We got more of the precip out of the way on Saturday than the scurs might’ve guessed, but at least March has been living up to its reputation for sloppy, wet conditions. Will we get more of the same? Starting with Wednesday, partly cloudy with a chance of flurries. Highs in the mid 20’s and lows around 15. Partly cloudy on Thursday with highs of 35 and lows of 25. Mostly cloudy for Friday through Sunday with a chance of rain changing over to snow. Highs near 35 and lows of 25 – 30. Partly sunny on Monday with highs of 25 – 30 and lows around 25. Partly sunny for Tuesday and warmer with highs of 30 – 35 and lows near 25. Sunday marks St. Patrick’s Day already and it is significant as we see more than 12 hours of daylight for the first time since September 24th. Through the wonders of our federal government nanny, the sun will magically set at 7:23 although you can get up and stumble around in the dark again since the sun rises at 7:22 a.m. The normal high for St. Patty’s is 40 and the normal low is 23. The scurs will hoist a green Kool Aid to celebrate.
The rainfall over the past weekend was surprisingly abundant with 1.09” being tallied at the ranch gauge. It definitely was as advertised, making area door yards sloppy messes along with exposing ice in places, again. However, heavy, wet snowfall Sunday night covered a lot of the ice so traction could be afforded once again without nearly the danger of slipping and falling. Unfortunately with the ground still frozen, much of what has fallen will likely run off or collect in area wetlands. That’s OK though. I can see the wetland from the bedroom window is once again full, something that hasn’t been the case since back in June.
Most tried and true weather observers are telling us we should be thankful that it is showing us that it can indeed still rain on a widespread basis. Something that always makes me smile are the gloom and doomers telling people things like it will take years for us to recover from last summer’s moisture deficit. In 1964 we experienced a drought here in southern MN. In the spring of 1965, we experienced record precip and flooding. It rained on Easter Sunday and as legend would have it, for 7 straight Sundays. In 1988, we came off what was for many the most devastating drought they had ever experienced. By 1991, we embarked on what was to become known as the wettest decade of the 1900’s. Even last spring, conditions were equally as dry as they are this spring yet somehow we pulled off some pretty tremendous yields all things considered. Why? It rained over 6” in both May and June at the ranch. Look, the weather is going to do what it’s going to do and with enough people predicting different outcomes, someone is bound to be right. The trouble is their consistency isn’t very good.
Redpolls remain a major bird species at our bird feeders. Near as I can estimate there are somewhere between 60 and 80 in the bunch. They don’t all fit on the feeders so those that don’t cover the ground underneath. One of these days however they will head back to the north and am somewhat surprised they haven’t already. Cardinals have started their spring song in town although I have yet to hear it at the ranch. Not to worry as it seems things always move a little slower out here in the country.
The recent warmer temperatures have awakened several of my least favorite animals, namely skunks and raccoons. Mrs. Cheviot had a close call with one of the local Pepé Le Pews as she rounded the corner of the granary towards the lambing barn. Mr. Cheviot did his duty to head back to the house to retrieve a weapon of mass destruction, but by the time he did of course the skunk had slithered off to parts unknown. The worst part of it is he’s apparently camping under the granary as several times the odor has been downright intense in the barnyard. The live trap hasn’t yielded any results yet either, so it’s becoming tempting to resort to desperate measures. It’s become standard operating procedure to secure the area before letting the dogs outside too. Cleaning them up after a skunk encounter is never much fun. In the meantime, I’m watching Caddyshack again to get some pointers on vermin control.
The dogs had plenty of mud to deal with the way it was over the weekend with the promise of more to come. Anyone who has ever had a dog on the farm during the spring knows exactly what I’m talking about. They are impossible to keep clean, especially active dogs like Border Collies or especially Labs, who thrive on mud and water regardless of its temperature. Eventually the ground will thaw, it’ll dry out and it’s no big deal. Having a garden hose with warm water at the ready seems to be our best bet with Ruby and Fudgie.
The ewes finally kicked it into gear again so we managed to get over half-done with the lambing project. Of special note were the black twins born Thursday, a buck and a ewe. There’s something about these little oddballs, the black sheep. The lambs seem a little cuter than usual and are always the first ones to be picked up and played with. In the pasture they are a novelty as well, with many driving by commenting about the black sheep mixed in with a large group of white ewes. In this case the lambs were also bellwethers of good things to come after we’d been through a rough stretch with some full term lambs being stillborn. Shortly after they hit the ground, we had some of the nicest ewe lambs born to date, including one that had been chilled, warmed up in the house and still claimed by the mother upon her return to the lambing pen. That doesn’t always happen and usually results in a bottle feeding situation. Wonderful if you have kids to feed them, not so wonderful if you’re the poor schmuck who still hasn’t convinced himself that it’s a losing proposition. There’s always a black sheep in the family.
See you next week…real good then.