The scurs had their blinders on once again thinking that we were stuck in a warm temperature rut. How quickly that changed on Saturday night and Sunday! Will we see an encore performance of the heat or are we getting ready for fall? Starting Wednesday, mostly sunny with highs on the mid 80s and lows in the upper 50s. Sunny for Thursday with high in the low 80s and lows in the low 60s. Slightly warmer and sunny again for Friday with highs in the mid 80s and lows in the mid 60s. Warmer still for Saturday under sunny skies with highs in the upper 80’s and lows in the mid 60s. A change starts on Sunday with a slight chance of daytime showers and thunderstorms increasing as we approach the evening hours. Mostly sunny in the morning becoming mostly cloudy by evening with highs in the mid 80s and lows in the mid 60s. Mostly cloudy for Monday with a moderate chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the upper 70s and lows in the upper 50s. Mostly sunny on Tuesday with highs in the upper 70s and lows in the upper 50s. The normal high for September 7th is 76 and the normal low is 54. The scurs will be resting after a long week of turning the thermostat down to cool off.
More progress towards crop maturity was made last week. However, the high temperatures have taken a toll on things causing the predicted tip back on corn and abortion of many of the small pods in the soybeans. Scouting soybeans for aphids last week in a pair of shorts, I discovered my socks were full of little pods when it came time to take my shoes off. Corn that was planted in our four-day window of opportunity in May has generally dented and some of the early maturing soybeans planted in that same timeframe had reached R6 as of last week. Our lack of rainfall has taken its toll on pastures. A seemingly endless supply of nutritious grass back in early July has dwindled to lesser quality and amount. Some are dangerously close to tapping into an already short hay supply, again. Rainfall at the ranch totaled 1.15” for the month of August and at the office an even 1 inch.
The hot dry weather has also meant watering the garden for the third year in a row in August. The extra effort has paid off. Green beans have produced somewhere over 10 gallon bags worth and counting. The radishes have been tremendous yielders as well with numerous bags leaving for consumption by others. Leaf lettuce has been a hit too as we’ve shared the greens with friends. The cukes have started to produce although they’re not coming as fast as I’d like. The snap peas started flowering over the weekend so am keeping my fingers crossed. All in all not bad production considering there was still standing water on parts of the garden as late as June 15th. The success of the late summer radish and lettuce planting encouraged me to take advantage of the clearance sale Edna was having on vegetable seeds. I picked up more radish seed and several varieties of lettuce type greens. The price was right. Aside from a little elbow grease and watering to get them started, I ain’t got much in it.
The sheep may be getting shorter on pasture but they have been supplemented with lots of radish tops and other assorted vegetable peelings. They have also been gardening themselves. In their pasture there was a lone muskmelon plant that grew on top of the compost pile. There were five melons and apparently my nose was better than theirs as I managed to pick four of them before they devoured the last one. They also have been raising pumpkins from seed where we threw them over the fence behind the granary. The ewes haven’t been as generous with those however. Sunday they waded into the vines and by Monday they had flattened much of those that were on their side of the fence. Fortunately some of the pumpkins managed to escape into the lawn where they couldn't get at them. Oh they’ll get those too eventually but will probably have to wait until Thanksgiving.
The birds show signs that fall is on the way. The variety of birds appearing has dwindled and suspect this may be the orioles’ last hurrah. There were two on Labor Day at the jelly feeder, a young male Baltimore and what appeared to be a female orchard oriole. I could hear the latter chattering at me to finish watering so they could get at the feeder. The amount of jelly though has slowed to a crawl. The hummingbirds on the other hand have ramped it up. The 4 O’clocks are ready for them, having burst into full bloom last weekend. It’s not unusual for the hummers to sneak up behind me when watering, wondering when I’ll get out of the way so they can get at the planters and other vegetation planted for their dining pleasure.
Mrs. Cheviot returned home Sunday from another stint as superintendent of the Open Class Sheep Department at the MN State Fair. Luckily she missed out on all the road construction this past week. It has set the Border Collie alarm system off frequently with every machine, vehicle, or person seen and heard. The good news is being gone much of the day, I don’t have to deal with it. However, one just never knows what might trigger the alarm. I know that watching Clint Eastwood westerns sends Ruby into a fit of growling and barking, ready to launch herself at the television when she sees horses. That happens frequently in those flicks. She has no problem though when Clint slaughters 30 guys with two six guns sans reloading, something that also seems to happen frequently. The other night we were watching TV and the Geico ad with the camel celebrating “Hump Day” came on. From Ruby’s reaction, one would’ve thought the devil himself had appeared in the living room. She either isn’t a fan of Wednesdays or camels have also made her “list.”
See you next week…real good then.