The scurs were a little low on their temperature predictions for Monday and Tuesday but no one aside from the ice fishermen are complaining about it. Will we head back into winter for a while? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with a chance of snow. Highs of 35 and lows around 10. Thursday, partly cloudy with a chance of some lingering flurries in the morning. Highs topping out at 15 and lows dropping to 5 above. Mostly clear on Friday with highs around 20 and lows near 10. Partly cloudy on Saturday with highs of 30 and lows around 15. Sunday, mostly sunny with highs of 25 and lows of 10 – 15. Mostly sunny on Monday with highs reaching 30 and lows falling to 0 to 5 above. Partly cloudy on Tuesday with a chance of snow. Highs of only 10 – 15 and lows hovering near zero. Days are getting longer and we are gaining daylight at about 3 minutes per day now. The normal high for January 15th is 22 and the normal low is 4. Hopefully it’ll snow so the scurs can make the best of the cold snap by making snow angels. Otherwise they’ll be dirt angels.
Through press deadline time anyway we have continued our trend of above normal temperatures and sparse precipitation. So far at the ranch we have only managed .19” of precip since January 1st and roughly 1.2” of snow. We’ve tallied three days with highs of 40 or above with several others above freezing. Including the Tuesday and Wednesday recorded highs, it will likely make five days with highs above 40. We are now heading into what is typically the coldest part of January for our area. If the forecasts hold true we will likely experience colder than what we’ve been used to but it isn’t likely to be anywhere near record cold. This has had some interesting impact in the area. I know for instance that there was some primary tillage that occurred on an area field and there are still very few people willing to venture forth on the ice relative to what we’d typically expect for this time of year. I also know there are almost daily reports of someone going through the ice somewhere in Minnesota as the ice simply is generally unsafe for motorized vehicles much larger than small pickups around here. Even with those, it’s probably not worth the risk of calling a tow truck to fish them out if they fall through. And if you insist on driving your automobile to get some fish, at least for a while going to the grocery store is probably your safest bet.
According to information supplied by Vista’s noted Swedish astronomer, in the month of January we will continue to be blessed by Jupiter and Venus as they come closer together in the early evening sky. Venus is a little farther east each night and Jupiter while fading slightly is a little farther west. One is supposed to be able to look at Jupiter with a decent set of binoculars and see four of its moons at this point. Mars is showing up earlier as well. Look for the Red Planet around 9:30 p.m. on clear nights in the eastern sky. By dawn it should be high in the southwest sky. It will become brighter and will rise earlier every night, rising about 8:30 on the 31st. Saturn is visible at dawn high in the southern sky and is getting brighter like Mars as our planet gains on its orbit.
It has been an absolutely dreadful past 12 months for watching Minnesota sports on TV with the possible exception of the Golden Gophers men’s hockey team. However even they are showing signs of developing performance issues in recent games. First, the Twins play uninspired baseball losing 99 games and the Vikings follow suit matching their all-time worst season record at 3 - 13. Now the Gopher men’s basketball team has picked up where they left off during last year’s Big Ten season, losing all their conference games thus far. Not to make excuses but every time I watch the Purdue men’s basketball team no matter who they play, the amount of hand checking referees allow them to get by with astounds me. I don’t recall that much groping going on since the days of the old drive-in theater in Spring Valley. Although, like other young lads in my class, being the mild-mannered, serious-minded, chaste individual I was, I always just watched the movie and ate popcorn in the Studebaker when on a date there. Someone told me about all that other stuff though.
This warmer weather seems to suit many just fine however including moi when it comes to choretime. It doesn’t bother me in the least not to be cleaning out feed bunks and their lot or smashing ice out of buckets daily. It’s also nice that the brood ewes are able to stay outside most of the time. It cuts down on the need for bedding and keeps them from filling the barn full of manure. Since they’re dry, all the fresh air has been good for their overall health. There are days when I don’t even have to drain the hose during the day, something that sure didn’t happen very frequently last winter. And, it should also make for easier shearing if this dry pattern holds for another month or so. The shearer should appreciate that.
Speaking of shearers, the local barber at the Mall for Men was recently put on the injured reserve list. Coincidentally, not long after that happened, the local sheep shearer was seen casing the premises in between jobs. Too bad he’s so darn busy shearing sheep or he might’ve been able to cash in on an economic goldmine. Rather than only charging a few bucks a head, he could’ve made it into the double figures. Would be a lot quicker for people too. Once the catcher grabs you and plops you on your butt, the shearer pulls your ear and safely tucks your melon under his arm. He wears deodorant though so not to worry. Given the speed and precision with which he can shear an entire ovine, a haircut would be over in a matter of seconds. Toss in a little wormer plus some pour-on insecticide once he lets you up and you should be good to go until you’re turned out on pasture.
See you next week…real good then.