The scurs continue to have issues getting the Weather Eye to function properly as part of their weather forecasting equipment. They are beginning to wonder if this isn’t part of the reason AMC was in trouble. Are we in trouble with more cold or will we get a pass again soon? Starting Wednesday, sunny with highs near 20 and lows around 10. Partly sunny and warmer on Thursday. Highs in the mid-20’s and lows in the upper teens. Friday and Saturday, partly sunny with highs near the freezing mark and lows in the upper teens to low 20’s. Sunday, mostly cloudy with a slight chance of rain or snow. Highs in the mid-30’s and lows in the low 20’s. Monday, mostly cloudy with highs in the low 30’s and lows in the upper teens. Mostly cloudy on Tuesday with highs in the upper 20’s and lows in the upper teens. The normal high for December 7th is 29 and the normal low is 13. On the 9th we slip to 9 hours of daylight, the same as we saw back on January 2nd. The scurs are looking on the bright side: We only have about 6 more minutes to lose and the days will start to get longer on Christmas Day. Would Santa lie to you?
The Full Moon for the month occurs on the 7th and goes by several names including the Full Cold Moon, the Full Long Nights Moon and the Moon before the Yule. Indeed this moon includes the longest nights of the year not to mention typically some of the coldest temperatures. The Ojibwe called this the Small Spirits Moon and the Sioux called it the Moon When Deer Shed their Antlers. At the ranch it’s normally known as the Moon When Border Collies Continue to Shed. And shed. And shed.
More celestial planetary occurrences in the night sky if you’re willing to brave the cold long enough to take a peek. According to U of M’s Deane Morrison, Jupiter will be in the east and move westward as the month progresses. Mars will set about 3 hours after the sun does for the entire month. A conjunction with the crescent moon on the 24th may be interesting to see if the skies allow it. Both Saturn and Venus are visible as well, with Saturn appearing in the southeastern morning sky and Venus present in the evening sky to the southwest. Their presence will become more pronounced in January.
More snow this past week bringing the total for the month at the ranch to 8.8”. Luckily we’ve had some thaws that caused much of it to disappear. It wasn’t a month however without some severe cold with record low high temperatures set on the 17th and 18th of 14 and 12 respectively at the SROC in Waseca. We also had a bitter cold Thanksgiving Day with highs around 8 at the ranch after an overnight low of around – 8 with an encore performance the morning of the 28th. The SROC also tied the record low high temperature for that date in addition to setting a record low at -17. For the month, they also recorded a -9.1 departure from the normal average temperature. Reputedly we’re supposed to get a stretch of some 40 degree days in mid-December. We’d better see it soon if my faith in the global warming alarmists is to be reaffirmed.
Thanksgiving marked the coldest day I ever recall cooking a turkey on the grill. Of course with charcoal, one just adjusts the amount of briquettes accordingly. Luckily it was relatively calm and the 12 lb. bird was done in around two hours. In the meantime Brother Roger and his wife were busy fixing mushroom cap hors devours in the broiler. Yum! It was a great day prefaced by a card I’d discovered in my desk that Mom had written us back in 2010. In the note card, it relayed her excitement about her and Fudgie coming over for a Thanksgiving stay, thanking us for vegetables we’d dropped off, and a PS making Mrs. Cheviot know how much she loved the note cards. Simple things but it was always as if you’d given her a million dollars. While she wasn’t there physically, I have to believe Mom was watching. I know too she’d be happy Fudgie has a decent place to live and actually helps out every morning with the chores. It’s wonderful to open the gate, roll the feed cart through it and not worry about sheep coming out of it.
Ruby and Fudgie had several big days actually. The new snow Wednesday provided a perfect opportunity for them to roughhouse Thanksgiving morning. The turkey meant some giblets to be shared after sensory overload when it came in the door. There was a skid loader needing repairs (again) on Saturday during the warm up. Lots of tire biting and growling to be done once it commenced. That night after chores I came in and turned on the TV then was distracted with some errands. Ruby was barking her head off at something. I came into the living room only to discover there was a dog show on and she was lunging at the TV, upset with a black cocker spaniel. Thought about changing the channel to something I could watch. Unforgiven was on. That didn’t work. Between Clint Eastwood and horses it’s tough to tell which one Ruby hates more.
See you next week…real good then.