The scurs and the Weather Eye found last week’s rainfall totals rather unrewarding. Will Mother Nature turn the rinse cycle on again or are we destined to be dry cleaned for another week? Starting Wednesday, sunny with a modest chance of an afternoon thunderstorm. Highs in the upper 80’s with lows in the upper 60’s. Thursday, mostly sunny with a good chance of a thunderstorm by evening. Highs in the low 90’s with lows in the low 60’s. Sunny on Friday with highs in the low 80’s and lows in the mid-50’s. Saturday, sunny with highs in the low 80’s and lows in the upper 50’s. Mostly sunny on Sunday with a good chance of thunderstorms by evening. Highs in the mid-80’s with lows in the low 60’s. Monday, mostly sunny with a modest chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the low 80’s with lows in the mid-50’s. Partly sunny for Tuesday with a modest chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 70’s with lows in the upper 50’s. The summer solstice arrives on June 20th. We’ll see 15 hours and 28 seconds worth of daylight. On the 21st we begin losing daylight, but only less than a second. The normal high for June 20th is 80 and the normal low is 60. The scurs are planning another trip to the AMC dealership. The AC on the Weather Eye appears to need recharging. Maybe they’ll check out those newfangled Pacers.
Crops continued to progress despite the lack of rain. Fortunately, the brutal heat subsided, and overnight temperatures became bearable once again. It’s unusual for us to see this kind of heat for extended periods of time. Coupled with the lack of rainfall, it has everyone a little nervous. Help may be on the way at least in the near term however. Breaking the back of the heatwave for the time being should buy us some time. Most of our soils have a tremendous water holding capacity. More and more it’s looking like some significant precip may occur over the next 7 to 10 days. Moderating temperatures in that timeframe also look favorable with real extremes pictured. Corn as of last check was V7-V8 and soybeans were V3-V4. Expected to see some blooms last week already. Am betting, if I’d spent enough time, I likely could’ve found some, especially on early planted, early maturing soybeans. Bigger fish to fry.
Something that has been unreal is the drying of first cutting hay. Quality has been outstanding while quantity on the other hand has been somewhat disappointing. Lack of rainfall thus far hasn’t helped push a second cutting along very rapidly either. Probably the most amazing thing has been the speed of the drying. For instance, I cut hay on the kindly neighbors’ starting Sunday about noon. By 6 p.m. that evening, the hay was nearly dry enough to bale. Granted it was orchardgrass hay that tends to dry quickly. However, I’ve also seen years when we’ve had to swap hay with the neighbors and have them blow it in the silo because it wouldn’t get dry enough to bale for several days. With rain on the way it was our best alternative.
The garden at the ranch continues to move along as well. The vine crops planted on the 8th began emerging on the 13th. The only fly in the ointment has been the wild turkey who wanders in and out occasionally. I expected we’d face issues from striped gophers and bunnies, neither of which has been an issue so far. After being elated to see hills of pumpkins emerging Sunday, I noticed the turkey was trotting through again. Seeing the havoc they can raise in corn and soybean fields, I wondered if he had found the garden. I got busy with other things and forgot about it. That evening when I ran the garden hose down the hill to water the vine crops, I was despondent to see one of the hills tore up with a big three-toed footprint in the middle of it. Turkey hunting may need to become a pastime.
Birds continue to do the parenting thing. There are numerous robin nests scattered in the trees around the yard. The wrens have made use of the houses in closer to the yard as they normally do. We still see an occasional oriole at the jelly feeder, but they’re not cleaning it out almost daily as they were a few weeks ago. The hummingbirds have still been frequenting their nectar feeders with great frequency. I’ve gone to only partially filling their nectar feeders, as in the heat, the nectar turns cloudy in a matter of only a few days. That and the flies tend to find a way to crawl into the nectar and crud it up even more rapidly. Gotta support some of my sugar beet buddies too I guess.
Ewes and lambs were weaned this past week right in the middle of the heat. It was brutal. The low was in the low 70’s, which wasn’t bad. However, once the barn door was closed and the animals were confined, the temperature went up drastically. Coupled with large ewes that wanted no part of being separated from their precious gigantic babies and it was game on. I was wringing wet when we finished. I even employed a few wrestling moves I thought I’d forgotten. By the time we were done and ewes were delivered to the kindly neighbors’ pasture, it had taken the better part of 4 hours. I was still able to get out in the field and the heat by 11 a.m. It was decided we needed to purchase a sorting system to help avoid this kind of situation in the future. Expensive, but a lot cheaper than a trip to the emergency room or a funeral.
Ruby has enjoyed the recent heatwave. Not long after it started, we couldn’t cool the house down enough by opening windows at night and closing them during the day. We turned the air conditioning on. She’s been lounging in air-conditioned comfort ever since. Sure, she still likes to go outside to do chores, help water the plants and follow the lawnmower around the yard. Typically though, those functions are performed during the cooler parts of the day. After we’re through, Ruby’s more than happy to retreat to the house and cool off. Sometimes it’s hard to find her though. She’s particularly good at finding the coolest spots to nap, one of which is behind the recliner where the register blows almost right on her. When you come home and don’t see her, it’s a good chance that’s where Ruby will be. Or just about anywhere else cool and dark. It’s her house and we just live in it.
See you next week…real good then.