The scurs were close predicting the Sunday rain, only it rained earlier rather than later. Since weather forecasting is like horseshoes and hand grenades, they’ll take it. Will their success go to their heads after next week? Starting Wednesday, mostly sunny with highs in the mid 70s and lows in the mid 50s. Mostly sunny on Thursday with a slight chance of an evening shower. Highs in the mid 70s and lows near 60. Partly cloudy on Friday with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid 70s and lows near 60. Partly cloudy Saturday and Sunday with highs in the low 80s and lows in the low 60’s. Monday, partly cloudy with highs near 80 and lows around 60. Clouding up for Tuesday with a chance for a shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the upper 70s and lows in the mid 60s. The normal high for August 17th is 80 and the normal low is 60. We will slip below 14 hours of daylight on the 15th, the same as we had back on April 26th. The scurs are convinced that there is still plenty of time to catch a tan during their afternoon naps.
The Full Moon for the month occurs on the 20th and goes by several names, the most common being the Full Sturgeon Moon. This was because the tribes of the northeast and Great Lakes region could most easily catch sturgeon during this timeframe. It has also been called the Full Red Moon due to the dust common at this time of year making the moon appear red when it was close to the horizon. This was also known as the Green Corn Moon and the Full Grain Moon. The Ojibwe knew this as the Full Berry Moon for the blueberries they were harvesting in competition with the bears. The Sioux also knew this as the Moon When Cherries Turn Black. At the ranch it has become known as the Moon When Bread Molds. Some nasty tasting stuff when you don’t catch it before it hits the toaster.
Crop progress was apparent again last week as some of the early planted early maturing corn was in the dough stage. Some of the earliest planted soybeans were R5 stage and not so surprisingly, the soybean aphids dislike them at this point. They’d rather have the later planted models still in the R3 and R4 stage. Sweet corn is being harvested and the last of the peas should be in the books soon. No bragging about yields of either so no surprises there. Small grain harvest should be completed this week and that also promises to be mediocre. Planting small grains in late April and early May seldom works well, even when we get cooler temperatures to go along with it. Many of the prevented plant acreages have been seeded and they are adding a different look to the landscape for this time of year. Most of the fields have been seeded to oats and given the timely rains that have fallen, the emergence has been tremendous. Some are entertaining thoughts of harvesting this material because of the hay shortage but baling for most is probably a long shot. Hay can occasionally be made in November but so can snowmen.
Bird feeding has been slowing somewhat although about the time we think we’ve seen the last of the orioles, they surprise us. In particular, the orchard orioles appeared to be gone already but that was disproven over the weekend when a full colored male was helping himself to the jelly feeder. One trend that has been ringing true is that the Baltimore orioles that we still have appear to be predominantly young males. The catbird has staked a claim to the chokeberry (aronia) bushes, heavy with dark purple fruit. Not far from their hangout one morning there were pheasants cackling in the garden. They love to bathe in the dust there so I snuck out behind the dogwood bushes to get a look at them. Sure enough five of this year’s crop took flight after surprising them. About the size of leghorn pullets but not colored up yet. They will be by October though.
Both Ruby and Fudgie got their fair share of tire biting and lawnmower herding in as we cleaned Howard’s gas tank of insects for what is hopefully the last time. Fudgie got more brushing over the weekend and it seems to be never ending. After I was through, the clumps of fur made it look like there were several dead animals laying in the yard. The lawnmowers, the ones that work anyway will make short work of that. I am firmly convinced though that I’m no longer brushing a dog, just a large ball of lint.
With the Pro Farmer Crop Tour looming on the horizon once again it’s been time to try to catch up on getting the gardens weeded and the lawns mowed. Nothing worse than coming home to a total mess. Along with that however there needs to be a little time to smell the roses once in a while too. I promised myself I needed to see what kind of shape the wetland area was in so braving the mosquitoes I set forth on the journey down the hill. Amazingly enough, once in the CRP the little bloodsuckers weren’t as bad as they were around the house. Could’ve been because I was moving at a pretty good clip and not taking any chances.
The basin itself had become surrounded by cattails nearly 10’ tall so getting to the water meant walking through what seemed like a jungle. When my head popped out of the cattails, I was in total amazement as wave after wave of young mallards leaped into the air from the water’s surface. All in all I counted somewhere in the neighborhood of 35 – 40 total. There were scattered teal too as well as a smattering of shorebirds, all startled by my sudden intrusion into their very private little world. I smiled as taking the time to deepen the wetland back in January had paid off, knowing the waterfowl was enjoying collecting the dividends.
See you next week…real good then.