The scurs had a streak going until they forgot the ground was still pretty black to the south of us yet, causing temperatures to remain well above normal. Will they remember to take their memory pills this week? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy becoming mostly cloudy with a good chance of afternoon and overnight snow. Highs around 30 and lows of 15 – 20. Mostly cloudy and colder on Thursday with a slight chance of snow in the forenoon. Highs near 20 and lows of 5 – 10. 3 cookie-cutter days are next, starting out mostly clear on Friday becoming partly cloudy for Saturday and Sunday. Highs around 20 and lows of 5 – 10. Partly sunny for Christmas Eve Day and Christmas Day with highs hovering around 20 with lows near 10. The normal high for December 21st is 24 and the normal low is 7. The winter solstice this year happens to occur on the 21st, bringing us 8 hours and 54 minutes of daylight. The scurs can appreciate the precious extra minutes of sleep before they begin worrying about Christmas shopping. Still plenty of days to think about getting started yet.
Drought continues to weigh on most farmers’ minds, although at this point there isn’t a lot that can be done about it other than to think positive. Along those lines, we officially surpassed the precipitation total for November last week, adding another .41” to the soil moisture coffers at the ranch. In the feedlot, there was actually mud on Saturday night and the pickup cut in close to the barn where the soil surface was bare. The soils are largely thawed yet so anything that has fallen has been absorbed into the soil. We still have to go some to catch last year’s December precip amount at 1.19” however. The forecast for the near term anyway doesn’t give us a great chance of catching that, although anything can happen. Winter is generally not the time of year a drought is broken as soils typically are frozen and as a result, snowmelt runs off. If the volunteer corn that germinated this fall is any indication, we have enough moisture to get a crop started in the top foot of soil. All is not lost yet. Should be lots of time after that to satisfy the most intense worrywart.
Ruby received a lot of attention with the flooring crew here several days in a row last week. She didn’t care much for the loud buzzing from the saw, but once that was over with she liked to assist and give kisses. One of the installers claimed his ears have never been cleaner. She appears ready for Christmas though. Her coat is very shiny and soft following the rain last weekend, even though it made her smell like a wet chicken in the process. A few hours in the kennel and she was good to play the growling game with her ball again.
Not unexpectedly, the bird activity at the feeders last week slowed to a snail’s pace for this time of year. We usually have large numbers of goldfinches by now, but they continue to be few and far between. The usual crew of woodpeckers, nuthatches, blue jays and chickadees is still here of course, but even they are not going through much sunflower seed. Some snow and colder weather may change that. There are also some indications of irruptions farther to the north, birds not normally seen here making their way farther south than in a typical winter. There were a few siskins earlier so we’ll see if more show up.
The sheep made short work of their corn shock last week and went so far as fishing the bundles out of the snow to finish it off. They still traipse off into the pasture and apparently are finding something in the native prairie area to their liking or they wouldn’t stay out there. The remaining two watermelons went over the fence the other night so that kept the brood ewe flock occupied until they nudged the last hunk under the fence. Fortunately the weather continues to help keep the feed bill down somewhat and it’s obvious they’re not hurting when they opt to sleep under the stars rather than in their barn.
In the skies overhead, Jupiter continues to be a party animal, rising about sunset and staying up all night. Unfortunately it has been cloudy so seeing it has been difficult. It has been bright enough though so it has shown through light clouds some nights when most stars do not. Venus will become tougher to see in the morning as the month wears on, rising later and obscured by the onset of the sunrise.
Festivus is drawing nigh and alas, I’m having a tough time getting in the spirit this year. Seems like we just finished with one season while trying to get ready for the next one. Even the Festivus pole remains snug in its crawl space awaiting the feats of strength. My gift-buying zeal of individual gifts for the staff at the newspaper has dwindled. A card with a donation in their name to the Human Fund is in the mail. There isn’t much for snow as of this writing, but at least Mrs. Cheviot strung some lights outside that come on at dusk to remind us ‘tis the season. The house awaits her decorative touch, put temporarily on hold by a long overdue flooring project. Doesn’t make much sense to do a lot of decorating until the dust and commotion from that settles. The floor looks nice and that’s the main thing. It’ll be even nicer once the aftermath from that and a wedding decorating project is cleaned up in the garage so it reverts to its rightful purpose: collecting junk. If I can move the two lawnmowers, Howard and Whitey around it and in front of the car so I can put my truck in, it will truly be another Festivus miracle!
See you next week…real good then!