The scurs got the windshield washer wire crossed on the Weather Eye once again, although it could’ve been worse. Will they dry out the forecast or will we see a deluge soon? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with highs in the mid-60’s and lows in the low 50’s. Thursday, mostly sunny with a slight chance of an evening shower. Highs in the low 70’s with lows in the mid-50’s. Partly sunny Friday with a good chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 70’s with lows in the low 60’s. Saturday, partly sunny with a modest chance for showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid-70’s with lows in the upper 50’s. Mostly sunny Sunday with highs in the low 70’s and lows in the mid-50’s. Monday, mostly sunny with highs in the mid-70’s and lows in the mid-50’s. Partly sunny skies for Tuesday with highs in the upper 70’s and lows in the upper 50’s. The normal high for June 7th is 74 and the normal low is 53. From June 7th we only have about six more minutes to gain before the summer solstice. The scurs have several naps in the shade scheduled in the meantime.
Last week’s rainfall made it difficult to accomplish a lot of fieldwork, although much of the weed control was completed the week prior in the corn. This week the soybeans will start to need some attention, especially on those pesky giant ragweed patches along the field borders in addition to other larger infested areas in some fields. Much of the corn was V4 this past week, although the frost made it a little tough to tell with some of the leaves missing. Soybeans continued to emerge and some have reported some feeding by slugs. These little mollusks not only enjoy munching things like your hostas and garden vegetables, they like variety it seems. Control has not been called for in most cases, but it’s one more thing to keep an eye on, particularly in reduced and no-till scenarios.
At the ranch we continue to put in garden. Planted tomatoes and peppers Monday night. Kept it down to 26 tomatoes and 10 peppers so we are making progress in that area. Also planted the obligatory zucchini plants. We give plenty away, although I think the sheep probably consume more than anyone. They seem to enjoy the monster-sized ones that get away on us. Some of the planting from the week before was starting to emerge including several hills of muskmelon as well as some squash, gourds and pumpkins. A few cucumber beetles were already feeding on some of the volunteer gourds, so heads up. The Indian corn was almost all up, which is good considering the one hybrid is 105 to 110-day maturity. Still, all it really needs to do is make it to physiological maturity since we dry it on the ear anyway. There are a few things to plant yet including string beans and some flowers for the hummingbirds and other pollinators.
Both Ruby and Fudgie continue to need brushing. Ruby in particular likes cuddling against you and if you’re wearing a dark colored shirt; afterwards you’re also wearing lots of little white hairs. Saturday morning presented a good opportunity to give both a thorough going over. We’ve been noticing how fast the hair disappears and one wonders where it all goes. Some perhaps blows away while it appears a large portion of it is used as nesting material by the local bird population. Monday morning a chipping sparrow was stuffing its beak full of dog hair. By the time it flew away it looked like a miniature feathered version of Wilford Brimley.
Finally got a chance to mow the main lawn in daylight hours between Sunday and Monday. It allowed me to dig the solar lights out and twiddle with them for a bit. Some have some age on them but they still work. It’s always interesting that first night to see how many come on as they should and how long they stay on. No two are alike in that department even after changing the battery and shooing any insects out of them such as earwigs. None this spring so that was fortunate. One that initially showed me that it was working decided not to so need to perform surgery to see if it is worth monkeying with. These little decorations always fascinate me with their color changes over the course of an evening. I am easily entertained.
Made the trip to the Chatfield cemetery Monday morning to place flowers on my folks’ gravesite and clean up the stone some. It’s a beautiful, peaceful place, very well kept with lots of columnar arborvitae. The wrens were singing nearby and one could hear Baltimore orioles adding their song from the other end. There were very few people about and the fellow who was mowing even stopped for a while as I was tidying things up. I placed the planter full of flowers that Mom and Dad would’ve enjoyed there and put another solar light on one side to replace the one I’d put there last year. Not sure where it went, but it was nowhere to be found. Everything was in order so I made a quick trip to the farm to check on things there.
The white peonies lining the driveway were just starting to bloom, something I hadn’t noticed yet at home. Had mowed around those peonies many times over the years. The lily of the valley were about done and the Jack in the pulpit were flowering, the same as at the ranch. Everything there checked out too with the flowers Linette and brother Stu planted a few weeks earlier starting to enjoy the recent warm weather. A few had been nipped by the frost but most were showing signs that they were survivors. Made the journey back to the ranch and after doing some organized gawking, discovered that the white peonies we’d transplanted from the farm a few years back were just starting to open. Another reminder that while you sometimes can’t go back, you can take a little piece of it with you.
See you next week…real good then.