The scurs tweaking with the Weather Eye made for some fantastic sleeping weather sans AC until Sunday. Will July temps be in our future temperatures, or is September more likely? Starting Wednesday, mostly sunny becoming cloudy with a moderate chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the low 80’s with lows in the upper 50’s. Thursday, sunny with highs in the mid-70’s and lows in the mid-50’s. Sunny on Friday with a slight chance of evening showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid-70’s with lows in the upper 50’s. Saturday, partly sunny with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid-70’s with lows in the low 60’s. Mostly sunny on Sunday with an increasing chance for evening showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 70’s and lows in the low 60’s. Monday, partly sunny with a modest chance of a daytime thunderstorm. Highs in the upper 70’s with lows in the upper 50’s. Partly sunny for Tuesday with a slight possibility of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid-70’s with lows in the upper 50’s. The normal high for August 11th is 81 and the normal low is 60. With another Freeborn Coounty Fair under their belts, the scurs can get ready to feast at the Steele Coounty Fair next. Fortunately, their stomachs should still be expanded.
More crop progress as we get a good start on the month of August. We were still 4% behind on GDU’s as of last Wednesday at the SROC in Waseca. Corn pollination has been excellent and some of the early-planted hybrids are at brown silk. Leaf disease pressure prior to the Monday rainfall event has generally been light, with common rust being the predominant pathogen found. Soybeans are starting to make their move. It was surprising how much they grew since last week at this time and some of the 30” rows are making a bid to close them. Soybeans are generally R4 with some of the earlier planted, early maturing varieties being a bonafide R5 with beans in the pods at one of the uppermost four nodes on the main stem with a fully developed leaf measuring 1/8” or greater. Some SDS has been found and may be more prevalent than typical given the type of spring we had. Time will tell. Soybean aphids have increased slightly, although numbers are still relatively low.
Soil moisture, while not short prior to the Monday night rain, was starting to make one wonder if this would be one of those Augusts where we end up begging for rain. Cracks in the ground were common in most fields, although corn and soybeans weren’t showing signs of much stress. Relatively moderate daytime temperatures along with cool nighttime temps helped to prolong the soil moisture we had. Pulling some weeds in fields prior to the rain indicated there was still ample moisture there should we need it. With rainfall Monday night it became a moot point. The worst part about that is it will probably reignite the mosquito population in places. Just when we thought they were starting to taper off.
Speaking of that, I actually saw a bat on the wing one night after the sun was down so apparently the white-nose syndrome hasn’t eliminated all of them yet. On the wing in the daytime at the ranch, there are already some subtle signs that fall is on the way. Chickadees and blue jays are making themselves heard more frequently even while the orioles continue gobbling down grape jelly. Looking at a long lateral limb on the silver maple tree, I debated whether I should get the chainsaw out. It has continued encroaching on the patio despite my numerous efforts to prune it back. I spied a robin’s nest attached to it. Since I couldn’t be sure if it was still occupied or not, I opted to leave it alone. Grilling one night I was being severely chastised by the owners of the nest. Lucky for them it was hot over the weekend or I might’ve regretted it.
Some of the migratory waterfowl have taken a shine to the Dubya’s barley stubble. Canada geese were thick in it one morning when I went by and they were joined by a couple sandhill cranes. All of them were sitting so still it was hard to tell if they were decoys or not. I didn’t think there was any early season open yet and I was right. The field has had a lot of attention by would-be hunters.
Unfortunately for them, the field is likely to get seeded down yet so it likely will lose its allure for waterfowl and hunters alike when that happens.
Summer has started to head down the home stretch with the sheep feasting on garden weeds as well as out of code bread, sweet corn cobs and husks that find their way over the fence. It’s always interesting to see what they think of the offerings. Sometimes they gobble it right down and other times the stuff lays out there a while before suddenly disappearing. I don’t know if it has to cure or if they have so much to eat in the pasture they just forget about it. I do know one thing: when they get out the first thing they eat is always something that’ll torque you off. Guaranteed.
Ruby has had a relatively good summer. She sleeps in air-conditioned comfort wherever she feels like and has made some new friends. The 4-H kids have provided a new source of attention if we allow her out when they’re working with their lambs. Sometimes she serves as a distraction, which can be a good thing or a bad thing. Ruby is unlike many Border Collies in one respect. Sure, she has all the usual quirks, the incessant ball playing, an obsession with being around sheep, running at them like she’s possessed and shedding hair like a rat hat. Ruby is unusual in that she absolutely craves attention, something foreign to the nature of many Border Collies. She took that behavior to another level recently. We couldn’t figure out why she was staring forlornly out the window with her head propped up on the arm of the couch. It dawned on us she was waiting for her newfound best friends to show up. Not always the brightest bulb on the tree, but she is very predictable.
See you next week…real good then.