After the visit to the Nash Rambler dealer, the scurs got the Weather Eye back on track with some drier days. Will our improved conditions continue or are we set up for more disappointment? Starting Thursday, mostly sunny with a modest chance of forenoon rain. Highs in the low 80’s with lows in the upper 50’s. Sunny on Friday with a modest chance of an overnight shower. Highs in the upper 70’s with lows in the upper 50’s. Mostly cloudy on Saturday with a good chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 70’s with lows in the upper 60’s. Sunday, partly sunny with a fair chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid-80’s with lows in the upper 60’s. Can you say steam, boys and girls? I knew you could. Mostly sunny on Monday with highs in the upper 80’s and lows in the mid-60’s. Tuesday, mostly cloudy with highs in the upper 70’s and lows in the mid-60’s. Cloudy on Wednesday with a good chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the low 80’s with lows in the mid-60’s. On the 16th, sunrise is one minute later at 5:31 a.m. than it was a few days earlier. On the 17th, the sun sets at 8:59 p.m. We’ll only gain another 20 seconds of daylight prior to the summer solstice on the 20th. The normal high for June 17th is 79 and the normal low is 59. The scurs will count on more fan mail if these drier conditions continue.
Farmers wasted little time before getting back into spraying mode once again. Between nuisance rains that camouflaged the wet spots and windspeeds clocked at over 40 mph, it was tough to make much headway. On Monday though, sprayer operators had their ears pinned back and were giving it their all. It was a near perfect day for it and one could see progress being made with few interruptions or machines falling victim to the quagmire. Much of the corn was about at the limit in height, but with weeds actively growing and rain in the forecast, applications were made. When wind was an issue, some had their side dressing rigs rolling. Perfect timing for that.
Some replanting in both corn and soybeans still going on as well. Some are seeing reminders of the areas they left last year resulting in plenty of weeds this year. Corn has been going through the ugly duckling stage where it changes over from the initial seminal root system to the nodal root system. Many fields looked good out of the chute and within a few weeks after lots of precip and cloudy days, such was not the case. Many fields suddenly looked ratty and uneven. Every field is different and the variables in each one are different. Can’t necessarily use a one size fits all reason for their less than thrifty appearance. Some fields still look great, although as several of us discussed, performance one year is no guarantee of that same performance the next. Mother Nature doesn’t play fair and always holds the trump card.
Gardening at the ranch remains on hold, although it’s like many projects. Once there’s time, it can happen in a hurry. Making time is usually the issue and this time is no exception. Looking at and concerning myself with everyone else’s problems first and many things become a “doctor heal thyself” issue. I did make another burndown application Monday night ahead of what potentially could be another rainy spell. The crabgrass was like a carpet and trying to kill it all with the tiller would be unrewarding. There was plenty of purslane and redroot pigweed as well so once there’s a window to plant, at least we won’t be battling the entire Russian army.
In the meantime, we managed to finish the fencing project at the kindly neighbors’ with his help. It was a battle and in several instances, things just wanted to fight. Stringing three new strands of wire up and down the hills took some doing, but we kept at it. There’s still one area down in the northeast corner of the pasture where some erosion has caused potential concern. An additional post or panel needs to be put in place, although it’s far from being an emergency. It could be a month or two before the sheep get there, given the amount of grass there is. Once satisfied the fence was sheep-worthy, I plugged it in to charge it. Something didn’t sound right. The “click” wasn’t sharp enough. I walked around the side of the building and sure enough, the hot wire was touching the steel building. Once remedied, it sounded and worked perfectly. It blew all five bars on the fence tester too. Everything was a “go.”
We were extremely fortunate to have friends who offered to help us wean the next day. Without them we couldn’t have pulled it off or at very least, it would’ve taken a lot longer. The sheep were ornery and stubborn as Cheviots always are, but they were outmatched. Thanks to our enlisted help, we managed to get 40 plus lambs weaned and put the brood ewes at home out to pasture. As part of the process, we also sorted the group to go to the kindly neighbors’ pasture into the trailer. It took just over an hour and a half. Even the sheep couldn’t believe how quickly it all happened. Afterwards there were some celebratory refreshments. Once our help left, we had to contend with a day of bellering. The next day, silence, our favorite sound.
There was one fly in the ointment: One of this spring’s ewe lambs developed a talent for jumping over the creep panel once she became too wide to squeeze between the rollers. Apparently she transferred that ability into jumping over a couple panels to get back in with her mother again. As they say, they may get loose, but they never get away. She’s also a show lamb candidate. Once back where she belongs, she’ll be a roomie with the 4-H market wether ewe residing there. She’ll have to contend with Avary, who doesn’t take any guff from show animals. The panels in that pen are also 4’ tall. If the lamb clears that, she should try out for the Olympic high jumping team. We’ve only had one ram make it over the top of those. His stay at the ranch was cut short following that stunt. He received an all-expenses paid trip to Zumbrota shortly afterwards.
Poppy had another week of toy losing. While she’s an active little Corgi, those stubby little legs make it difficult to fish things out sometimes. Her favorite toy, the blue Chuck It ball with the squeaker in it went missing for days. We looked high and low in all the usual places, but to no avail. Finally, during one noon hour trip home, I spied it in behind some stuff stashed in a hallway. She seldom goes in there, but no happier dog could’ve been found after it was retrieved. A few days later, the ball went missing again. Thinking that she’d probably lost it in the normal spots, we looked there first. No go. Went back to the hallway hiding spot. Nothing there either. Finally went to another place we hadn’t looked for a while. Under the microwave cart in the utility room. There it was. Everything was right with the world again as far as Poppy was concerned. We were just thankful to be done crawling on our hands and knees for another week.
See you next week…real good then.