The snow last Friday took the scurs by surprise. Luckily, by Sunday the surprise disappeared. Are we in the running for a white Christmas? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with a slight chance of overnight snow. Highs of 35 and lows around 25. Partly cloudy on Thursday and slightly cooler. Highs of 30 and lows near 15. Friday, mostly clear and cooler. Highs 25 – 30 and lows of 15. Mostly sunny on Saturday with highs near 30 and lows of 20. Christmas Day should be partly cloudy with highs of 25 – 30 and lows around 15. Monday, partly cloudy with highs of 25 and lows of 20. Mostly sunny on Tuesday with highs of 35 and lows around 15. The normal high for December 25th is 24 and the normal low is 6. The scurs will be making a list and checking it twice so they can be the model of efficiency given the vast amount of time left to Christmas shop.
The 21st will mark the first day of winter and the shortest day of the year for us as far as daylight is concerned at 8 hours and 54 minutes. The actual day of the solstice can vary from year to year from the 20th to the 23rd. The amount of daylight varies from day to day by a matter of several seconds. Days will be getting longer eventually, although not easily measured for several days following the winter solstice. Part of the issue is the sun keeps rising a little later until well into the first week of January following the solstice while it keeps setting a little later at the same time. Eventually the time begins to offset and there becomes a noticeable difference.
In the heavens during the early evening hours, Jupiter continues to be present relatively high in the eastern sky while the even more spectacular Venus continues to stay out a little longer each night before setting in the southwest. As bright as it is, it actually twinkles somewhat and gets some rose coloration when it approaches the horizon. This has prompted some over the years to phone in calls about UFOs. Of course it’s never reported what kind of holiday cheer might have been involved prior to the sighting.
The snow from last week probably wasn’t as surprising as the rain was. At the ranch we recorded .46” of rain on Thursday, which was followed up by another .08” from Friday evening’s 2” snowfall. So far for the month of December we’ve tallied .92”, the most since September’s .99”. While we’re nowhere near to setting any records, we are making some slow progress toward getting enough moisture to get a crop started next spring. Soils are slightly frozen now, but they weren’t when the rain fell. Additionally, on the rough surfaces found in many area fields, most of the water finds its way into the ground. Virtually none of it is running off at this point.
You knew it couldn’t be too far off: The annual Christmas gifts for the crack management staff at the Star Eagle from yours truly. For Fearless Leader (aka “Jim”) a new camera after I broke the old one while being photographed by the corn shock a few weeks ago. For the Kingpin (aka “Jody”), the full boxed set of McHale’s Navy. It should bring back fond memories. Given his rapier wit, I have a feeling that might have been an accurate depiction of life during his tour of duty. For Reed, new shoes for pounding the streets of Bugtussle searching out those crucial school board stories. For Kugie, the famed ‘CCO cough button. Maybe it’s just my radio, but he always sounds a little like Patrick Reusse, sorta like he could hawk up a greenie any minute. For Rachel, the Star Eagle’s very own Cabbage Patch Kid, a new reference book called How to Speak Farmer. This will come in handy for future articles when you have to write about farm equipment. For example, it explains that a “stripper plate” is a part of a corn head, not something an exotic dancer eats off of.
Ruby is getting ready for Christmas. She’s like a furry little four-legged kid in a lot of respects. She’s perceptive and knows something is up although not exactly what. Decorations, Christmas trees, presents and human treats all over her turf are all probably clues. She is helpful when something sweet hits the floor during a cooking bomb session. Definitely saves on clean up time. We’re debating whether to get her a Wii-Fi so she can practice herding sheep in the house or a trail camera so she knows when her squirrel is down out of the tree. Either way I think she’d be happy. Or, more likely, we could go the cheap route and buy her a new kennel bed and another batch of play balls. Guess what? She’d be happy with that too. One nice thing about dogs and Border Collies in particular: They’re easy to please. Never had one complain they didn’t get what the neighbor’s dog got.
Happy Festivus…see you next week.