The scurs continue their puzzlement over the leak beneath the Weather Eye. It’s usually a heater core issue. Will we receive heat or are we about to see the big decline? Starting Wednesday, mostly sunny with a good chance of rain in the overnight. Highs in the upper 60’s with lows in the low 50’s. Thursday, cloudy with a good chance of rain. Highs in the low 60’s and lows in the low 40’s. Cloudy on Friday with a good chance of rain in the forenoon. Highs in the upper 40’s with lows in the low 30’s. Saturday, mostly cloudy with a slight chance of snow. Highs in the upper 30’s with lows in the low 30’s. Partly sunny on Sunday with highs in the low 40’s with lows in the low 30’s. Columbus Day, partly sunny with highs in the low 40’s and lows in the low 40’s. Mostly cloudy for Tuesday with an outside chance for a shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the low 60’s with lows in the upper 40’s. On the 15th the sun will set about 6:30 p.m. CDT. The normal high for October 15th is 60 and the normal low is 37. The scurs are thinking that if people handed out candy on Columbus Day, it would still be a thing.
Harvest came to a screeching halt with rain falling much of last week with rainfall totals from September 29th through October 5th of 4 ½” being common. Not only did it make soybeans too wet to combine, precipitation accumulated in places made combining fields problematic for those attempting it. Already reports of combines stuck on Monday. While one can’t blame people for wanting to get all they can before the precipitation returns, the ruts and compaction left from combining when too wet are sometimes difficult to overcome, with consequences lasting for many years. These clay loam soils are not very forgiving and compact readily when wet. Yes, the amount of tile put in the ground over the past several decades is enormous. It still doesn’t transform these soils into the loess soils found to our east and to our west. Not that they thrive on it, but they tend to bounce back much more readily from abuse.
Snow in the forecast makes everyone anxious, although one has to question how seriously it should be taken. When I was first out of college in 1981 working in North Central North Dakota, the fall up until October 9th was pretty routine. The ducks and geese were coming down out of Canada right on schedule, with fall tillage and fertilization progressing normally. I returned to Rugby that night after soil sampling near Rolette in a snowstorm and parked the Jeep behind my basement house. The next day the ground froze solid and stayed that way for about a week, making it too hard to soil sample. Small grain was already harvested, but sunflowers were still out in the fields with snow on the back of their heads. Many were convinced fall was over and winter had begun. After a week, however, the weather warmed back up, the ducks and geese returned and conditions stayed nice until Thanksgiving. Fall tillage and fertilization were completed for the upcoming season just like normal.
Mother Nature has been sending us some mixed signals locally so far. A flock of robins was in the yard at the ranch on the 3rd, gobbling down nannyberries as fast as they could. Looked like this year’s late hatch, smaller birds with some of them still showing hints of stripes on their breasts. Juncos showed up over the past weekend and salamanders were seen crossing the roads the same time. Sunday there was still a small group of swallows grouped on the powerlines east of Mud Lake. On the 7th in town I heard a cicada and saw a dragonfly near the post office. When I returned home to the ranch, I heard tree frogs croaking as I grabbed the mail. Later after chores I cleaned some of the wet seed out of the birdfeeders. As I did I was greeted by numerous mosquitoes in my face, expediting the process. If it freezes as the forecast indicates, I seriously doubt that anyone will miss them until perhaps January.
Trees are also a bit of a puzzle at the ranch. Many of the trees are just starting to show a hint of color as of this writing. Some, such as autumn blaze maple, have been showing color and dropping leaves slowly for the better part of a month. Poplars and some of the ash are definitely showing signs their season is winding down as are the black walnuts, famous for their slow leafing out in the spring and their early leaf drop in the fall. The fruit on the nannyberries has been black for the past several weeks although their leaves that should be turning a bright crimson soon seem to be taking their sweet time.
The birdfeeders are slowly getting swapped out in anticipation of winter. Actually the red-bellied woodpeckers and nuthatches clued me in that their suet feeders were not filled or in place. While I was at it, I removed the oriole’s jelly and nectar feeders, cleaning them up for next season’s spring flight. I did leave the hummingbird feeder out for at least another week just in case a straggler comes through. The second week in October has been about as late as we’ve ever seen them at the ranch. They keep trying to get me to drink the Kool Aid that this is climate change related, but that happened several decades ago.
The lawn looks to be readying itself for winter. Letting the grass grow long, then cutting it for what will likely be the last time before grinding the leaves up, it appears to have taken the summer well. It would be nice someday to have the time to tame the crabgrass in places and kick some of the bromegrass out of it so it doesn’t need mowing again within three days all summer. Still, it is a farm yard essentially. One never knows where and when it might be necessary to unload some round bales, blow the snow off or drive across it with the manure spreader to get turned around. I’m flattered yet amused when someone asks if it’s OK to back on the lawn to get down the driveway. If they only knew…
See you next week…real good then.