The scurs and the Weather Eye got back making a good harvest forecast once again. The fly in the ointment was they didn’t see the s-word coming on Monday. Will we see weather to get us to the finish line or will we be stuck in a pit stop? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with highs in the mid-30’s and lows in the low 20’s. Thursday, partly sunny with highs in the mid-30’s and lows in the low 20’s. Mostly cloudy on Friday with highs in the low 40’s and lows in the mid-20’s. Saturday, partly sunny with highs in the upper 30’s and lows in the upper 20’s. Mostly cloudy Sunday with a slight chance of rain. Highs in the low 40’s with lows in the low 30’s. Monday, mostly cloudy with a slight chance of rain and snow. Highs in the low 40’s with lows in the upper 20’s. Cloudy for Tuesday with highs in the low 40’s and lows in the mid- 20’s. On the 3rd we turn our clocks back one hour from that insipid human health experiment known as Daylight Saving Time. On the 4th the sun will set at 5 p.m. CST. The normal high for November 4th is 50 and the normal low is 30. The scurs will enjoy their extra hour of sleep Sunday a.m., nestled in with their Halloween loot.
Harvest continues to grind along. Most soybeans are harvested, although it was amazing when out and about Monday how many scattered fields were still not combined. Much of the corn being harvested has reached the low 20% moisture range and will probably be stuck there barring an unforeseen warm up. It’s making it difficult for systems to move grain through as fast as some would like. One positive is that shelling at the head is minimal. Brittle snap continues to be a hot topic, especially if you happened to be one of the unlucky recipients. Yields are all over the board on those fields, depending on the severity. Where there were no excess water issues or brittle snap problems, yields are similar to last year. Seems like those fields are the exception and not the rule the deeper into harvest we get. Tillage and anhydrous ammonia have also been challenging in some fields. Getting enough traction where surface soils were slick made some look for drier fields. Sealing properly has also been an issue for anhydrous applicators.
Just when it looked like we might get some late color out of the remaining trees in the countryside, the hard freeze Monday morning dashed those hopes. The Norway maple in the yard at the ranch can be quite showy if the weather allows. It was starting to turn over the weekend, but the Monday a.m. 23-degree low had the leaves coming off big time by noon in the breeze. The pale yellow leaves on the ground are OK to look at, but those still on the tree are a a dead olive color, which doesn’t do much for me or anyone else. The red oak was sending early signals that it might be pretty once again. There were subtle signs of red coloration in a few leaves, were being the operative term. A dull rusty brown is likely all we’ll see.
One is reminded quickly why so many of us detest winter. It seemed like we had an unusually short summer because in large part because it was so slow to get here. Snow was still present in mid-April and the furnace ran much of May and probably in June a few nights. Then all of a sudden it’s back to snowing and cold in October! Getting everything ready for winter seems like it takes more time than it used to as well: draining hoses, putting heaters in water tanks, dumping flower pots, shoveling screenings and digging canna bulbs. Next thing you know I’ll be putting the tire chains back on to haul manure. Gee, I can hardly wait.
Taking a water break from winter preparations it’s fun to gawk quick at the birds coming to the feeders as well as the fruit trees. Sunday there were several small groups of cedar waxwings working over the nannyberries and crabapples. After replacing the hummingbird and oriole feeders the downy woodpeckers were picking away at the suet feeders. Fortunately we haven’t seen the sudden influx of starlings that usually monopolize the fruit and suet. Hopefully that’s the start of a trend.
I find it interesting to see a recent push by some fast food restaurants to promote burgers made from plants. OK, I’m fine with eating plants and I’ve been doing it for most of my life. We’ve had a garden every year, planted lots of fruit trees and I’ve eaten plenty of corn and soybeans raw at harvest time for decades. I’ve also eaten textured vegetable protein touted as a meat substitute. While not totally disgusting, you can tell it isn’t meat and it tends to lead to flatulence. I gravitate to locally-produced meat including that which we raise ourselves. Been doing that most of my life too. I tend to shy away from highly processed food and that’s exactly what this fake meat is. The fewer chemicals and processes my food is exposed to within reason, the better I like it. I’m crossing restaurants promoting fake burgers off my list of potential places to eat. What I find ironic is that no one’s promoting meat that tastes like plants. Now why do you suppose that is?
It was 35 Octobers ago that we first moved in at the ranch. It was a house on a 3.5-acre building site complete with an older set of out buildings, but it was home. Hooked directly to the natural gas pipeline there was never a worry about running out of fuel or being cold. You just turned the thermostat up. Hadn’t thought of it, but the Big Dubya mentioned this past summer that we’ve lived where we are longer than anyone else on the road. I hadn’t been keeping track I guess, although it’s probably true. I know that there have been several neighbors who have come and gone before we even knew who they were. Doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore?
See you next week…real good then.