of 35. Back to the 50’s for highs Saturday through Tuesday under partly cloudy skies.. High of 50 and lows of 30 - 35. The normal high for November 15th is 42 and the normal low is 25. On the 19th we will see 9 hours and 30 minutes of daylight, roughly the same as we experience on January 22nd. The scurs are glad they’ll have November 22nd to look forward to first.
Still some anhydrous ammonia going on as of the weekend but not much else going on in the fields. Rainfall totals from the weekend rains were generally light with only 0.2” tallied at the ranch. For the month of November thus far there has only been about a half inch. It’s still dry alright but aside from the drying day of last Saturday, most of the precip that is falling is adding to the available soil moisture. With soils remaining in a thawed state, that will continue to be true. Some have asked where we were on rainfall last year for the fall months and for the most part we’ve actually had more rain this fall than last locally. Last year at the ranch we recorded only .99” in September, .37” in October and .35” in November. This year those totals are 1.95”, 1.47” and .55” so far in November.
This past weekend was truly a demonstration of one of Mother Nature’s mood swings. Saturday was an absolute gem despite the wind. It was a marked improvement over the disappointment of Friday where the wind made it feel a lot colder than it was. How warm was it Saturday? It was 77 degrees at the Waseca airport, 74 at the SROC and about 75 on the official Edna thermometer on our granary. The wind had been southeast making me think about burning the brush piles. However the forecast predicted (correctly) that it was soon to switch to straight south, putting the buildings directly in the line of fire. I thought better of it and opted instead to grind the leaves that had remained damp much of the week. It was so warm I ditched my sweatshirt and mowed in my T-shirt. I smiled when a bumblebee appeared as I wheeled the mower around the well. It was likely the last one before winter sets in for good. Completing the mowing, it was time to tackle the winter radish crop. It was definitely T-shirt weather for that job. By the time they were all dug, it was chore time.
One could sense the weather was starting to turn by late evening when lightning lit up the skies and the hose was shut off on the last of the trees being watered. By Sunday morning, the temperature had fallen into the low 30’s. Climbing into the soccer mom van to go to church, the sliding door was frozen shut. That afternoon staying inside and putzing with various small projects was not difficult to do. Chore time came again, though, and at the kindly neighbors’ the electric fence was grounded out. Around the pasture Ruby and I walked to find the short. The northwest wind tore through my hooded sweatshirt like it was a window screen, making me envious of Ruby’s fur coat. After locating the problem it was time to get back in the van and warm up a bit before heading for home. It was time to find the chore coat to go over my hooded sweatshirt before feeding the group there. I’d officially become a wimp, but at least I was a warm wimp. By Monday morning, at 18 degrees Jack Frost had left his etchings on the glass in the storm door. The swirling winds drove the forenoon flurries, forming miniature drifts on the roof, a foretaste of things to come.
Looks like we should have plenty of food put away for the winter. The winter radish harvest turned out to be one of the big surprises for the season. A couple rows were actually spring types that could be planted in either season. The six rows total yielded a couple two-bushel baskets, two washtubs and another bushel basket full of plants. The sheep were most happy to see another batch of garden refuse make its way over the fence as the tops were removed. When washed and bagged, there were 11 one-gallon bags of radishes as well as two Fleet Farm bags about half full. Good, bad or otherwise, that’s a bunch of radishes. Only fitting that the gardening season should start the season with radishes and end with them I reckon.
While Ruby has been busy shedding for much of the fall it appears that may be to slowing to a halt. There were days I’d peer in the wastebasket and judging by the hair she’d brushed out and swept up, it looked as if Mrs. Cheviot had thrown away another dog. Ruby’s new winter coat is shiny and she looks as sleek as a seal. Parting the fur however reveals a dense undercoat that works like a layer of Thinsulate to keep her toasty when she isn’t on the move which isn’t all that often. When checking the fence the other day she was scouting the opposition, namely the ewes that will need to come home soon. This of course only after the barns are cleaned first. A Border Collie’s work is never done.
See you next week…real good then.