When the scurs are on a tear, they’re tough to stop. Of course when all you predict is cold, wet and cloudy, odds of being right have been pretty good. How good will this week be? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with a good chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the upper 70s and lows in the upper 50s. Mostly sunny on Thursday with highs in the upper 70s and lows in the low 60s. Partly cloudy on Friday with a modest chance of a daytime shower or thunderstorm with a better chance in the overnight. Highs in the upper 70s and lows in the mid 60s. Partly cloudy on Saturday with a modest chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs near 80 and lows in the low 60s. Partly cloudy Sunday with a slight chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the low 80s with lows in the low 60s. Monday, partly cloudy with a modest chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the upper 70s and lows in the mid 60s. Mostly sunny on Tuesday with highs in the upper 70s and lows in the low 60s. On June 15th we will see 15 hours and 28 minutes of daylight, with only one more minute to gain by the summer solstice. On June 15th the normal high is 79 and the normal low is 58. The scurs will be staying up past their bedtime to enjoy every minute of the warmer weather.
The past week saw very slow meaningful progress once again. Fields remained too wet for widespread planting to occur in general. The only fortunate thing about the cool conditions so far has been the slow growth of the weeds in most fields. Most farmers used a pre emerge herbicide on the corn and it has paid big dividends as operators wait for fields to dry enough for post emerge applications. Some of the corn planted in May under less than ideal conditions is beginning to emerge and somehow, the stands don’t look too bad. There was additional corn stabbed into some of the dead spots in areas, although the time for that is soon running out. Soybeans remain largely unplanted, although a few days of dry weather could change that rapidly. We continue to get just enough rain in areas to keep fields from becoming fit and the calendar becomes an increasingly large factor even with soybeans. Yields of soybeans planted in mid-June generally fall into the 30 – 40 bu./acre range and decrease from there down to the 15 – 20 bu./acre range once we get into July. After about July 10th, all bets are off as to whether a crop could be harvested for grain. Soybeans could be harvested as a forage as oddly enough, that’s what they were first used for back in the early 1900s.
Something that continues to grow extremely well this spring is area lawns. As one observer pointed out recently, it’s already time in a lot of cases to put a sharp set of blades on. Once the grass starts to head out, it gets tough and isn’t nearly as easy to cut as it was early on. And if you’re like moi, battling to keep up with it and only able to mow late in the day once a week, you’re probably mowing grass that’s wet and longer than you’d like. A sharp set of blades never hurts in that circumstance. I have a hunch the evening lawn mowing here may be coming to a screeching halt pretty soon if the burgeoning mosquito population has anything to say about it.
Some area gardeners have taken to their gardens finally. Here at the ranch we’re getting closer, although water was still standing on the edge of the main garden Monday morning. Unlike Betsy’s Dad, who has a system tiled garden, ours seems to have become wetlands. We’re going to have to file for prevented planting pretty soon if it doesn’t change. We may opt more towards some container gardening for some things and plant things we know will still make it given the shorter growing season we’re likely to have. Things like string beans, sweet corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers will all still be fine for several weeks yet. We were planning to plant some things anyway in late July after experimenting with them the past several summers. The winter radishes worked well seeded then, although the snap peas have been a tad more stubborn, perhaps needing to be planted a little earlier. The fall lettuce was extremely good and in fact reseeded itself where the row had been. So at least something has been planted.
The birds remain active although they appear to be busy nesting and not consuming as much at the feeders as they did a week ago. The possible exception would be the jelly feeder that needs to be filled every couple days. In addition to the orioles using it, now we have catbirds, buntings and grosbeaks eating jelly too. Often wonder what would happen if I put a loaf of bread and some peanut butter out for them. They really do sing beautifully though. Even tonight as I type, the robins have been singing along with the wrens, orioles and common yellowthroats. Can’t beat that kind of musical talent. It really frees the soul as they eventually find their roosts and go to bed, until about 4:30 a.m. anyway. At least they drown out the racket from the ewes and late lambs we just weaned.
It never bothers me to separate ewes from lambs in a year like this one where brood ewes are gobbling down 10 and 20 dollar bills, particularly when the pastures are lush. That really got my attention last Friday when feeding the group we’ve since weaned off. I put a hanging feeder over the panel and when it didn’t hang quite right I leaned over to adjust it. One of the greedy ewes who had immersed herself in the pan suddenly flung her head up, catching me in the melon above the left eye. I saw stars for a second, then felt a warm rush as blood appeared on my chore glove. I pulled a wadded up Kleenex from my pocket and began heading towards the house.
Mrs. Cheviot saw me holding the bloody rag over my eye and frantically asked what was wrong. When I uncovered the wound and asked if it warranted a trip to the emergency room, she told me in no uncertain terms she wanted nothing to do with it until I cleaned it out and got the bleeding stopped. I did just that. When she came in and saw the inch long gash, we headed for the ER. The nurses cleaned it out some more and the doctor glued it shut with some surgical glue. We had a discussion as to whether the glue burned or stung when placed in the wound. I thought it stung but he said some kids were of the opinion that it burned. Whatever. All in all it turned out O.K. However, it only strengthened my resolve about sheep: Just another reason we eat them.
See you next week…real good then.