The scurs went out on a limb last week predicting snow and the snow broke the limb off. Will we see any more encore performances from Old Man Winter or was that the last of his escapades for awhile? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with a good chance for showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid 60’s and lows near 50. Thursday, mostly cloudy with moderate chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid 60’s and lows in the upper 40’s. Mostly cloudy becoming partly cloudy for Friday with a modest chance of an overnight shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the mid 60’s and lows in the mid 40’s. Partly cloudy on Saturday with a slight chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the mid 50’s and lows in the upper 30’s. Mostly sunny becoming partly cloudy for Sunday with a slight chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs near 60 and lows near 40. Mostly sunny Monday with highs in the upper 60’s and lows around 50. Partly cloudy Tuesday with a slight chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the low 70’s and lows in the low 50’s. The normal high for May 12th is 68 and the normal low is 47. The scurs will be scouting around for the mother of all gifts for Mother’s Day gift in the meantime.
What a bizarre week for weather! You know you’re in trouble when the May snowfall total is more than double that of April and are surpassed only by the March totals for the winter. All told there was 15” of snow at the ranch. The only trouble was due to emergency circumstances, the snow board could not be used to properly gauge the liquid equivalent precipitation. We still measured 1.23” the gauge. At the SROC where snowfall was about 9.4”, they tallied 1.48” of liquid equivalent precipitation so we’re probably way shy on our measurement at the ranch if the snow/water ratio is the same. All one can say is there was a lot of water in it judging by the tree limbs down and shed roofs collapsed by the weight. This has also makes some kind of a record for driving on bad roads. Seems like about the 5th month straight where snow and ice have been the order of the day.
What does this portend for corn that’s in the ground? Time will tell but no horror stories yet. Luckily not much was planted as an overall percentage of the acres. Alfalfa survival remains a bigger concern on the few acres it still occupies. Much of it appears in poor condition which should come as no surprise. Some of the stands were aging and there have been two dry falls to make matters worse. Couple that with some encouragement by people who should know better to take late fall cuttings and it’s a wonder alfalfa survives at all. However, it is easy to overlook the fact it still hasn’t warmed up much. Some of these fields were snow covered yet this past weekend. So far at the SROC there were only 15.5 GDU’s accumulated as of May 5th. It would be a good idea to assess these fields thoroughly before making any knee-jerk reactions.
On the bird front, the white-crowned sparrows are mixed in among the white-throated sparrows. The two species are similar in appearance although when one remembers the white throat is an easy field mark to distinguish between the two. A rose-breasted grosbeak was a recent addition Tuesday. On the pond, there have still been plenty of ring-necked ducks, blue-winged teal, mallards and northern shovelers to keep one occupied. Keeping an eye on the wood duck house to see if it’s occupied. With all the recent precipitation, it’s well out in the water so it’ll take a trip out there with the waders on to see. The other wood duck house has shown signs of activity although we’re not quite sure what. The last several years it has been home to kestrels so will be interesting to see if they’re back. The rooster pheasant was parading around the lawn with his most recent conquest, a flashy, sleek little hen who followed him everywhere.
It’s been tempting to shed the winter plumage and finally shave for the summer. It’s also been tempting to remove the tree wrap from all the small trees in the yard. Seems each time those thoughts cross my mind, it snows again. One of these days though it will be done snowing. Luckily the grass has grown to the point that the bunnies should be able to turn their attention to that rather than the trees. Some new razor blades are probably in order for my face. On the topic of blades, the lawnmowers need attention before too long. Parts of the lawn will need mowing soon, after the snow piles melt that is.
Vista’s noted Swedish astronomer paid me a visit last week but alas I was not in. He did the next best thing though and left me some Cliff’s Notes on what to look for in the night sky in May. Lots of planetary goings on including Saturn rising in the southeastern sky about sunset. Later in the month we should see a tight grouping at dusk the last week in the month including Venus, Mercury and Jupiter. Jupiter is lower in the sky each night and Venus is a little higher each night. Venus should be in the northwest sky. Venus and Jupiter are both very bright, not unlike the noted Swedish astronomer.
Mother’s Day is upon us and it looks like we’ll be spending it with Mom as we always have. It was gratifying this Sunday to see some house finches coming to the “Edna’s Special” window feeder at the care center where my mom is staying. It took a while for them to find it but they came through. It was almost surreal as brother Roger played guitar for her as she watched the birds, smiled and kept time to the music. After spending many hours at the care center the past 4 months, it has been eye opening to see the residents light up at the smallest acknowledgement. It’s also been disheartening to see that some of them seldom if ever have visitors. Pretty sad commentary on us as a society and perhaps indicative we’ve become “too busy” keeping up with people on social media and lord knows what else. Granted, care centers are generally not fun places to hang out, but they are a lot more fun when someone comes to visit. You might be surprised if you take the time.
See you next week…real good then.