With Mother Nature hitting the brakes unexpectedly, the scurs and Weather Eye almost hit the windshield. Will we see temperatures rebound to more seasonal levels, or are we just heading off the cliff into the abyss? Starting Wednesday, mostly sunny with highs in the low 60’s and lows in the low 40’s. Thursday, partly sunny with highs in the low 50’s and lows in the mid-30’s. Frost likely. Partly sunny Friday with frost likely. Highs in the upper 40’s with lows in the mid-30’s. Saturday, mostly cloudy with a slight chance of rain. Highs in the low 50’s with lows in the upper 30’s. Partly sunny on Sunday with highs in the low 50’s and lows in the upper 30’s. Monday, mostly sunny with a modest chance of rain. Highs in the upper 50’s with lows in the mid-40’s. Mostly cloudy for Tuesday with a modest chance of rain. Highs in the upper 60’s with lows in the mid-40’s. Thursday is October 1st already. The normal high is 67 and the normal low is 43. The scurs will be getting those grabby brakes checked out on the ’74 Gremlin X. Don’t need to be spilling latte on those pristine Levi’s denim seats.
Crop progress continued to be made, although it was spotty. Soybean harvest has been limited primarily to those early-planted, early-maturing varieties. Yields, while not necessarily record breaking, have been a pleasant surprise. Rotational effects are also evident as those rotating out of soybeans for multiple years are seeing yields exceeding expectations. Amazing what can be done without major white mold and SDS to contend with. The biggest issue thus far has been getting dry conditions for enough hours to get the crop off the field. Corn harvest is also somewhat spotty, but results here follow somewhat the same pattern. Corn rotated with soybeans has been excellent. Corn on corn lags behind with a yield penalty for most. Moistures on early-maturing, early-planted hybrids were in the lower 20% range while the fuller season hybrids were still in the mid to upper 20% range. Plenty of time to let it dry a while yet.
It’s always tough to admit the hummingbirds have likely left the ranch. The last one we saw at the feeders was on September 24th. The first ones were spotted on May 14th, so it was a decent run once again even though they’ve stayed almost another week the past couple years. As usual, I keep expecting to see one descend from the leafy branches to perch on the nectar feeders. I’ll leave the feeders up a while yet as there may be a straggler or two we may or may not see. There are also plenty of flowers yet and unless it freezes awfully hard, there should be for a while. Cooler weather and lack of flowering plants are a couple factors that keep them moving south to their eventual overwintering areas in Central America.
In the meantime, the fall birds have taken center stage. The blue jays and chickadees make it look and sound very much like fall, and their consumption of sunflower seed makes it even more convincing. Eventually the nectar feeders are replaced with suet feeders, bringing the woodpeckers to the backyard in force. The red-bellied woodpeckers appreciate the ear corn as well, shuffling along the tree trunks adding their almost Curly Howard-like call to the mix. Missing recently have been the goldfinches. Some of the reference books deem goldfinches to be nomadic and that seems to fit them to a “T.” Occasionally, one will venture through, but they appear to be preoccupied with some of the native seed sources such as that found in the CRP wildflowers. The worst part is the yellow color on the males that have been seen is fading rapidly. Summer is definitely over.
This is definitely the perfect time of the year to be a sheep at the ranch or at the kindly neighbors’ pasture. Any number of goodies including apples, pears, cucumbers or cornstalks, seem to make their way over the fence. Some of the yearling ewes haven’t had the opportunity to be exposed to much fruit before. They cue on the white plastic bucket pretty well as that’s where grain comes from at feeding time. The older ewes figure it out pretty quickly when a bucket of ground fall apples gets tossed over the fence. It doesn’t take the yearlings long to figure it out. Before you know it, there are a dozen sheep crunching away on the apples. Since they chew with their mouths open, the noise becomes almost annoying.
The gardening year is coming to an end. It was largely a success, even though it was done on a more limited basis than what it once was. Cucumbers seem to appear out of nowhere under some of the dwindling foliage. Like the tomatoes, these late arrivals seem to have an extra level of sweetness to them. Whether it’s from the cool fall conditions or just what, it doesn’t matter. We still continue to enjoy the tomatoes coming fresh off the vines as of this writing. I suspect the frost this week might have something to say about that. In the meantime we have plenty to keep those BLT’s coming for quite some time.
The pear season has come to a close. They were excellent although we need to stay on top of them better for the next time. They ripen very quickly and when they do, they get mushy inside. Refrigerating them and only taking out the amount one plans to ripen and eat over a short duration should solve that. The Honeycrisp apples have been the new star of the show. The tree hasn’t always been my favorite to deal with. It had a double leader initially so getting that whipped into shape was a top priority. After that, it would bear a few apples sporadically that the birds and four legged creatures would ruin before we got a chance. The tree almost received a death sentence as a result. It started to come around last year and this year bore impressively. Just goes to show that fruit is still a gamble.
See you next week…real good then.