Old Man Winter must’ve taken a little more laxative late last week, enough so snow remained on the north sides of buildings yet Monday morning. Will the scurs ever get the Weather Eye back or are the repair parts still on backorder at the Nash Rambler dealer? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with a good chance of showers. Highs in the low 50’s with lows in the low 30’s. Thursday mostly cloudy with highs in the low 40’s with lows in the mid-20’s. Mostly sunny on Friday with a modest chance of rain and snow. Highs upper 40’s with lows in the mid-30’s. Saturday, partly sunny with a fair chance of forenoon rain and snow showers. Highs in the low 50’s with lows in the low 30’s. Partly sunny on Easter Sunday with a slight chance of rain and snow showers. Highs in the mid-40’s with lows in the upper 20’s. Monday, mostly sunny with highs in the low 40’s and lows in the upper 20’s. Partly sunny for Tuesday with a modest chance of rain and snow showers. Highs in the low 40’s with lows in the mid-20’s. On the 9th the sun will be back to rising at roughly the same time it did the day before the time change. It’s also setting about an hour and 41 minutes later. The normal high for April 12th is 55 and the normal low is 34. The scurs will hope to make their goody supply last until they get a May basket.
Very little progress of note in the fields as we saw it start to dry off on top, only to be rained and snowed on on the 3rd & 4th. To go along with that, temperatures were slow to warm back up and the sun didn’t shine much either. I did notice a few loads of pack manure being spread on some high ground prior to that, but that was before Mother Nature hit the brakes. It is still early and with the ground being thawed, we’re still in better shape now than we were the past two Aprils. A year ago on the 11th we dealt with snapped power lines and poles while looking at reddish-brown colored snow. The snow didn’t last long, but it didn’t have to. It only added insult to injury. And we won’t talk about the 28+” of snow that fell in April of ’18. No reason to tempt fate. Let’s channel April of ’17, when no snow was recorded in April.
At the ranch we’ve been following the stay-at-home requests, going out only when we need feed or groceries. There have been a few trips to the office to pay bills, but with both of us having head colds that don’t go away, it’s prudent not to give anyone that stuff as well as trying to avoid COVID-19. Being in an age bracket that’s more vulnerable it seemed the prudent thing to do. When we have gone off the ranch, the trips have been quick with the intent of keeping exposure to a minimum. Back home it’s been focus on what really matters: eating well, getting rest and doing what needs to be done. We’re just rolling with the punches like everyone else.
We did get the ewes moved, so we can watch the lambs run in the evenings. The small group of ewes and a ram are able to graze the main pasture already. It greened up nicely, thanks to the rain and warmer temps. That’ll definitely help take some heat off the hay supply. Still a few more pens to move yet, but as tired as we’ve become of feeding small pens, that should happen relatively soon. Individual feed pans, slices of hay and buckets of water create a real drain on efficiency. When it’s been going on since late November, that’s probably long enough.
Feeding the bottle lambs still gets done five times a day. One of the things we’re both concerned about is catching orf from one of the bottle lambs that broke with sore mouth, known more correctly as ovine ecthyma. It can infect humans as well, but needs cuts or abrasions in order to make the jump. Guess what? In addition to the normal scrapes and abrasions, our hands are so cracked and split open from the frequent hand washing we’re probably more concerned about orf than COVID-19. Orf can cause a fever, fatigue and swelling of the lymph nodes not to mention some really ugly pus-filled lesions at the point of infection. The best way to avoid it is to wear latex or rubber gloves. Not many of those to be found given the current circumstances.
With some extra time spent at home most of the fruit trees have been pruned. Prior crummy weekend weather and not feeling 100% had delayed the process. Not unlike baling hay, pitching manure or picking rocks, it ranks right up there when it comes to people wanting to jump right in to help. Ruby faithfully came out to help, primarily to stare down the twigs and branches once they hit the ground. On the bright side, it’s another one of those activities that encourages social distancing. One might fall out of the tree and break your leg, but there’s very little danger of catching anything in the meantime.
After being cooped up, we had visons of taking the Studebaker out for its initial run. I know it’s been requested that we stay home, but just sightseeing with no intent of stopping anywhere would seem relatively harmless. The salt that was spread all over following the snow and ice pellets earlier in the week squelched that idea, however. Had my fingers crossed until I saw the orange People’s Republic of Steele Co. truck go by with no blade on it. Gee, wonder what’s up there? The salt residue on the pickup after the trip to town left no doubt. With a snow and ice pellet accumulation of only .7”, by afternoon the roads were melted off again, even where no salt had been spread. Since they like salt so much, maybe I should pay the property taxes with it. If I got it on sale, it’d only be about 450 bags of the 40-lb. variety. I could put it in the mail, but to be a nice guy, I’d even deliver. They should be able to handle it. We put up with it all winter.
See you next week…real good then.