The scurs had their forecasting shoes on last week and it showed. Some spectacular November weather was in order after a cool start to the month following a cool October. How much longer will our good fortune last?
Starting Wednesday, highs of 65 and lows near 45. For Thanksgiving Day, mostly clear with highs of 55-60 and lows of 30-35. Mostly clear and colder for Black Friday. Highs near 40 and lows of 25-30. Partly cloudy on Saturday with highs again around 40 and lows of 25-30. Sunday, partly cloudy with highs near 45 and lows around 30.
Mostly sunny for Monday with highs once again toying with 50 degrees and lows around 30. Mostly cloudy for Tuesday with a chance of icy rain. Highs of 30 and lows dropping to 10 above. The normal high for November 22 is 37 and the normal low is 21. The scurs will be busy avoiding the crowds and the rush of Black Friday. There are still more than plenty of shopping days left until Christmas.
The Full Moon for the month of November falls on the 28th and is known as the Full Beaver Moon. It was at this time the trappers would be stocking up with lots of pelts before the waterways froze.
It has also been known as the Full Frosty Moon. The Ojibwe called it the Freezing Moon while the Sioux referred to it as the Moon of Falling Leaves. At the ranch it goes by the Moon When the Ewes Return Home.
Yes, the main barn has been cleaned so the ewes can return home from the kindly neighbor’s pasture. Under Ruby’s watchful eye, we managed to haul 11 large loads out to the field.
It seems like every year it takes a little longer to get motivated to get the job done. Despite the fact there are fewer sheep, there are more pens containing small groups.
This means more messing around moving panels and gates as well as sheep. Ruby is ecstatic by the sheep moving part, but isn’t so keen on the panel and gate moving part. She’s more content to just watch.
My prize farm implement even skipped a beat on me. The 520 New Holland spreader is supposed to have a slow and fast apron speed as well as a neutral and cleanout setting.
For whatever reason, it decided to fall in between someplace and slipped from slow speed into cleanout mode on the second load. Luckily, I caught it quickly so it caused no damage.
Not so luckily, I had committed a cardinal sin. I’d forgotten to put my pitchfork with the authentic Dad’s Good Stuff handle on it in the bucket. Turn around and go back to the yard to retrieve the fork so the pack manure could be dislodged from the beaters.
As luck would have it, this time it was done during some nice weather for a change. With the strong southerly breezes, it dried the barns out well after cleaning too.
Such was not the case two years ago. The LP man stopped by to fill the tank while I was in barn cleaning mode. It was snowing, cold and windy; absolutely miserable.
The apron chains were freezing down on the spreader and matters were not heading in a generally positive direction. When he asked how it was going I think my words were something to the effect of “it’s a laugh a minute out here.”
That’s when one really appreciates just how nice this last weekend was. Watching the sun setting Saturday night, hauling manure on a tractor without a cab suddenly didn’t seem like such a bad job.
Last Friday night, I noticed that millions of tiny spiders hatched in response to the warm temperatures and went through the process of “ballooning.” These spiders crawl onto whatever is handy, a stem of grass, a fence or other object that happens to be higher than they are and emit a strand of silk that carries them on the breeze, dispersing them across the landscape. We as humans get to enjoy their handiwork when the late afternoon sun reveals their gossamer strands left behind on the landscape.
Whatever happened to the little fat buddies? Oh, they’re still around, only more disperse and stealthier than they once were, thanks in large part to years of training at the Mall for Men. Take one of my little fat buddies who stopped at my place to pick up the Gator for servicing, for instance.
He claimed he’d be there by 7 a.m. the next morning, and when I looked out the window the trailer was already gone! Must’ve slipped in under the cover of darkness.
My guess is there was a free breakfast involved someplace and he really didn’t want to miss that. After all, one needs to work at keeping the digestive tract expanded to capacity in order to take full advantage of the holiday season.
See you next week. Real good then.