The scurs are focusing their concern on the Weather Eye’s inability to deliver much desired rain. Are their worries justified or are they all for naught? Starting Wednesday, partly sunny with a slight chance of a thunderstorm. Highs in the upper 70’s with lows in the mid-50’s. Mostly sunny Thursday with highs in the upper 70’s and lows in the upper 50’s. Mostly sunny on Friday with a fair chance of an evening shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the low 80’s with lows in the low 60’s. Saturday, partly sunny with a good chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the low 80’s with lows in the mid-50’s. Sunny on Sunday with highs in the mid-70’s with lows in the mid-50’s. Monday, sunny with highs in the low 80’s and lows in the mid-50’s. Partly sunny on Tuesday with a modest chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the low 80’s with lows in the low 60’s. On June 7th our gain in daylight slows to just below one minute per day. From June 13th, we will increase our daylength by roughly two more minutes on the summer solstice. The normal high for June 13th is 78 and the normal low is 58. At least the scurs can dial the AC down a tad given the forecast.
Crops responded well to the heat with corn planted the first week in May at V5 (five collars) on Monday. By the time this reaches print, it will likely be V6, the same as the April planted corn was, which will likely be V7. There are some getting excited about applying additional N in places. One needs to know their rainfall amounts before getting trigger happy. Corn outside of the heavy rainfall area looks phenomenal. Some are looking at it strictly from an expense and price perspective. There is no one size fits all answer to whether it’s a paying proposition. Corn planted on soybean ground in particular looked vastly improved after this past weekend as the corn plant’s root system converts from the temporary seminal or primary root system to the permanent nodal root system. The latter will carry the plant for the remainder of the season. Something to keep in mind if nitrogen is applied and soils remain dry, it will not move. It becomes positionally unavailable with the roots moving deeper in the soil profile in search of moisture. Roots do not grow in dry soil.
The past week showed just how spotty some of the rainfall has been. Last Friday afternoon a downpour just east of town refilled all the potholes and areas that had been replanted with water in a matter of a few minutes. Likewise near Hope where low spots remained full of water yet Saturday morning on my feed run. On either side of Friday’s downpour east of Bugtussle, there was .05” in town and .06” at the ranch, barely enough to wet the sidewalk for any length of time. From a broader perspective, the Drought Monitor is beginning to show drought creeping into parts of the eastern corn belt. That could make a rough ride as those soils don’t have the moisture holding capacity we have locally and rely on more heavily on abundant rainfall over the course of the growing season. Though we cursed some of our soils a few weeks ago, they could still be our ace in the hole as the season progresses.
The garden at the ranch is still in relative infancy but it’s closer to completed at least for the late spring-early summer planting. Some of the 32 hills of vine crops are starting to emerge so that meant the electric fence had to be moved before the sheep discovered they had something new to eat in the scorched off area of their pasture. It cooled off enough Monday night and the breeze kept the mosquitoes at bay long enough to accomplish that task. Still awaiting the emergence of the string beans and the recently planted sweet corn. Some of the 16 tomatoes are struggling with transplant shock due to the heat and lack of rain. It’s hard to keep them watered sufficiently when some of the leggy plants were trenched in, still trying to support a large factory. On the other hand, the dozen pepper plants barely noticed they were transplanted and adapted quickly. Good thing the bunny guards are in place.
The flowering pots Mrs. Cheviot has around the house are in midseason form after this week of heat. The hummingbirds have taken note, dining on nectar from salvia and petunias. They also know when the nectar feeders are being cleaned and refilled. Sunday when I headed out the door with the clean feeder, a little male hummer with his ruby red throat-patch greeted me face to face, trying to get at it. He wasted little time once the feeder was rehung to feast on its contents. I took down a couple of the suet feeders and replaced them with nectar feeders. There should be fewer territorial squabbles over what feeder belongs to whom.
Had been wondering how the bat population was coming with the recent outbreak of mosquitoes. Looking at the sky after dusk, could see no evidence of bats in existence. Then last weekend as I was sitting at the confuser I felt the sudden swoosh of air blowing by and a shadow quickly pass above me. Thought maybe it was just a ghost or something so didn’t think much of it. I felt the swoosh again and looked up to see a bat making a U turn in the hallway. Battle stations! I quickly alerted Mrs. Cheviot who grabbed a tennis racquet while I armed myself with a straw broom. After several swings and misses Mrs. Cheviot brought down the flying mammal with her wicked forehand smash. We quickly swept the stunned creature onto the racquet, clamped the broom over the top of it and tossed it outside. Obviously, it wasn’t mortally wounded as it flew off. Was glad it did. The odds of it getting back into the house were small and the odds of it eating more mosquitoes were greater.
Poppy has begun eyeing the bed more and more. One morning when she was on the loose inside, and I hoisted her up so she could see what it was all about. After playing puppy for a while, she found a spot to sleep by my feet. Not long after that she snuggled in against my back. When I was getting dressed for work Tuesday, I could see Poppy looking to see how she could get up there. I may have started something I’ll wish I hadn’t. No question in my mind that if she gets a head of steam up during one of her zoomies, she’d clear the foot of the bed with ease, making a landing about like a Cox airplane on an aircraft carrier. Not sure that’d be a good thing. There’s plenty of extremely fine dog hair all over the house to begin with. Not sure I need it in bed with me too.
See you next week…real good then.