The scurs made the Weather Eye promise to do better, and it did, turning in a 90 degree temp measured in places last Wednesday. We’ll ignore the weekend snow and wind. Is Old Man Winter winded or does he still have one last gasp? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with a good chance of rain. Highs in the low 60’s with lows in the low 40’s. Mostly cloudy Thursday with a good chance of rain. Highs in the low 50’s with lows in the mid-30’s. Partly sunny on Friday with a slight chance of rain and snow mix. Highs in the mid-40’s with lows in the low 30’s. Saturday, partly sunny with a slight chance of snow. Highs in the low 40’s with lows in the upper 20’s. Mostly sunny Sunday with highs in the upper 40’s and lows in the low 30’s. Monday, mostly sunny with highs in the mid-50’s and lows in the upper 30’s. Mostly sunny on Tuesday with highs in the upper 50’s and lows in the low 40’s. Saturday the 22nd is Earth Day. The normal high for April 22nd is 58 and the normal low is 37. The cool temps have the scurs scrambling to find their long winter gatkes once again. One can never be too careful.
More field progress with some corn, small grain, and even some soybeans planted this past week. Warm soil temps were favorable for the wheat that was seeded last Wednesday, April 12th. By the 14th, it had sprouted already. Conditions were fit in some fields. With average soil temperatures at the 2” depth in the upper 50’s, it was game on. Wisely, with Mother Nature’s finger on the reset button, most were not gung-ho to plant as many acres as they could have. There is some evidence that planting 24 hours ahead of a cold rainfall event helps decrease the risk of imbibitional chilling. It's a potential cause of stand reduction with early planted corn when the first water the seed imbibes is very cold. There is also a problem known as cold injury. It can happen when seed is exposed to cold soil temps after the seed has imbibed water. Both can affect the stands, although cold injury is usually less severe. What about those early planted soybeans? Typically soybean stands aren’t bothered as much by cold soil temperatures as they are by frost once they emerge. Trying to decide how and where to replant can be a nightmare. Many different opinions about the crop in the ground. So far, it’s all good.
At the ranch, the pruning fairy finished pruning the last of the fruit trees. Just in the nick of time before the blast furnace hit. The pussy willow harvest came to an abrupt halt as well, as the heat blew most of the pussy willows over the dam in a couple days. Some of the first bushes I’d harvested from were totally green and covered with large bee-like flies. Those must’ve been the pollinators in the literature I’d read about. Rhubarb is starting to look like rhubarb, unclenching the fist-like buds, turning them into large solar collector leaves. The peonies are coming, although with the cold weekend forecast, I left them covered with last year’s residue. The spring bulb assortment has been a pleasant surprise. The daffodils transplanted from Mom’s opened up after Wednesday’s heat. Again, with the weekend forecast calling for 40 mph wind gusts, I cut the flowers and brought them inside where we could enjoy them. No sense letting the wind beat them to a pulp.
The sheep have wasted no time finding green grass to eat in the main pasture. Wednesday was a watershed day at the ranch. The last of the snow finally melted off the electric fence, so it could be repaired and charged. The process took a while as some of the old fiberglass posts were splintering due to many years of exposure to the sun. Getting slivers off of them didn’t feel too great, but the fence had to be up soon, or the sheep would be out soon. Once it was all in place, I plugged the fencer in and felt like Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation. The fence didn’t work after all that effort. Luckily I spied a potential problem on the post right next to where I usually check it. A wire was off an insulator, creating a dead short against the metal fencepost. After placing the wire back on the insulator, I plugged the fencer in and voila! It shot a big, fat spark. It lit some of the lambs like a Christmas tree too.
Have had some questions recently involving meadow voles. These small rodents are periodically a problem, especially in the winter months. They love to tunnel between the ground surface under the snow, leaving trails they’ve chewed through the grass along with their grassy nests. They can cause some damage to turf and injure woody vegetation by chewing the bark off of it. Usually by the time it’s discovered it’s too late to implement control methods or repair the damage. The one exception I recall was my Dad saving a couple Haralson and Oriole apple trees the voles had girdled. Using grafting wax, he was able to graft the suckers at the base of the trees into their still green trunks. He taped and wrapped the grafts, bringing the trees back to life.
Vole populations are cyclic, and Mother Nature usually takes care of the problem. At the ranch, we occasionally see their trails but seldom any damage. When lawnmowing season rolls around, they’re usually in the road ditch or pasture, where they’re fair game for predators. As a lad, I’d frequently see their nests in the hay fields during spring gopher trapping. In the summer once the hay was cut and raked, they liked to hang out under the windrows. When the voles were numerous, they attracted the attention of red-tailed hawks circling overhead as we were baling. Our yellow Lab, Chico, liked to catch them too when they were flushed from their hiding places. Then yack them up in the yard once he got home. Good times.
At the ranch we continue to notice the spring bird migration. Sunday brought the first white-throated sparrow of the season. It was mixed in with some house sparrows, juncos, and goldfinches. The white-striped head made it stand out. It won’t be much longer before we can expect to see some oriole activity. Normally they like to see more vegetation to hide in, but that’ll be coming once it warms up following the rain. There are a few oranges left that they could have and a trip to Wagner’s to lay in a supply of grape jelly can’t be far behind. Poppy enjoys helping fill the bird feeders, although helping may be an exaggeration. It’s usually time for her to run around the yard, disappearing from sight. Now the snow is gone, she sometimes finds something stinky to roll in. Have to teach her to wear better quality perfume.
See you next week…real good then.