A few bumps in the road temp-wise this past week from the Weather Eye made the scurs nervous. Was Old Man Winter just flexing his muscles or rolling up his sleeves to give us a good beating? Starting Wednesday (Washington’s real Birthday), cloudy with a good chance of snow. Highs in the mid-20’s with lows in the mid-teens. Cloudy on Thursday with a good chance of snow in the forenoon. Highs in the upper teens with lows dipping to near 10 below. Mostly cloudy on Friday with highs in the mid-teens and lows around 10 above. Saturday, mostly sunny with highs in the upper 20’s and lows around 10 above. Sunny on Sunday with highs in the upper 20’s and lows in the upper teens. Monday, cloudy with a fair chance of snow. Highs in the low 30’s with lows in the low teens. Mostly cloudy on Tuesday with highs in the low 30’s and lows in the mid-teens. We’ll see the sun rise at 7 a.m. CST on the 22nd and set at 6 p.m. CST on the 28th. On the 26th we surpass 11 hours of daylight and won’t get back below that until after October 18th. The normal high for February 26th is 30 and the normal low is 13. The scurs cannot tell a lie: Expect to be tired of snow and cold in the near future.
Frost depth February 13th at the SROC in Waseca measured just 9”. Last year on February 14th it measured 21”. Given the snowy forecast, odds of the frost going much deeper anytime soon are diminished. Now we have to be more concerned about temperatures warming up to melt the snowpack. The good news is the ground is now largely snow-free not all that far to the south. It makes a difference as we found last week when temperatures struggled to make the forecast highs. Looking at the thermometer first before heading outside, it didn’t feel nearly as warm as indicated. The other good news is the relatively shallow frost depth should allow the snow melt to contribute not only to refilling wetlands, rivers, and streams, but also have more impact on soil moisture for the upcoming cropping season. Never hurts to have some fuel in the tank to start the season out. The Drought Monitor too has been indicating we are no longer in a drought here. Our above normal precip thus far this winter hasn’t hurt. The sun has more power as one discovers when getting out of the breeze. As Cody Matz mentioned the other day, the sun angle can start melting snow even in sub-freezing temperatures. That period of the time the sun is at the proper angle is increasing.
There are some subtle signs of spring beginning to appear. Last week, a flock of Canada geese was seen near the ranch on Valentine’s Day. A little later on as I returned from Waseca, I wondered who had been dumping snow along the edge of a field. As I got closer, it wasn’t snow as it turned out. It was a group of a half dozen swans, playing in a puddle left by the rainfall. Horned larks are noticeable along roadsides as well. Some might debate they’re a sign of spring, but I have yet to see a spring where they didn’t show up in mid to late February. Others have noted seeing robins. Most of those people have been in town or other heavily sheltered areas. The first one at the ranch was spotted in the red oak by the barn on Sunday as I was prying a round bale feeder out of the ice. The male robin sounded perturbed. You ain’t got anything to be upset about yet, fella, I thought to myself.
Lambing progress has continued as February has flown by. Some of the first lambs are huge already, benefiting from the creep feeder that was established when the loafing area was completed. We are at least half done on paper anyway. There appear to be a few ewes that are either stragglers or are open. There are, however, some ewe lambs that were bred unintentionally, so they’ll make up the difference. Fortunately, much of February was relatively mild, so that helped make the process easier to manage. No one likes using heat lamps, including me. Odds of burning a barn down are reduced without them. It’s taken more bedding when the weather is warmer, but we didn’t buy it for decoration. Few things are more satisfying when checking for lambs after bedding the barn earlier that evening. Seeing them nestled into the bright clean oat straw, chewing their cuds without a care in the world makes the whole trek out in the cold worth it. It also makes it easier to fall back asleep for a precious few hours before the next trip.
Poppy’s surgery went well, and she’s healed up quickly. Her incision showed very little evidence of any redness or swelling, having become barely perceptible after just six days’ time. It’s been difficult keeping her activity level down as it would be for most seven-month-old puppies. One of the keys to keeping Poppy happy and healthy to this point has been copious amounts of exercise. She loves people and wants to be around them, including when they’re sitting in a recliner or lying on the couch. That means jumping up on furniture, one of the no-no’s on the after-surgery list for 10 days to two weeks. After initially being groggy for a day or so, she’s back to prancing and trotting around just like her pre-surgery self. We’ve kept her on a short leash, but the way she tugs on it, you can tell she’ll take off like a rocket the minute we let her loose. Those bursts of intense exercise are usually followed by a nap at your feet once she’s tired out. She’s becoming restless and I can’t blame her. So are we. Poppy’s behavior is more like that of a 4- or 5-year-old kid needing a nap when she’s unable to blow off steam. Naps for the rest of us at the ranch can happen at any time.
Mrs. Cheviot continues her quest for full recovery. She’s religiously done her exercises even though some of her therapy sessions have been canceled due to weather or other circumstances. It’s been great to have help with chores again. Her dexterity is improving daily, and she’s even been climbing over panels and gates, something I’m not sure the doctors would approve of. No sense arguing with her. Even though I’m still doing most of the heavy lifting, anything she does is one less thing on my plate, freeing up time for other tasks. There are only so many hours in a day and timing is critical during some of them. Up until recently, much of February was snow free, so there wasn’t a lot of time spent on snow removal like December and January. I was lucky enough to get the snow blower back on the 656 Monday while it was still above freezing. It makes the whole process go smoother without struggling with frozen hydraulic couplings and pto shafts. It helps limit my vocabulary to printable words too. When it came time to pen up a ewe Monday morning that had a water bag showing, Mrs. Cheviot was there helping swing the panel shut, so the Cheviot wouldn’t escape. Teamwork makes the dream work.
See you next week…real good then.