As the scurs anticipated, April showers appeared. Warmth however did not. Will we see any improvement or will we be stuck in the fridge another week? Starting Wednesday, cloudy with a good chance of a rain. Highs in the lower 40’s and lows in the low 30’s. For Thursday mostly cloudy with a good chance of rain changing to a rain/snow mix. Highs near 40 and lows in the upper 20’s. Cloudy in the morning on Friday with a chance of snow. Highs in the upper 30’s and lows in the mid-20’s. Saturday could be the best day in the forecast. Mostly sunny with highs in the mid 40’s and lows in the mid 30’s. Becoming cloudy by evening however with a modest chance of rain. On Sunday, mostly cloudy with a good chance of rain. Highs in the upper 40’s to low 50’s with lows in the upper 20’s. Partly cloudy on Monday with a continued chance for rain. Highs in the upper 40’s and lows in the upper 30’s. Mostly cloudy on Tuesday with a chance of flurries. Highs in the mid 40’s and lows in the upper 20’s. The normal high for Earth Day, April 22nd is 60 and the normal low is 38. On the 18th, the sun will set after 8 p.m. The scurs are thinking last week’s snowmen will be knee high by the 4th of July.
What a crummy week of weather last week was. Starting with April 6th, measureable precipitation was recorded for 10 straight days at the ranch, totaling 3.31”. This included the moisture from 4.4” of snow. This has not happened since we began recording precipitation at the ranch back in 2008. The ground was frozen several mornings this week, and there was enough ice so one had to be careful walking while doing chores. We were fortunate, however, to be spared from the ice that toppled radio towers and downed power lines in the Worthington and Avoca areas. Some of the images evoked memories of the Halloween blizzard. Never seeing another storm like that one would be too soon.
While the weather has brought any notion of fieldwork to a halt, it has brought some precious moisture. Luckily most of it has fallen in measured amounts so the vast majority of it has soaked in. As of this writing there has been no official measurement at the SROC but we should be inching closer to the average amount of soil moisture available in the top 5’ of soil for April 15th. That amount is close to 10” for the 1977 – 2011 average. We are certainly in better shape than we were last fall at freeze up. We’ve also eclipsed the average precip amount for April at the SROC which is 3.21” making the 3rd month in a row that has happened. It doesn’t signal the drought is over, although it certainly isn’t getting worse at this point.
Changes in the landscape this spring have been subtle at best. The south facing slope in the pasture is greening up, as are road ditches with the same exposure. Robins and grackle frequent those areas in search of earthworms. When it’s warm enough, they appear to be finding some. On the days when the ground has been frozen or it’s just plain too cold, the robins have been relying on the crabapple tree for sustenance. There is still a confusing mixture of birds at the ranch. There are still large numbers of juncos among the grackles and robins.
Redpoll numbers aren’t what they were a month ago but there are still a handful hanging around the feeders yet. A few goldfinches are returning as are their yellow colors, giving us hope that spring may eventually show its face. Around the area, small puddles and ponds have seen abundant migrating waterfowl including mallards, bluebills and northern shovelers.
Ice was still covering about 80% of St. Olaf Lake yet Tuesday morning and had melted since the prior evening. On the pond at the ranch, waterfowl has been scattered. One lone western chorus frog was heard faintly croaking Friday night as I made some repairs to the fence. Because of the cold temperatures, the sound was as if someone was running their finger over the teeth on a comb very slowly, one tooth at a time. Searching through the grass revealed the small frog, attired in a tiny scarf and mittens.
The last lambs were born on the 11th. It was a bittersweet ending to a promising lambing season. Two ewes lambed and we wound up with only one lamb between them. That’s the way it goes sometimes. If it was always easy, everybody would be doing it. At least the health of the lamb crop in general has been good. It takes a lot of bedding, though, when it's been as wet and cold as it's been. With the slow growth of the pasture, it’s difficult to operate as we’d like without burning up more of the expensive hay that’s in short supply.
Ruby and Fudgie went in for their annual immunization and heartworm check last Saturday on the outskirts of Little Jerusalem. This was our first trip to a vet with Fudgie. Since she’s an older dog with a propensity to be temperamental, we were a tad apprehensive. It’s always comforting that the folks in charge are totally professional and prepared for anything. Somehow having Ruby along seemed to serve as a buffer. She’s a people person, er, dog and thinks everyone likes her or should if they don’t. Both dogs’ inner Border Collie was on alert, taking note of anything that moved as we waited our turn.
What took us totally by surprise when it came time for the exam was Fudgie immediately singling Dr. Tom out and jumping up on him, not once but twice, her tail wagging playfully. Normally I’d firmly reprimand the dog, but in this case we took full advantage of her suddenly being smitten, the exam and immunizations being accomplished with minimal effort. Both dogs were well behaved and received lots of praise following their procedures as well as treats upon arriving home. As the saying goes, home is where the dog is.
See you next week…real good then.