The scurs were a little generous on their high temperatures for last week but at least the promised rain came. Are we due for more this week? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with a moderate chance of a shower or thunderstorms. Highs near 80 and lows in the upper 50s. Mostly sunny becoming partly cloudy on Thursday with a good chance of an evening shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the upper 70s and lows in the lower 60s. Partly cloudy on Friday with a slight chance for showers or a thunderstorm. Highs in the mid 70s and lows in the upper 50s. Partly cloudy Saturday with highs in the mid 70s and lows in the upper 50s. Sunday, partly cloudy with a good chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid 70s and lows in the mid 50s. Partly sunny for both Monday and Tuesday with highs in the mid 70s and lows in the upper 50s. The normal high for August 1st is 82 and the normal low is 61. The scurs continue to enjoy sleeping with the windows open.
This past week saw some timely rain fall and conditions cool down with fall-like high temperatures. Rainfall was variable however and amounts generally ranged from .25” - .9”. Indeed, the high this past Saturday was 63 and that corresponds to the same highs we would normally see on October 8th and 9th. The highs on Friday and Sunday were both at 72 and those highs are what we’d expect for September 17th and 18th. While it’s been wonderful sleeping weather and some have given their air conditioner a break, it hasn’t done any favors to crop development. With days becoming shorter and no heat wave imminent, we may have to hope for a warm September to bring this crippled crop to maturity. On a positive note, much of the snow corn has pollinated and conditions could not be better for that planted mid-May. Soybeans are also setting pods with many of the earlier planted fields being R3 – R4. Small grains continue to ripen and some who are swathing the crop may lay it down this week.
The conditions were right and with rain predicted for last Thursday, the fall garden crops went in the ground at the ranch Wednesday evening. There were at least 7 different types of radishes planted, a couple types of snap peas and 2 varieties of lettuce. Some of the radish varieties are spring type and some are designed to be planted for fall harvest. Oddly enough the spring type radishes planted late summer last year turned out better than their spring planted counterparts. The rain and cool temperatures so far should be to the liking of all of these cool season vegetables. Investigating their progress Monday evening, one could row the radishes on the east side of the garden. My, that was quick!
The rest of the garden however has stood still. For some reason tomatoes don’t grow very fast with 60 – 70 degree temps. The flowers don’t seem to mind though. The morning glories are making their twirling ascent up the light pole in the yard. Far behind last year’s pace though, they’re still flowering and adding some color to the yard. The blue salvia have really taken off since the rain and the increased hummingbird activity has followed right along with them. In the CRP and pasture, big bluestem and yellow Indiangrass have begun to head out. See a herd of bison come thundering over the hill and it would look much the way it did some 200 years ago.
While out and about spraying pasture fences for weeds, I spied several nests of birds with eggs in them yet to hatch. There was a robin nest with 4 eggs and the wren had taken over where the tree swallows had raised a brood earlier. There were 5 eggs in that one. At the kindly neighbor’s pasture, the bluebirds are working on their 2nd brood with 4 blue eggs in the bottom of the nesting box. The mosquitoes seem to be letting up some so maybe this next week we can run a daring mission to the pond to see what might have been nesting there.
Some black walnut trees were brought to my attention this past week and I too had noticed a couple of them down by the lake starting to turn already. Doing a little investigating, there has been some anthracnose mentioned as a possible cause of their premature turning. Anthracnose is a fungal disease favored by wet weather conditions such as we had earlier in the year. Generally not serious but too many years in a row can weaken the tree. It’s not unusual for walnuts to start turning ahead of everything else but the end of July is perhaps a tad on the early side even for them.
Do you believe in signs from above? When I went to visit some friends at their lake place back on July 6th, I saw what had to be a ’57 or ’58 Studebaker Silver Hawk parked next door. I drooled over the car as MS and I admired it. Sunday as I was heading in the door in our little rural church, I spied something out of the corner of my eye in the parking lot: A Studebaker Avanti! The front end was a dead giveaway and though there wasn’t time to ogle it before church, I had an idea whose it was. I was right, so after church I had to take a closer look at my neighbor’s prize possession. After church I checked my e-mail and there was a photo attachment of new old stock flooring material for the 1960 Lark residing in the garage. The photo was actually of material original rubber flooring for a ‘61. The main color appears to be the same only with light blue flecks in it. The cut should be identical and that’s the main thing. Why do I get this feeling sometimes that someone is trying to tell me something?
See you next week…real good then.