The scurs got the Weather Eye back from the Nash Rambler dealership only to discover the heater isn’t functioning very well. Another trip back to the shop. Will our temperature woes be repaired soon or are we air-conditioned gypsies? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with highs in the upper 40’s and lows in the mid-30’s. Thursday, partly sunny with highs in the low 50’s and lows in the mid-30’s. Partly sunny Friday with highs in the low 50’s and lows in the mid 30’s. Saturday, partly sunny with a slight chance of showers. Highs in the low 50’s with lows in the mid-30’s. Mostly sunny on Sunday with a slight chance of showers. Highs in the mid-50’s with lows in the mid-30’s. Monday, partly sunny with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the low 50’s with lows in the mid-30’s. Mostly sunny for Tuesday with highs in the low 50’s and lows in the mid-30’s. Sunrise will occur at 6:30 a.m. CDT on the 15th, we’ll have 13 hours and 30 minutes of daylight on the 16th, and the sun will set at 8 p.m. on the 17th. The normal high for April 17th is 58 and the normal low is 36. The scurs last bill from the Nash Rambler dealership was a doozy. Let’s hope they’re not dazed and confused by the next one.
Back to reality this past week after seeing highs in the 80’s and lows in the 50’s devolve into more April-like conditions. Pesky off and on showers over the course of the past week didn’t help, although accumulations were generally light. Measurements of half to three-quarters of an inch were common with measurable precip recorded on seven out of eight days starting April 6th. More problematic has been the lack of sunshine and warm breezes to dry the soils and allow tillage to progress. Some will be gung-ho to take to the fields regardless, and that’s fine. Just because you can doesn’t necessarily mean you should. Corn put into cold chewy soils will have little advantage over that planted when soils are warmer and more fit. It is still mid-April and most like to plant their fields once.
Still no superstition on my part. The tire chains and snow blower remain on the 656. Looking back at pictures on my phone indicated substantial April snowfall for 2018 – 2020. Indeed, at the ranch April snowfall included 28.5”, 5.5” and 7.2” respectively for those years. Convinced me. I was tempted to remove my winter plumage after those warm early April days. Looking at the forecast, I decided trimming it back might be wiser. Not a bad move. Outside over the weekend, having some dark colored facial protection proved to be a wise decision. I never trust the weather to purposely do me any favors. Saves time worrying about it.
The radishes planted March 9th in our garden demonstrate that ultra-early doesn’t always mean markedly better. Radishes are a cool season crop and, being in the brassica family, they tolerate cold about as well as any early season vegetable. The area where they are planted is on a south facing slope and has some shelter from the NW wind. Their emergence was somewhat erratic, particularly using one establishment technique and they got zinged by the 15-degree lows earlier in April. The plants put out their first set of true leaves following the 80-degree days and have done little since that time. When the weather is favorable, radishes take from 25 – 30 days. These are looking more like all of two months, and they are an early variety. More points to ponder.
Around the yard, Ruby and I finally got the mess generated by tree pruning picked up. While not a brilliant conversationist, she does show great interest as the branches, sticks and twigs are loaded into the Gator to be dumped on the brush pile. She was in luck as I decided on Sunday to tackle the nannyberry underbrush that served to make me dread mowing that part of the lawn. There are enough trees to mow around without that additional aggravation. Lopping off limb after limb, Ruby had to dodge quickly as they fell. The aftermath was another mess to behold, but not one that will be difficult to pick up. Luckily, there’s another brush pile in the proximity. For an encore, we worked over the flower bed containing perennials we’re planning on moving this upcoming fall. Lots of ash, boxelder, mulberry and bitter nightshade bit the dust and made their way onto the brush pile.
Little Bunny, the tiny lamb born on Easter Sunday, continues to grow quickly. She has a long way to go as compared to her contemporaries. That’s OK. She’s very active and almost senses that you want to pick her up. Bunny darts the other direction and acts annoyed. The rest of the lambs are also growing like weeds and love to run. This group also is unique as they seem to enjoy jumping straight up in the air from standing in one place. It’s unusual and we don’t recall seeing that many of them do it in years past. The best times to see them run seems to be around lunchtime and at night before dusk, especially if it’s cooling down. It’s worth taking a few minutes to watch them go. Oh, to be young again.
This column was written on a new confuser, so am still getting used to it. It triggers a trip down memory lane as far as computers go. Started out using a Hewlett Packard 125 with a printer back in 1981, hauling it around to farmers’ places to help them figure out their best farm program options and most profitable crops to plant. Went from that to an Apple III that had a hard drive in it. Big stuff back in the day. Used an Apple IIe for a few years when the IBM machines began to dominate the business market. An 80 MB hard drive provided unbelievable capacity, until we filled it up, of course. I purchased my first laptop, an Acer, back in the mid-90’s. Since then I’ve had numerous laptops, along with printers, scanners and other assorted accessories. These new laptops get better all the time. This one’s light as a feather and I like the touch on the keypad. Went to a smaller screen this time to save a little money. Buying a monitor crossed my mind. Bet I have a magnifying glass somewhere. That’d be a lot cheaper.
See you next week…real good then.