Continued warmth spewed forth from the Weather Eye, pleasing the scurs yet puzzling them. Will it ever cool off, or are we stuck with the “finter” they pondered? (Thank you Jonathan Yuhas for the new season name). Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with a good chance of rain. Highs in the low 50’s and lows in the upper 30’s. Thursday, mostly sunny with a slight chance of rain and snow showers. Highs in the mid 40’s and lows in the low 30’s. Sunny Friday with highs in the low 40’s and lows in the mid 20’s. Saturday, mostly sunny with highs near 50 and lows in the mid 30’s. Sunny on Sunday with highs in the low 50’s and lows in the mid 30’s. Monday, mostly cloudy with highs around 50 and lows in the mid 30’s. Cloudy for Tuesday with a chance of light rain or drizzle. Highs in the upper 40’s and lows in the low 30’s. The sun rises after 7 a.m. CST on the 10th. The normal high for November 15th is 42 and the normal low is 25. In a week’s time we lost about four degrees off both the highs and lows. The scurs are wondering if there will be enough snow to build a snowman. They have a spare leftover from last year saved in the freezer just in case.
Crop farming continues to wind down for the season. Many acres of anhydrous ammonia were applied this week and for our business soil sampling is coming to a close. Most of what’s left has been worked so it makes for slower, rougher going. Conditions to the west have been wetter than around Bugtussle itself so anhydrous applications were delayed somewhat in that area. Rains have continued to hold off allowing those who haven’t finished harvest to do so. Whether or not it will allow tillage to be performed on some of those late harvested acres remains to be seen. The primary goal however is still to get the crop off and worry about tillage later. Many of those acres will be going into soybeans next year anyway.
The nice weather allowed for some preliminary groundwork on the annual manure spreading extravaganza. The oil was changed on the tractor and skidloader, readying both for next weekend. The Ruby and Fudgie always enjoy this part of the process as it gives them one more opportunity to bark, growl and bite the tires on both implements. On sunny days like Saturday it just feels good to be outdoors doing something and watching them a couple Border Collies through their paces. They can’t help themselves and it’s entertaining. Of course I am easily entertained.
I took some time to take inventory on some tree limbs and branches that ticked me off this last summer while mowing, also making note of those needing tree wrap. Somehow the bunnies haven’t started messing with them yet although I’d better not hold my breath. I know where the tree wrap lives. I also discovered a few more tomatoes that had been green and ripened under the mat of recently fallen leaves. Another project: Grind up the leaves with the lawnmower. The late season bonus tomatoes have been delicious and welcome treat. The Tumbling Tom tomato on the patio deck is still blooming and bearing so we should still have a few fresh ripe tomatoes of one kind or another for Thanksgiving.
Sunday after church we cruised to Albert’s Leaf in the Silver Hawk to check out new phones and hopefully bring Mrs. Cheviot into the 21st century. It was also time to replace my phone, which I wasn’t sorry about. I had a love-hate relationship with it from the get-go. Having switched originally from a Blackberry, I found the touch screen on the Galaxy S4 jumpy. Many times if I grabbed it the wrong way, it sent me off into the techno rhubarb faster than I could figure it out. After a while I got used to it, but the learning curve was pretty steep. It was a tough phone though. I had the thing, though, for over three years ,which many remarked was incredible that I hadn’t smashed it. Don’t think I wasn’t tempted, I told them.
Sunday was a bright, beautiful day for a cruise though. A little cool perhaps but the with the heater control valve allowing a little antifreeze to seep through to the heater core, the temp was about right inside the car. We got the phones picked out and the young lady did an excellent job of explaining how to operate them. Luckily we both got the same phone and for me it was just an upgrade so Mrs. Cheviot could learn from my tutelage. We chuckled at the people who would crawl by the Studebaker craning their necks in their vehicles as we watched from inside the store. One guy even got out, walked around the car and snapped several photos. We had no idea we’d cause a gawker slowdown in a parking lot.
After finishing the phone paperwork we had to go to DQ and celebrate our purchases. A Buster bar for Mrs. Cheviot and a butterscotch dipped cone for me. We filled up with non-oxygenated fuel across the street and made our merry way home. We went on a smoother, albeit longer route. However the distance doesn’t really matter on picture perfect days like Sunday. The longer the cruise the better. We sailed on home with the tail wind pushing us on our voyage. Once we arrived we played with the phones for a while until I looked up to see sheep walking across in front of the barn, again. Fun’s over I thought. Having to deal with animals out of their pens is a source of great irritation for most males of the species and I am no exception. Once that problem was solved and chores were done, it was time to go back inside to play with the phones some more. Not so fast. Someone calling on the landline and leaving a message, namely the fearless leader from the paper, sheepishly requesting I submit my article a day early. Yup, fun was definitely over. Back to reality. See you next week…real good then.