The scurs were deadly accurate about the odds of rain last week. Too bad they didn’t discover a way to convert their prowess into picking a winning Powerball ticket. Will their luck continue? Starting Wednesday, cloudy with a good chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the low 60s and lows in the upper 40s. Partly cloudy on Thursday with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid 60s and lows in the upper 40s. Mostly sunny on Friday with highs in the upper 60s and lows in the upper 50s. Partly cloudy Saturday becoming mostly cloudy with a moderate chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid 60s and lows in the low 50s. Mostly cloudy Sunday with a modest chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the mid 50s. Monday mostly cloudy with showers or thunderstorms probable. Highs in the mid 70s and lows in the mid 50s. For Tuesday, mostly cloudy with a moderate chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 70s and lows in the mid 50s. On the 23rd we will experience over 15 hours of daylight, about the same as we saw July 19th. The normal high for this Memorial Day May 27th is 73 and the normal low is 52. After placing the toboggan in mothballs the scurs may take up waterskiing in road ditches.
Water everywhere after spending a winter pondering how we’d scrape together enough moisture to grow a crop. Soils are saturated with water ponding and no relief in sight in the near term. Corn planting was moving right along last week with somewhere in the 50 – 60% range being completed locally. Trouble was, many had planted their dry fields first and were beginning to go after the more marginal tracts. Many were stuck on Thursday last week and when the rains came that night, corn planting came to a screeching halt, remaining that way as additional heavy rain fell over the weekend. This brings into question just how much more corn may be planted. Much of this is going to depend on insurance coverage and whether one had nitrogen applied to the field. Soybeans remain an option and many farmers would still rather have a crop as opposed to an insurance payment. Growing crops is what they were born to do.
The Full Moon arrives at 11:26 p.m. on the 24th and is generally known as the Full Flower Moon for obvious reasons. It also goes by the Full Hare Moon, the Full Corn Planting Moon (we hope) and the Full Milk Moon. The Ojibwe knew this as the Full Blossom Moon and the Sioux called it the Moon When Ponies Shed. At the ranch we’re leaning towards the Full Blossom Moon as well. Crabapples, apples and wild plum have all been flowering like crazy and the lilacs are right on their heels. The Moon When Border Collies Shed could be any moon although the dog hair tumbleweeds are becoming sparser on the landscape as well as in the house.
New bird sightings have tailed off somewhat although there were a few newbies from last week. About an hour after I hit the button to send the column to print, the first orchard oriole appeared at the jelly feeder back on the 14th. About 3 days later there were a couple oddballs mixed in with the goldfinches. Upon closer examination they turned out to be pine siskins. Not sure if they were just taking their time heading north or if they were locals. At any rate they weren’t popular with the goldfinches and were outnumbered. There were over 3 dozen goldfinches over the weekend and the seed supply showed it. The jelly feeder also took a hit as the orioles brought their whole families. There were obvious young of both orchard and Baltimore types as well as females that had been absent the week prior. Hopefully Wagner’s get more of that inexpensive grape jelly in soon or the orioles will riot.
Keeping the lawn shaved in a timely manner has been nearly impossible. With warmer temperatures, every time it rains makes it appear nothing was done within a few days. It also makes timing important. Mowing the road ditch when it requires no personal flotation device has been a challenge. The windbreak is perhaps more out of sight out of mind although it’s easier to stay ahead of it as opposed to running foot tall grass through a riding mower that wasn’t designed to be a forage chopper. Mowing around rains makes the result piecemeal and when the last portion is mowed it’s time to start over again.
Gardening is still on my mind although like many a farmer, I’ve been weighing the alternatives as to what can still be planted and amount to something. Tinkering with late summer planting of certain vegetables over the years has been fruitful so I am not without options. There is also access to other sources of vegetables so not to worry. In the meantime, I continue to plant trees to take advantage of the wet spring. 40 more trees divided between Siberian crabapples, American cranberry and wild plum all went in ahead of several heavy rains. These trees were extensions of earlier plantings, filled in a few gaps and some were placed strategically to add cover and food. The birds may thank me someday. Their presence is thanks enough.
It finally warmed up and snow quit flying long enough so I could molt from my winter into my summer plumage. The day it reached 100 degrees it was tempting to get the razor out, but I opted to go a few more days in case the weather changed its mind. It was getting uncomfortably warm so with my face sweating and finally being able to spend some time outside, did not want to become a heap big paleface. It felt good to feel the breeze blowing on my cheeks again although the time spent shaving could always be better spent on endeavors such as catching up on Bonanza reruns or taking a nap.
See you next week…real good then.