Mother Nature ditched Jack Frost last week and Friday she had a July weather flashback. Will her flashbacks continue or will Jack Frost thumb another ride? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy a slight chance of rain. Highs in the mid-60’s with lows in the mid-30’s. Thursday, mostly sunny with highs in the upper 40’s and lows in the low 30’s. Mostly sunny Friday with highs in the upper 40’s and lows in the low 30’s. Saturday, partly sunny with a slight chance of overnight snow/rain showers. Highs in the low 50’s and lows in the low 30’s. Partly sunny on Sunday with a slight chance of rain/snow showers. Highs in the low 40’s and lows in the upper 20’s. Monday, partly sunny with a slight chance of rain/snow mix. Highs in the low 40’s with lows in the low 30’s. Mostly cloudy for Tuesday with a slight chance of rain. Highs in the mid-40’s with lows in the mid-30’s. The sun will set before 6:30 p.m. on the 15th and on the 16th we slide below 11 hours of daylight for the first time since February 25th. The normal high for October 16th is 60 and the normal low is 37. Being the bearers of bad news, the scurs will likely receive more hate mail. That’s O.K. It’ll cut down on the heating bill.
Farmers wasted little time taking advantage of good going last week. They got after the soybeans in short order and by week’s end, there were few fields left to be harvested. There were still some fields of later maturing beans not ready and ditto with beans replanted after the hail. As warm and windy as it was Friday, it still didn’t quite get the job done. Last year at this time, soybeans were wet and few, and as an added bonus it snowed on the 12th. Think we’re O.K. without that. Corn dried down immensely. however. Reports of some early planted early maturing hybrids already in the mid-teens for moisture. Even the adapted maturity hybrids have been in the upper teens and low 20% range. Yields have been decent. although perhaps not the home run some were thinking or hoping for. As suspected when looking at the pollinating corn following the July 11th wind storm event, those goose necked stalks were later to pollinate and resulting ears smaller in size than their non-goose necked counterparts. This has shown up in the combine and in the grain dryer both. Get away from the area where the wind affected it and it’s a different ball game.
It is definitely corn picking time though, although it’s been that way a while. The ten-man dryer has been running almost nonstop for three weeks already. I was also pleasantly surprised upon coming home to hear neighbor Jon’s corn dryer running. There are few things that put me out like the hum of that dryer fan, and best of all there are no side effects. I was surprised to learn there are others who are also mesmerized by the sound of dryer fans. I’m almost thinking maybe we should dry soybeans routinely just to help people sleep. Get some of those pillows from the My Pillow guy and insomnia should be a thing of the past.
Here at the ranch, subtle preparations are underway to get ready for winter. Made a trip to the basement and changed the furnace filter, so when that starts up it doesn’t smell quite so much like burning dirt. Also cleaned the filter on the dehumidifier. Said it needed it and for once, it appeared the little idiot light was being honest. Washed the dirt down the sink and after air drying it, stuck the filter back in. The machine roared to life and within a matter of a few minutes the dampness was out of the air. Also peeked at the softener salt just to make sure I hadn’t been checking it frequently enough. It was in great shape too, so at least we’re through some of the checklist preliminaries.
The tomatoes in the garden benefitted from last week’s warm temps. Having been only lightly touched by the frost, they had plenty of photosynthetic area left to move the remaining fruit along nicely. If we’re careful, we should have some tomatoes yet into November. Ruby won’t mind. The BLT’s have been a good way to consume a fair number of tomatoes fresh. The bacon grease winds up being drizzled over her dog food, making her coat nice and shiny. After she shed off back in August and early September, we were wondering if she’d have time to develop a decent fur coat before winter. Not to worry. The fun part is sweeping it up for the next 12 months.
The apples still need to be harvested yet, something the sheep have to be looking forward to. There are plenty of damaged apples that will find their way over the fence. Certainly hoping the birds have left us some SnowSweet apples. They’re a little later apple, but are wonderful when sliced and dipped in melted caramel. It helps that they don’t turn brown quickly too. They can be sliced and eaten later after staying in the fridge for a day or so. The Honeycrisp apples are reputed to keep in the fridge for up to seven months and Haralson’s up to four months. We should be set in that department.
The recent windy conditions have put a quick end to much of our color. Ash trees that had good color Friday night were totally denuded by Monday morning. The thunderstorm didn’t help, even though I slept right through most of it. Now with the weather cooling down, it’ll be time to don the long winter gatkes that we heard Steve Cannon speak of lo those many years. The possibility of snow will likely expedite the process I fear. Listening to Steve-O and the Little Cannons back in those halcyon days would warm the soul. Over 23 years ago, the a.m. radio in the pickup was always tuned in to The Evil Neighbor for the chilly late fall afternoon ride home. The airwaves were full of magic. Best of all, he always got the money.
See you next week…real good then.