After last Thursday’s rain, obviously the scurs should’ve used the bigger hammer on the Weather Eye. Does the slowdown in consecutive days between rains continue or is it just building up steam? Starting on the 4th of July, partly sunny with a good chance of rain. Highs in the upper 70’s with lows in the low 60’s. Partly sunny on Friday with a good chance of forenoon showers. Highs in the low 70’s with lows in the upper 50’s. Mostly sunny on Saturday with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 70’s with lows in the low 60’s. Sunday, mostly sunny with fair chance of evening showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 70’s with lows in the upper 50’s. Partly sunny on Monday with a good chance of rain. Highs in the upper 70’s with lows in the upper 50’s. Tuesday, partly sunny with a good chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the low 80’s with lows in the upper 50’s. Sunny on Wednesday with highs in the upper 70’s and lows in the upper 50’s. On July 6th, we’ve already lost just over one minute of daylight since the summer solstice, losing daylight at approximately four seconds per day. We’re also starting what tends to be the warmest part of the summer with our average daily temp at 71.6 degrees from July 6th through July 15th. The normal high for July 4th is 82 and the normal low is 62. The scurs will attempt to keep their fireworks dry while concealing from the fireworks police.
Last Thursday’s and Friday’s rains put our total precip in Bugtussle at 14.68” and 13.98” at the ranch. Last week, it looked by the forecast as though we might get only light precip and be able to get back in the fields to finish postemergence herbicide applications once it dried up. It started raining ahead of schedule too with rainfall falling in the early afternoon on Thursday, a day that appeared to be an ideal spray day on paper. Instead, many got caught spraying in the rain so there are likely to be some rainfast studies out here. What a surprise to see totals between 1.5” – 2” in the gauge Friday morning, followed by another couple tenths Friday afternoon. It limited weekend spraying activity to Sunday on fields that were safe to go on. Even before that rain, conditions were so-so with sprayer operators having to exercise extreme caution to stay away from potholes, seeps and other assorted water hazards. Fun never stops.
The garden at the ranch continues to be a work in progress. All of it is late and will need some cooperation from Mother Nature in order to amount to anything. About the only real bright spots have been the vine crops and sweet corn. Even those were a struggle to get established and the latter has had water running across it from a side hill seep. I need a well tiled vegetable garden like Betsy’s dad. The string beans we usually pride ourselves on have also fallen victim to the wet weather from the same sidehill seep. The amazing thing is where there actually are beans growing the ground is so saturated, you sink up to your ankles in mud. Sunday I made a second planting of string beans as we often do on or around July 4th. Given the weather forecast, I wasn’t taking any chances. I also put in some decorative sunflowers, partly because I like sunflowers and partly because the birds love them once mature. The final Sunday gardening involved transplanting volunteer four o’clocks into the gaps in the existing rows. Barring unforeseen circumstances, they should be flowering in time for migrating hummingbirds. They may have to share with the white-lined sphinx moths.
The ewes with late lambs are finally all out of the lambing barn. One of the late lambs was able to be weaned and the other two were moved to an area in the main barn with their mothers. There we set up a creep feeder for them and made it easier to feed the two ewes. A marked improvement over traipsing across the yard twice a day with feed pans, slices of hay and water buckets. Moving them went much smoother than it does sometimes during the winter months. Once settled in, they seemed right at home. The main group of brood ewes follows their daily routine of grazing then coming back into the lambing barn, presumably to get away from the bugs. There are frequently breezy days when that isn’t necessary, and they should be outside. Dad used to get so irritated with the ewe flock over that when I was growing up. Rather than have them fill the barn full of manure all summer, he put a panel across the door, so they had to stay outside. There was shade and cover under the wagons and hay racks. Better than being in a hot, stuffy, damp, stinky barn. No one ever said they were smart.
Such a wonderful array of song and color from our feathered friends in the backyard. With the windows open in the morning we’re treated to bird music contributed by cardinals, wrens, brown thrashers, flickers, red-bellied woodpeckers, blue jays, goldfinches, house finches, chickadees and orioles. There’s no question about the jelly feeders being empty every morning and the oriole in particular lets us know about it. There has been one pair of birds that has stuck around this summer. I’m not sure if they nested here or not but the rose-breasted grosbeaks have been seen off and on at the sunflower feeders. Their song is also somewhat like that of a robin so we may have been hearing them too, just didn’t realize it. Sunday night when I was transplanting four o’clocks it was very calm. In between swatting mosquitoes I could hear some crackling noises coming from the tray on the round sunflower feeder. I approached it quietly just as a male rose-breasted grosbeak peered his head around from the opposite side to see what I was up to. I made an about face and listened. Within seconds he resumed cracking his sunflower seeds. No harm no foul.
Poppy’s summer has been filled with big days involving gardening & 4-H family visitors. She likes to be the center of attention and gets her nose out of joint when the sheep are. Gardening is more her speed. She’s developed a habit of sleeping on the porch as we toil in the garden on the sidehill. I like to know where she’s at as the traffic by our place can be deadly. Luckily if I let out a little “oof!”, Poppy will awaken from her nap and bark. Then I know she’s where she belongs. As she’s grown, we’re struggling more and more to keep her nails properly trimmed. It’s become nearly impossible to hang onto as she squirms so violently. Poppy’s very nosey. You’d think she’d like having her nails trimmed as it’s easier to sneak up on people. I’m sure they’ll be happy to see her at the vet’s office anytime. She likes going there. They must put a spell on her or at least have better treats.
See you next week…real good then.