The scurs and the Weather Eye delivered another controversial forecast, complete with cold weather and bountiful precipitation. Will they carbon copy it or will Mother Nature quit giving us sloppy wet kisses? Starting Wednesday, sunny highs in the low 80’s and lows in the mid-50’s. Thursday, mostly sunny with highs in the low 80’s and lows in the low 60’s. Sunny on Friday with highs in the upper 80’s and lows in the mid-60’s. Saturday, sunny with a slight chance of an evening thunderstorm. Highs in the low 90’s with lows in the upper 60’s. Sunny on Sunday with a slight chance of evening showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 80’s with lows in the upper 60’s. Monday, mostly sunny with a fair chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid-80’s with lows in the upper 60’s. Mostly cloudy for Tuesday with a fair chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the low 80’s with lows in the upper 60’s. On the 7th, we begin to pick up daylight at under a minute per day. The normal high for June 7th is 76 and the normal low is 57. The scurs take no responsibility for the sudden influx of flying biting insects. Call their lawyer.
Crop progress took a back seat and, in some cases, appears to have gone backwards. Over the weekend, yellow corn and lime green soybeans replaced what was a vibrant crop. Add to that the concern about frost in the low areas and fields that had a lot of residue. Suddenly farmers had their worrying caps on. Of course, as everyone knows, we lose the crop at least five time before it hit the bin, so we still have plenty of worrying to do. Something several were concerned about prior to the cold spell was application of post emerge herbicides in corn. Some decided to picture frame their fields rather than smacking the whole works. So far that appears to have been a decent strategy. One can see in several cases the areas that were sprayed and contrast them to the unsprayed portions of the field. While it may not be detrimental to yield, one won’t know that until harvest. In the meantime, looking at ugly corn should get everyone’s attention until it warms up and grows out of it.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, little garden progress was made as a result of the rainfall. In the past week we tallied roughly 6.5” of rain and in Bugtussle it was more like 3.9”. Crabgrass has appeared in the area worked up for new garden, so that should serve as a clue for those needing to put a crabgrass killer down on their lawns. Lilacs are blooming. It was Memorial Day. It’s time. It shouldn’t take us long to get our tomatoes in and caged immediately. The forecast of warmer than normal weather should be just what the doctor ordered for them. Squash, beans and cukes should be right behind them, once the crabgrass is dead of course. Amazing how quickly our fortunes changed.
This past week marked the end of another year of insect trapping for me. I think it was 9 weeks’ worth of black cutworm and 7 weeks’ worth of armyworm pheromone sticky trap checking every morning after chores. Chores are down to about a half hour, but the trap checking adds about another 10 minutes onto the process due to their placement away from yard lights and other artificial light sources. Add to that the rainfall data collected daily at the ranch and in Bugtussle and it gets to be an undertaking some days. The data collected is important however. Combined with others, it provides valuable information to project possible problems and, in the case of rainfall, to understand some of what’s going on area by area. All in the name of science.
The wetland has responded with more amphibian choruses recently. The newest contestants are the leopard frogs. Not as loud as the toads or as overpowering as the western chorus frogs in early spring, their song is distinctive, nonetheless. Was somewhat concerned that we wouldn’t see many toads in the yard this year due to the dry early spring. There haven’t been the scads of tiny toads yet, but given some warmer temps, that may change. There were plenty of smallish toads during the last lawn mowing, so there’s that. Other flying bug eaters of note include at least one bat in the kindly neighbors’ barn. Good new because white-nose syndrome has devastated bat populations in areas. Of course, there are numerous barn swallows that must be loving the increase in flies. They’ll never go hungry at the ranch.
The spring birds are shifting gears rapidly. The arrival of female orioles of both species means one thing: nest building taking top priority. I left some short pieces of string from the charcoal bag out for them one night and by morning the string was gone. Jelly consumption too has declined somewhat as they focus their attention elsewhere. I still make a habit out of making the orioles’ lives miserable by sitting on the patio. The hummingbirds don’t mind at all. In fact, the red salvia is only about 4’ from my chair. It sounds almost as though they’re right in my ear when they’re working it over. Their nectar feeders have been pulled down as well. With the upcoming warmer temps, it’ll be time to empty the feeders, clean them out, and refill them with fresh nectar. Want the birds to leave here as healthy as when they arrived.
I made yet another Memorial Day journey to the cemetery at Chatfield. I go by myself and replace the solar light I left there last year with a new one every year. It amazes me that the ones I replace are generally still in working order, albeit a little weathered after being out there through the winter. As a result, we have quite a collection of solar lights at the ranch, many of which adorned the cemetery plot. It does bring back memories of all those years when Mom and I would go there and drop off containers of fresh flowers, not only at Chatfield, but at Fillmore as well. It’s not the same, of course, but it still makes me feel it’s the right thing to do. Why do I suddenly feel like Wiford Brimley?
See you next week…real good then.