The Weather Eye had the scurs convinced the frost would come a few days before it did, so they were well prepared. Will they be as prepared when Old Man Winter comes calling or will they be left out in the cold? Starting Thursday, cloudy with rain likely. Highs in the mid-50’s with lows in the mid-40’s. Cloudy Friday with a fair chance of rain and a possible thundershower. Highs in the low 50’s with lows in the low 40’s. Mostly cloudy on Saturday with a fair chance of forenoon showers. Highs in the low 50’s with lows in the upper 30’s. Sunday, partly sunny with highs in the upper 50’s and lows in the upper 30’s. Sunny on Monday with highs in the low 50’s and lows in the upper 30’s. Tuesday, mostly cloudy with highs in the low 50’s and lows in the upper 30’s. Cloudy on Wednesday with a good chance of rain. Highs in the mid-50’s with lows in the low 40’s. On October 16th we slide below 11 hours of daylight, about where we’ll be again on February 26th. The sun will rise at 7:30 a.m. CDT on October 17th. The normal high for October 17th is 58 and the normal low is 36. The scurs will be burning some of that warm you up three times wood and staying close to the fire.
Harvest progress continues ahead of schedule overall. Corn harvest is guesstimated locally to be somewhere in the 20% – 25 % range as of Monday and soybean harvest is nearing 70% - 75%. Friday’s light rain slowed harvest progress briefly, but most who had soybeans to combine were back at it again Saturday once the dew came off. Soybean moisture was back in the low teens again. The soybeans combined easily and there was a minimum of shoving due to sticky ground. That may not be the case much longer looking at the near-term forecast, so most are trying to get soybeans wrapped up before Thursday’s predicted rainfall. Given the windy conditions predicted with the rain, it could put some of the stalk strength in the corn to the test as well. At least the frost should have taken care of some of the harvest loss that appeared after fields suddenly greened up with volunteer “cover crops.”
The upcoming rain may be the first substantial October rainfall moving us towards recharging the soil for next year’s crop. Some of the September rainfall likely will count towards that as well. Both corn and soybean crops were nearly mature when most of that fell. Soils when soil sampling recently appear to be moist down at least a foot from September’s rainfall, so more would be welcome. If it gets too carried away, it may mess up our best laid plans for deep tillage to help alleviate some of the compaction. Headlands in particular were ugly to start the growing season and stayed that way. However, suspect that after hoping for rain much of the summer, most would gladly take the rain.
Harvest progress at the ranch was in full swing over the weekend. The pumpkins, gourds and squash were gathered into the snow bucket on the 656 and deposited in the front yard. That way they could be covered in case of frost and more easily moved into decorative position once Jack Frost was done with the planters. Like most of the area corn and soybean producers, we were pleasantly surprised. Was certain after it dried out enough so we could plant and was like pulling teeth to get rain afterwards, we would get little or nothing. Such was not the case. We wound up with a large pile of all our favorite vine crops. The pumpkins were a nice variety of sizes as were the somewhere over 100 buttercup squash. The gourds went absolutely nuts, with some of the volunteers from last year’s crop in what was sheep pasture also coming to play.
Lawns certainly greened up nicely after September’s rains and October’s cooler temperatures. It necessitated mowing at the ranch Sunday while listening to the Vikings get beat. Can sit inside and watch it happen on TV or one can slap the headphones on and listen while actually accomplishing something. Had applied some Milestone leftover from the pasture to an area in the lawn to get the sprayer empty. Looked like it did a pretty good job on the dandelions even though it only lists them as being suppressed. Time will tell, but it reminded me that I had some 2,4-D getting some age on it that could be applied to the rest of the lawn. Should be time to apply it yet with good results. There are some stinging nettles and Canada thistle patches in the lot that are inaccessible with the mounted sprayer. The hand sprayer should still work wonders with the proper product(s) however.
With Monday and Tuesday’s frost, the year in insects is winding down somewhat. Guessing we’ve seen the last of our white-lined sphinx moths at the petunias. The adult moths we’ve been seeing were living on borrowed time, although their progeny are likely in pupal form, tucked safely into the soil for next year’s first generation. Likewise with many of the bumblebees we’ve been seeing on the coleus blossoms. Some of the smaller bumblebees are likely workers that will soon be towards the end of their life expectancy. The large models are likely queens that will find a place to overwinter and start new colonies come spring. All part of the plan.
Poppy’s first year at the ranch was celebrated with some extra time and attention for the Corgi. As we say, she likes her people. Just ask anyone who’s stopped by to visit. Working on getting her to curb her enthusiasm in the form of jumping. That’ll come, but she’s still basically a puppy and full of energy. She still does lots of zoomies both inside and outside. Ball playing inside can wear both participants out after a half hour or so. She can be a workout. Pretty sure the living room carpet will need replacing eventually once she gets through this phase. There are times Poppy does finally wear down and takes long naps, not unlike the humans she tuckers out in her house. Dogs do take after their owners.
See you next week…real good then.