After Old Man Winter’s brutality, the scurs invested time into reading the Gremlin owner’s manual Weather Eye section for spiritual guidance. Are we out of the woods now or still out in the sticks winter weather-wise? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with a good chance of rain. Highs in the mid-50’s with lows in the upper 30’s. Thursday, cloudy with a fair chance of showers. Highs in the upper 40’s with lows in the upper 30’s. Mostly sunny on Good Friday with highs in the upper 50’s and lows in the upper 30’s. Saturday, sunny with highs in the mid-60’s and lows in the mid-40’s. Partly sunny on Easter Sunday with a fair chance of showers. Highs in the mid-60’s with lows in the low 40’s. Monday, partly sunny with a slight chance of showers. Highs in the upper 50’s and lows in the low 40’s. Mostly cloudy for Tuesday with highs in the low 60’s and lows in the low 40’s. On April 19th we experience the Paschal Full Moon. The normal high for the 19th is 59 and the normal low is 37. With Easter being late the scurs are hedging on a big Easter Basket, sure in the knowledge May baskets are just around the corner.
The Full Moon as mentioned above arrives on the 19th. It goes by several names the most common of which is the Full Pink Moon, named for the pinks or ground phlox that cover the ground in some wooded areas. It is also known as the Sprouting Grass Moon and the Full Egg Moon. The Ojibwe called this the Broken Snowshoe Moon while the Sioux knew it as the Moon of Greening Grass. Likewise at the ranch we know it as the Full Pasture Moon as the ewes can attest. They turn their noses up at the round bale in their feeder and head straight for greener pastures.
Goldfinches are more numerous and continue to show more yellow coloration. They also continue to consume more thistle seed. In general, the birds were hungry when the snow cover was at its deepest. Even the obese squirrel was looking for a handout, so I relented and placed a couple more ears of corn in their feeder. Some of it is eaten while some of it appears to be planted in the backyard. Perhaps if I didn’t keep the backyard mowed I could chop it for silage.
The winter storm last week was a major catastrophe and caused power outages beyond belief. It came just two days after we had seen high temperatures reach 70 degrees for the first time since October. April weather events such as these are not unprecedented, not by a longshot. If you recall, last year April was our snowiest month locally. When I was growing up, April was frequently more like winter than it was like spring. My parents reminded us of this about the time we were giddy about the warmer weather. Sure enough it would get cold and sometimes snow. The kind of damage this recent storm did was phenomenal. The sheer number of outages, lines and poles snapped was not part of April’s past.
Someone inquired about Ruby the other day. She didn’t seem to notice the storm other than it compromised her favorite bathroom areas. She seemed to enjoy the cooler temperatures in the house, although she also liked snuggling up to us when we napped or went to bed. She’s starting to show a little of her spring shed. There are little windrows of dog hair showing up along the baseboards. One of those little toy hay balers we had as kids might come in handy about now.
At the ranch we were more fortunate than many with our power being off only 36 hours. We had the good fortune to have a portable generator thanks to the generosity of the Dubyas. Neighbor Jon also offered us one or we might’ve toughed it out. We did just that in the Halloween blizzard of ’91. We also melted snow on the gas stove for water during that storm. The red soil from the Texas-New Mexico area in this last snow made us think twice about that. We were also 28 years younger. Heat and water are higher priorities. Luckily when we remodeled we had a generator hookup and a double throw switch installed. After a nifty rewiring job on our cord by the Dubyas (wrong type of plug) it was plugged into their generator and voila! Power! Lights! Water! Heat!
In the aftermath of the storm it was time to keep moving forward. The frozen ground Sunday morning offered a perfect opportunity to take the chains off the tractor without chewing up the yard. It also was a good morning to tag, dock and vaccinate the last of the lambs and their mothers which would allow us to move all of them out of the lambing barn hopefully soon. The grass is in the pasture has greened up nicely. It’s time.
It was also time to do battle with the electric fence. Some wires were still buried in the reddish-brown snow/sleet as I shoveled to free them. Other places the wind and ice had the same effect on older fiberglass fence posts as it did on the power poles: it snapped them right off. Resetting one of them, I was surprised to see a garter snake coiled around it. It was still a chilly day out in the wind. I wasn’t positive at first if the reptile was alive. The little forked tongue flicking in and out of its mouth convinced me otherwise. The process reminded me a little of some of the work being done on the power lines. Never know what you’ll find. Nowhere near the effort or danger of course, but still a pain in the rump nonetheless.
At long last the fence was back up and charged throwing a hot, snappy spark. The sun was setting low and the air was cooling down rapidly. I retired to the warm house to hang up my outdoor clothes and reflect on the events of the last several days. I was grateful for the kindness of my neighbors and thankful for all the hard work the linemen did to restore power in a timely manner. Most people I knew were back online. When I’d been parked on the end of the driveway with the Gator earlier I’d spied a power company boom truck from elsewhere heading south. I took my glove off and gave him a big thumbs up. He grinned and waved back. One doesn’t realize how much you appreciate electricity until you don’t have it.
See you next week…real good then.