Fencelines (269)
The scurs had the Weather Eye working on more sunshine and it delivered, especially towards the week’s end. Will spring continue to march along or are we looking at a temporary setback? Starting Wednesday, cloudy with a good chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 40’s and lows in the upper 30’s. Thursday, cloudy with a modest chance of showers. Highs in the upper 50’s with lows in the mid 40’s. Partly sunny Friday with a slight chance of an evening shower. Highs in the upper 50’s with lows in the mid-40’s. Saturday, mostly cloudy with another good chance for showers. Highs in the upper 50’s with lows in the mid-40’s. Mostly cloudy Sunday with a modest chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid-50’s with lows in the low 40’s. Monday, partly sunny with a slight chance of showers. Highs in the upper 50’s with lows in the mid-40’s. Mostly sunny skies for Tuesday with highs in the mid 60’s and lows in the mid-40’s. On the 27th we surpass 14 hours of daylight for the first time since last August 15th. The normal high for April 30th is 64 and the normal low is 42. The scurs are awaiting the arrival of their first May basket. It’s been a long time since Easter.
After some cooler temps and rainfall recorded the 21st and 22nd, fieldwork got underway again over the weekend allowing many to finish up their corn planting. Corn planted on April 11th at the SROC was beginning to emerge as of Monday the 25th. Some area corn planted the 13th and 14th could be seen poking through behind building sites and groves where sheltered from the wind allowing more GDU’s to accumulate. Rains on Sunday night helped alleviate the worries of some that had corn in dry soil and activated their pre emerge chemicals. Rainfall gauges generally measured rainfall in the .5” - .8” range. Best of all, the rain fell in two different batches so it had time to soak in.
Speaking of rain gauges, through the courtesy of the Waseca Co. Planning and Zoning, we are now recording rainfall amounts officially at the Mall for Men. Rainfall is reported daily and we try to have the gauge read shortly after 8 a.m. every day. The results are recorded on a paper data sheet as backup but are put online daily on the State Climatology Web site. For those who are “old school” it is also recorded on the calendar on my office door. To access this information online go to: http://www.climate.umn.edu/climatology.htm
Click on the colored “MNgage” line, click on “browse,” type “Waseca” into the box where it asks for the county, then click on the “find county” box and the Waseca Co. gauge reports should appear. The results for the most recent New Richland readings can be found by clicking on the current month in the slot for New Richland. If you peruse the rest of the site you’ll also discover that it’s a treasure trove of weather and climate information.
More sure signs that spring is here to stay include the siting of our first toad on the 23rd. They can now be heard trilling in the wetland as the sound of the chorus frogs is beginning to dim. Red admiral butterflies are also numerous, sunning themselves on the west side of the house in the late afternoon. More birds are moving through although no orioles just yet. Looking back at last year, they were here about May 2nd. Not taking any chances and the jelly has been out for over a week now.
Robins are in full nest building mode with the recent rain providing mortar for their mud lined grass nests. A lone pine siskin was sharing the thistle feeder with the goldfinches on the 19th. The male goldfinches continue to gain brightness, adding some color to what has been a bland landscape other than the green grass. The plums burst into bloom over the weekend and the crabapples will be right on their heels. Barn swallows returned on Saturday. Had a hen pheasant fly into the barn and break her neck on Sunday. That same afternoon, a rooster was strutting across the pasture, letting us know the species would carry on. Likewise a pair of Hungarian partridge got up from their dust bath as I was heading toward the black cutworm monitoring trap. Love is in the air.
Ruby and Fudgie got their shots out of the way at the vaccination clinic on the 19th without fanfare. They are surprisingly well behaved in a group setting since they spend very little time on a leash or around other dogs. They seem to know the drill however so it’s just another opportunity to go for a ride for Fudgie and more petting for Ruby, the attention whore. Once home again, Fudgie is content to lie on the porch overlooking the pasture while Ruby stands outside the garage door waiting for someone to come out to do chores.
Last Saturday meant getting the lawnmowers out to mow so it took a while to air up the tires, grease and blow the dust off them. Border Collie sensory overload. Apparently Ruby had not been exposed to the air hose before as she was just bonkers when it accidentally blew in her face. Fudgie was more in tune with just biting the tires in the meantime. Since the dust was glued on tighter than the air hose could remove, it became apparent that both mowers would benefit from a quick rinse. Ruby enjoys chasing the water stream so she also got a quick rinse. After that the official beginning of the tire biting and lawnmower herding season could commence.
Fudgie got a big day of traipsing back and forth and up and down the hill, after which she proceeded to flop on her pillow like a bag of dirt. Not bad for a dog going on 14 years old. Ruby on the other hand apparently needed more exercise and playing ball in the living room was more her speed. Until she saw her most recent TV “villain” came on: That strange “Puppy Monkey Baby.” She just comes unhinged if she happens to see that weird, mythical creature. Add it to the list of the Hump Day Camel, the Spiriva Elephant, any horses, Julie Andrews, Clint Eastwood, etc. Just about the time we think we’ve seen Ruby’s goofiness in tis entirety, she digs a little deeper and comes up with more. She should probably be running for president.
See you next week…real good then.
The scurs had the Weather Eye set on high last week and it showed. Spring had truly sprung. Can we expect to continue wearing shorts or will it be back to reality? Starting Wednesday, cloudy with a good chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid-60’s and lows in the low 50’s. Thursday, cloudy with a slight chance of showers. Highs in the mid-60’s with lows in the low 40’s. Mostly sunny Friday with highs in the mid-60’s and lows in the mid-40’s. Saturday, partly sunny with a modest chance for showers. Highs in the mid-60’s with lows in the mid-40’s. Partly sunny Sunday with a modest chance of evening showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the low 60’s with lows in the low 40’s. Monday, mostly cloudy and slightly cooler with a modest chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the mid-50’s with lows in the low 40’s. Mostly cloudy skies for Tuesday with a continued modest chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 50’s with lows in the low 40’s. The normal high for April 21st is 60 and the normal low is 38. The scurs will try next to hook the headlights up to the Weather Eye in order to get more sun and less clouds. Being a mushroom is overrated.
We’ve come to yet another Full Moon on April 21st. It is commonly called the Full Pink Moon due to the wildflowers that bloom by that name. It also goes by The Full Sprouting Grass Moon and The Full Egg Moon. The Ojibwe called it the Broken Snowshoe Moon and the Sioux called it The Moon of Greening Grass. Indeed many, including those of us at the ranch, can agree with the Sioux as we call it The Moon of the 1st Lawn Mowing.
Tremendous progress was made in the fields last week as corn planters rolled under sunny skies and warm temperatures. Soil conditions were ideal for planting and despite the early calendar date most at least started and in some cases wrapped up their corn planting. There are some soybeans in the ground and although the replant portion of the crop insurance doesn’t kick in until April 21st, the crop is otherwise still covered. Corn has germinated planted Wednesday the 13th and has a radicle about ¾” long on it. Some concern has been expressed that it is too dry. Careful what you wish for.
We had much the same scenario in March with scant precipitation falling the first half of the month. Precipitation actually ended up being above normal for the month in the southern half of the county thanks to abundant rain and snowfall. It also cooled off and temperatures went back to normal to below normal for the last half of March. There is plenty of soil moisture below the top couple inches. The profile was full down to the 5’ level at the SROC in Waseca as of April 1st. Yes it has dried out on top but we needed it to. We also needed it to warm up. As recently as the 13th, the low air temperature recorded was in the upper teens and soil temperatures at 2” average 40 degrees. While some still remain obsessed with knowing the average soil temperature this time of year, it really isn’t that critical. The calendar and soil conditions tell you it’s time to put corn in the ground if you haven’t already.
The local fauna serves as a reminder that spring is on the move. New arrivals included the tree swallows last Friday and a brown thrasher. Chipping, Harris’s, white-throated and song sparrows all made appearances under the feeders along with a lone female purple finch. It shouldn’t be too long before the first orioles and hummingbirds arrive. The jelly feeder was dusted off and put in place in anticipation. The bluebird houses were readied quickly and a check on the wood duck houses revealed that they were already occupied. Luckily the houses had been looked over last fall and cleaned out pretty well. The wood ducks took it upon themselves to evict the deer mice that had squatted in the nesting boxes over winter so all was well. There were six eggs in one box and seven in another.
The chorus frogs with the recent warm nights have made themselves heard and loudly. Heading out to feed the bottle lambs into the open or grilling on the patio, the noise is almost deafening. Was wondering if the recent low temperatures in the teens had perhaps thinned their ranks. We were still breaking ice out of water buckets yet last week. If the racket emanating from the wetland was any indication would have to say the answer is “no”.
At the ranch it’s been time to do some odd jobs, although the garden hasn’t moved to the top of the list just yet. Cleaning up the plethora of small sticks in the backyard so they don’t make Swiss cheese out of the vinyl siding when the mower hits them was higher priority. We got all the lambs docked, vaccinated and tagged so they were moved to the main barn Saturday. Small pens slow everything down at chore time. They were happy to have more room and displayed their pleasure by running and hopping. That makes everyone happy. It was tempting to remove the tree wrap on all the trees although in the past, doing that on the small whips has yielded disappointing results. A small bunny just outside the front door served as a reminder as to why. Not superstitious but also haven’t taken the chains off the tractor yet. In the past, removing them much before about May 1st has meant a surprise snowstorm of a major magnitude. And some years, even that’s too soon.
See you next week…real good then.
With small glimpses of spring here and there, the scurs suspect the Weather Eye is about to cut loose with some nicer forecasts. It’s about time, but will it last? Starting Wednesday, sunny with highs in the low 60’s and lows in the low 40’s. Thursday, sunny with highs in the upper 60’s and lows in the mid-40’s. Mostly sunny Friday with highs in the mid-60’s and lows in the upper 40’s. Saturday, mostly sunny with highs in the upper 60’s and lows in the mid-40’s. Partly sunny Sunday with a modest chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 60’s and lows in the upper 40’s. Monday, mostly cloudy and slightly cooler with a modest chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the upper 60’s with lows in the upper 40’s. Mostly cloudy skies for Tuesday with a continued modest chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 60’s with lows in the upper 40’s. The normal high for April 15th is 57 and the normal low is 35. We’ll see the sun set at 8 o’clock on April 16th. The scurs will be exhausted after paying for the “free stuff” on Tax Day that everyone is being promised.
Fieldwork was scattered at best last week. Some anhydrous ammonia was applied and fertilizer spread, but generally fieldwork was on hold with spring in suspended animation. Some always behave as though the calendar is a month or more ahead of the actual date and that’s fine. Someone has to plant first even though there is no award ceremony for it. Planting on Monday the 11th or afterwards allows the crop insurance to kick in for replanting, so it’s all good. Very little weed growth thus far, to no one’s surprise. Cold temperatures last week and scattered snow showers, not to mention frozen soil a couple 18-degree lows, have had everyone wondering when this pattern will change. Hopefully by the time this reaches print, the cold will be a fleeting memory. Luckily, in spite of the cold temps, it has been relatively dry and the gusty winds have dried the soil more than one might imagine. It’s still sticky underneath in places, but if worked at a reasonable depth, it should allow one to at least contemplate planting corn.
Vista’s noted Swedish astronomer made a stop to discuss old cars and left me with some notes on what to look for in the heavens at night courtesy of the Steele Co. Astronomical Society. The night skies were cloudy much of the month of March, but the near-term April forecast so far looks more promising for stargazing. Jupiter is the most prominent feature in the southern sky at dusk, with the planet being about halfway up. Look for Jupiter to be in close conjunction just below the crescent moon on the 17th, when Mars and Saturn rise around midnight but can be seen most easily in the hour or more before sunrise low in the southern sky. Mars will increase in brightness each night. It will be almost as bright as Jupiter by the end of May.
Seeing the anhydrous tanks going by on Sunday had me in full yard clean-up mode. Got the last of the crushed rock and sod piles taken care of then re-landscaped the area on both sides of the sidewalk, something that needed to be done to improve water flow if nothing else. The brush from the apple pruning was also loaded on the Gator and the batteries installed in both lawnmowers. At least it looked like we were making progress. Just have to pick up the sticks in the backyard so they don’t go through the vinyl siding and we’ll be golden. While assessing that situation, I spied the first dandelion of the season growing out of the foundation on the south side of the house. Maybe spring will come after all.
Both dogs had a big day Sunday. The mud has largely dried up and the sun was periodically shining, making it ideal for them to be outside. Anytime, though, you start up as many machines with small engines as we have, it’s bound to get them excited. There are, after all, a lot of tires to bite. There was also an opportunity for them to show off their Border Collie talents. Had to make a trip through the feedlot gate with some brush and Fudgie was on hand to make sure the ewes didn’t get any ideas about coming out. Ruby ran back and forth frantically in front of the opening too, so pretty sure the sheep didn’t know which dog was which. All they knew was it’s simply not worth the effort when the dogs are on patrol.
Lambing at the ranch finally came to an end last Wednesday so another year of fun and games is over. There are somewhere in the vicinity of 50 lambs running around. They were tickled when the Big Dubya came by Saturday and plopped a round bale in their lot. Not only did it give them something more to nosh, it provided another object for their obstacle course.
The birds have made some subtle indications that the season may be about to turn the corner. An eastern meadowlark can be heard singing on calm mornings and flickers have been moving through. A yellow-bellied sapsucker appeared on Saturday and the chickadees are singing their springtime song. The most pleasant surprise was the sighting of a pair of goldfinches. The male was a little splotchy yet but there was no mistaking the bright yellow that was starting to emerge. There are still juncos yet although the Harris’s sparrow has been with them occasionally. Have also heard some white throated sparrows vocalizing in the windbreak. Had better have my grape jelly and sugar water ready just in case the orioles and hummingbirds are not far behind.
See you next week…real good then.
The scurs are starting to wonder if the Weather Eye is hooked to the brakes somehow, based on the spring weather. It definitely has been stubborn since about mid-March. Will it put its foot on the gas finally or do the brake adjustment wheels need a shot of PB Blaster? Starting Wednesday, cloudy with a good chance of rain turning to a rain/snow mix by evening. Highs in the mid-40’s with lows in the upper 30’s. Thursday, mostly cloudy with a modest chance of rain/snow mix in the forenoon. Highs in the mid-40’s with lows in the low 30’s. Mostly sunny Friday with highs in the upper 30’s and lows in the upper 20’s. Saturday, mostly sunny with highs in the low 50’s and lows in the upper 30’s. Mostly sunny Sunday with a slight chance of rain. Highs in the upper 50’s and lows in the low 30’s. Monday, cloudy and slightly cooler with highs in the upper 40’s and lows in the upper 30’s. Continued cloudy skies for Tuesday with highs in the upper 40’s and lows in the upper 30’s. The normal high for April 8th is 53 and the normal low is 32. We are back to over 13 hours of daylight on April 6th about the same as we were on September 4th. The scurs could use a Labor Day break after slaving over this forecast.
More rainfall this past week sent us well into the “slightly above normal” category for March. At the ranch we garnered 2.86” of total liquid precip, with 12.6” of snow for the month. April started out in similar fashion with .4” recorded from last Thursday’s rain. Saturday was cool and blustery while Sunday got us to 73 degrees under breezy conditions at the ranch. Although this dried the surface out nicely, underneath the soil remains pretty sticky in many places. Cooler temperatures and a wintry mix for the week don’t bode well for large amounts of fieldwork being accomplished anytime soon. While our possible early spring has disintegrated to some extent, it also remains entirely possible that it could turn and suddenly when it does. Stay tuned.
Sunday’s wind did allow for some gardening on the south-facing slope. Got a few radishes put in the ground as a germination check if nothing else. Radishes are among our favorite early vegetables. With several packages of seed that were a year or two old, it made for a nice experiment. If they don’t come up, they can easily be tossed and replaced with newer seed that will. The soil was in nice shape so just taking the garden rake over the surface, scattering the seed in the worked bed was enough once tamped in firmly.
Another set of triplets from a black ewe made us wonder if we should be buying lottery tickets. Oddly enough, it was the same assortment we got out of a different black ewe a couple weeks ago: a black buck lamb and two white ewe lambs. The odds of this happening are somewhat unusual, especially in the same season. They are doing well and the weather has been somewhat cooperative lately. Cool, but generally dry. At least it’s not below zero so the ewe has been able to keep up with their demands. We’re down to one ewe left to lamb that’s close enough so we can tell anyway. It’s been a long haul since February 22nd and it’s time to put a fork in it.
Saturday allowed me to start the Silver Hawk and proceed to get it out to limber it up. Cranking it over didn’t seem to be producing the desired results, so a little splash of gas down the two-barrel carb was in order. After the initial fireball, it started right up. Always a good idea to have an operational fire extinguisher nearby, which I did. A quick drive up to the “T” and back confirmed that all was as I left it last November. Sunday made for a better opportunity to take a short spin after the Lions pancake feed so stopped by Vista’s noted Swedish astronomer’s house. Didn’t want him worrying that I hadn’t made it out yet. After that I made my way to the local sheep shearer to chit chat and watch his lambs. Can never get enough lamb watching, I always say. Once home, it was time to wipe the bugs off the white bird and put it back in its cage. Driving the Stude is a little like the bathtub when I was a kid: Once I get in I don’t want to get out. At least I don’t look like a prune, yet.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention something about the loss of a great man in our community, Darrol Sponberg. The personal kindnesses that he bestowed upon us at the ranch will never be forgotten. When a storm ripped our place apart, he came over with his backhoe and cleaned a lot of the mess up and charged us next to nothing. In the ‘90s, we were frequently showing sheep into November for the NAILE in Louisville. Winter seemed to set in early in those years. He allowed us to bring our pickup and trailer into his large shop with floor heat to wash and dry the animals rather than trying to do it in the cold. We thought we’d died and gone to heaven. In those years we had a great deal of success and Darrol was a large part of it. And he was always genuinely interested in how we did. It was as though our success was a reflection on him. We were proud and so was he.
Last summer, when the car club visited the care center, it was so good of Vista’s noted Swedish astronomer to wheel Darrol out to see the cars. He really appreciated it, although I’m sure he would’ve rather been behind the wheel of one. When we held the most recent Lions pancake feed it seemed odd not to see Darrol there taking tickets. I still recall one time when they were short of help and, despite his bad knees, Darrol jumped in to flip French toast when someone didn’t show up. I know it stiffens my knees up and I can’t imagine how he must’ve hurt after that. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to who he was. Always willing to help out, not afraid of hard work and getting his hands dirty. We could use a lot more Darrols right about now, the way I see it.
See you next week…real good then.
The scurs and the Weather Eye continue to receive hate mail after Wednesday night’s snowfall event. Are we done with winter finally or is another encore performance (or two) waiting in the wings? Starting Wednesday, cloudy with a good chance of rain. Highs in the mid-50’s with lows in the upper 30’s. Thursday, mostly cloudy with a good chance of a rain in the forenoon. Highs in the mid-40’s with lows in the low 30’s. Partly sunny Friday with highs in the upper 30’s and lows in the upper 20’s. Saturday, mostly sunny with highs in the mid-40’s and lows in the mid-20’s. Mostly sunny Sunday with highs in the upper 40’s and lows in the low 30’s. Monday, cloudy and warmer with highs in the low 50’s and lows in the low 30’s. Continued cloudy skies for Tuesday with highs in the mid-50’s and lows in the low 40’s. The normal high for April 1st is 49 and the normal low is 29. We continue to gain daylight at about three minutes per day. The scurs are thinking maybe by fixing the dome light in the ’74, where the Weather Eye emanated from, we will see more sun next week. That ship may have sailed. April fools!
We certainly are stuck on some cloudy weather. There are anecdotal indications that all is not well in flyover land. From livestock health issues to vitamin D and human depression issues, this has been a tough one. Our old pal the polar vortex has been bandied about recently as well, leading some to believe that in spite of better-than-even odds of above-normal temperatures forecast by NOAA, we may see a chilly start to particularly the first half of April. Take heart, however. Planting much before about the 20th has shown little or no benefit most years, so if it can get it out of its system by then, we should be fine. Fretting about it won’t change it and planting in mud early is a guaranteed disaster.
Some have wondered about all the “free” nitrogen we receive in the snowfall as someone in the news media usually gets wound up about that. Typically we receive somewhere in the vicinity of 10–12 lbs./acre of nitrogen from atmospheric sources over the course of an entire year’s precipitation. The nitrogen received is fairly minimal per precipitation event so like most other things, not much in life is really “free.”
Now, if someone wants some “free” sod, I have lots after “freeing” it from my yard with the tractor and bucket. Last week’s snowfall measured about 7.5” at the ranch with what appeared to be roughly that at the Mall for Men. It was some wet, heavy slop and with the rain that preceded it, totaled about .83” of liquid equivalent. For March snowfall, we’ve now received a hair over the 30-year average (1981–2010) at the SROC with 12.5” having been measured at the ranch. Total precip-wise we are still roughly a half inch behind the SROC average with that being likely to change after this reaches print. It really doesn’t matter at this point. The soil profile is saturated; with temperatures remaining cool and skies cloudy with not much for drying winds, it will take a few days for conditions to become fit.
I am convinced this was one of the reasons farmers used to have livestock: To keep them busy enough so they didn’t have time to venture forth until field conditions were truly ready. At the ranch, the end of lambing season is drawing near. Only a handful of ewes remain left to lamb so working in the garden is unlikely to happen until that occurs. The lambs are growing well although they too would appreciate some extended warm, dry weather to run and hop around. The pasture has greened up nicely, however, so once the snow left, the ewes left to lamb aren’t wasting any time to sneak off and grab as much of the new forage as possible.
The snow did make it a little more difficult for some of the birds to find their favorite food, namely earthworms. Fear not, however. Just as at the ranch, there are numerous berry bushes and trees that sustain them through such occurrences. And if there isn’t, they fly someplace where there is. We did finally catch a glimpse of the male cardinal after hearing him singing much of the past couple weeks. He was sticking close to the protection of the brush pile, although we still haven’t seen him at the feeders.
Saturday, we did our agri-tourism bit with my brother and his family, including a great niece who wasn’t even 2 yet coming down from the Twin Cities to feed the bottle lambs. Little Everly was the star of the show, getting to pet the little black lamb named Goober in the lambing barn and bottle feed the little as yet unnamed buck lamb in the main barn. Maybe call him “Clint” after the man with no name from the spaghetti westerns. After that we headed to The Willows for a little lunch and Everly entertained the waitress. It was a fun day and the weather even cooperated, the rain holding off until later that evening.
Easter Sunday of course meant church and after hauling a few flowers around, Mrs. Cheviot decided it was a good day to hit the Easter brunch afterward. I wasn’t arguing. A long week of evening chores by myself as well as moving snow, etc., had me in no mood to work at grilling a meal. That worked. After we got that accomplished we fed the bottle lambs and settled in to watch the replay of the Gopher women’s hockey team winning the national championship. Luckily, I knew ahead of time they had scored right away so was able to pencil in an hour and a half powernap until the third period when I knew they scored again, eventually winning 3-1. Forewarned is forearmed, I always say.
See you next week…real good then.
Rain, snow slow progress toward planting season
Written by Jim LutgensThe scurs and the Weather Eye received hate mail after Friday night’s snowfall event. Will they get more hate mail after Wednesday or will it be June all of a sudden? Starting Wednesday, cloudy with a good chance of rain changing to snow in the forenoon. Highs in the mid-30’s with lows in the low 20’s. Thursday, mostly cloudy with a slight chance of a rain-snow mix. Highs in the low 30’s with lows in the low 20’s. Cloudy Friday with a modest chance of a rain-snow mix by evening. Highs in the low 40’s with lows in the low 30’s. Saturday, mostly cloudy with a modest chance of rain and snow showers. Highs in the low 40’s with lows in the mid-20’s. Mostly sunny Sunday with highs in the low 40’s and lows in the upper 20’s. Monday, sunny and warmer with highs in the mid-40’s with lows in the mid-30’s. Continued sunny skies for Tuesday with highs in the low 50’s and lows in the mid-30’s. The normal high for March 27th is 46 and the normal low is 27. The sun will rise once again at 7 a.m. on the 29th, the same as it did back on February 24th. What the…? The scurs are thinking that the only good thing about it is that it’s “free.”
The Full Moon for the month of March will occur on the 23rd and is known by several names. The Full Worm Moon is common as it’s in this moon that earthworms make their way to the surface and begin leaving their casts as well as providing food for hungry robins and other birds. It also goes by the Full Sap Moon for the sap running in the maple trees boiled down to make maple syrup. The Ojibwe called this the Snow Crust Moon and the Sioux, the Moon When Buffalo Cows Drop Their Calves. At the ranch, it is The Moon of Wet Stinky Border Collies.
Not much progress towards planting season was made this past week. The Friday snowfall varied across the area with up to 7” reported by Betsy’s dad northwest of Bugtussle, 5” reported in Bugtussle proper and about 3” at the ranch. It melted down to about .27” of liquid equivalent precipitation at the ranch. It was apparent too that the snowfall amount was greater in Bugtussle than at the ranch as the snow on the north sides of buildings and trees took longer to melt off as Monday wore on. Fields also remained shiny so any notion of fieldwork was quickly put to rest. The ground Monday morning was frozen solid however allowing one last chance for manure hauling if need be. I did notice some corn being planted the other day, however. A squirrel was busily planting kernel after kernel in the yard. Apparently he was unaware that crop insurance coverage doesn’t kick in until April 11th.
Around the ranch the flora and fauna are starting to come to life. Pocket gophers are building mounds in the pasture. The buds on the lilac are swollen as are those on the maple trees. The rhubarb continues to ever so slowly break dormancy while the chipmunks and striped gophers pick up the seed spilled nearby from the barrage of house sparrows. A brown creeper was checking the ash trees for insects on Wednesday. A cardinal graced us with his song on occasion over the weekend at the ranch although I think he lives at neighbor David’s as the song emanates from there most frequently. Rooster pheasants can be heard crowing across the landscape with numerous hens residing in the CRP here. A Harris’s sparrow was seen on Saturday, earlier than what I’ve come to expect, making me wonder if the weather will suddenly break, bringing the orioles and hummingbirds with it. One can always hope.
Got the last apple tree pruned on Sunday. The Fireside tree has about 25 years under its belt, so it’s a fully mature tree. It also avoided being pruned for a few years a while back, so it takes some time even though I’ve been religious about it for roughly 15 years. This was a major pruning, although if something happens to the tree, it can be replaced. A lot of wood came off of it so that should keep my supply for grilling stocked for quite some time. It should also help protect my melon from being bruised during mowing and allow the headphones to remain on my head. Both the Haralson and the Fireside are pruned to the point that not much reaching is required to pick most of the apples. That’s the way it should be. When in doubt, take it out.
We’re over three-fourths done with the lambing. We’ve been at it a month now and it has gone by fairly quickly. We lambed during some of the warmest conditions I can recall for February and March to the point that some of the lambs were dropped outside rather than in the barn. Doesn’t help matters that the ewes are convinced there’s enough grass to make it worth grazing the pasture already. We had a set of triplets born out of a black or natural colored ewe born in the feedlot. Luckily it was about 50 degrees with no rain. There were two white lambs and one black lamb. The black gene is a recessive that shows up here when the ewe and the ram each carry at least one of the recessive alleles. If one or the other carry both as in the case of the black ewes, it increases the odds. White wool of course was selected for as it would take dyes better resulting in more vivid colors. The black lamb was a buck of course but our plan is to hang onto him and use him on a select group of ewes to see if we replenish our black ewes supply. They’re always a conversation piece and more than once we’re told by passersby that they look for the black ewes interspersed on the hillside. Oddly enough when asked how many they would like, we get no takers.
Auntie Mar Mar came to visit on Sunday and brought with her a batch of bars made from a new recipe. She had us guessing what kind of berries the bars were made of, though, after previously making blueberry and raisin bars. Turned out these were made from aronia berries that she’d gotten from someone at work. Just so happens we have a whole row of them about 100’ long. Since there’s nothing else to eat back there when I mow the windbreak, I snack on the berries. They pucker you up, but they’re supposed to be good for you, containing lots of antioxidants. When a little sugar is added and they’re substituted into a bar recipe, they become a culinary delight. Can’t wait to see what happens when Mar Mar decides to work her magic on an aronia pie recipe. Even more of a good thing made even better with a little ice cream.
See you next week…real good then.
When the lights finally went out in Hamilton, Ontario
Written by Jim LutgensThe scurs and the Weather Eye continue to make weekend weather lovers happy. Temps over the weekend and early week were well above normal as advertised. Will satisfaction continue or will March be March again? Starting Wednesday, partly sunny with a moderate chance of changing to a rain-snow mix by evening. Highs in the upper 40’s with lows in the low 30’s. Thursday, mostly cloudy with a moderate chance of a rain-snow mix. Highs in the low 40’s with lows in the low 30’s. Partly sunny Friday with a slight chance of a rain-snow mix. Highs in the low 40’s with lows in the low 30’s. Saturday, mostly cloudy with a modest chance of rain and snow showers. Highs in the low 40’s with lows in the upper 20’s. Mostly cloudy Sunday with highs in the low 40’s and lows in the upper 20’s. Monday, partly sunny and warmer with a slight chance of a morning shower. Highs in the mid-40’s with lows in the mid-30’s. Mostly sunny skies for Tuesday with highs in the upper 40’s and lows in the mid-30’s. We will see over 12 hours of daylight on St. Patrick’s Day, the first time since September 25th. The vernal equinox will occur on Saturday March 19th. The normal high for March 19th is 41 and the normal low is 24. The scurs still will be wearing the green from St. Patty’s Day while fielding the calls from chicken farmers due to their chickens being angry about their eggs standing on end.
Spring will officially arrive on the 19th, although as most of us are aware, it’s been here for a while. The ice went out on St. Olaf Lake on Sunday and on Beaver Lake on Monday. It’s getting tougher to find those last remaining patches on snow on the north sides of fencelines and groves. Yards and lawns have firmed up nicely and it appears the frost is out in most area fields. The rainfall Saturday night and early Sunday didn’t amount to much, so those who were counting on it to even out any remaining frost were probably disappointed. Overall our March precipitation has been lagging. Normal for the month at the SROC in Waseca is 2.49”. As of Monday night at the ranch, we had recorded only .24”. This is not a bad thing as the soils remain wet underneath in many areas. Wetter conditions are forecast in the near term, so we’ll likely make some headway towards the averages soon.
At the ranch the ewes continue to deliver more lambs in a gradual pattern. We’re nearing the three-quarter done mark, so it won’t be long and they should all be on the ground. The creep feeder was set up in the main barn and the area expanded so all the ewes with lambs should eventually fit. Managed to get the electric fence up and charged on Saturday the 12th, marking another early date for that. Of course the lambs enjoy having more freedom to run and move about without their mothers on their case, not unlike most humans I suspect. They certainly put on a show for anyone happening by or watching on Saturday. We were able to dock tails and move more ewes with lambs on Sunday so not a moment too soon. Sure makes chores go more smoothly.
The wildlife has also been responding to the early spring-like conditions. Grilling on Sunday night, I was entertained by the sounds of Canada geese on the pond and Hungarian partridge creeping around in the plum and sumac thicket about dark. Also heard from the pond area was the faint sound of the western chorus frogs. It apparently hasn’t been quite warm enough for them to crank it up full volume just yet. Give them time and am sure they’ll be shrieking once it warms up for good.
Have been picking at the tree pruning as the month continues to roll on. Got the pear trees done and did some surgery on some of the wild plums that seemed to be in attack mode much of the lawn mowing season. Of course mowing as frequently as we did last year didn’t help matters. The Fireside tree is all that remains. Oddly enough, looking back at last year’s column about the same time, it was the last tree then too. With good reason: It has enough out-of-control sapwood growing on it so it almost looks like hair. After pruning the Haralson as I did, it should make it easier to get at the Fireside this time. More wood for grilling.
March 16th, 1966 marks a watershed date in the history of US transportation: Studebaker officially ceased manufacture of automobiles. As mentioned a few weeks ago, the announcement had come on March 5th, although the last car rolled off the line on the 16th. What brought this very old transportation company to its knees? After all, Studebaker had been a major wagon and carriage builder in the 1800s. Many of the wagons used by the Union Army in the Civil War were manufactured by Studebaker, not to mention countless wagons associated with the westward expansion by the settlers. Studebaker had also been a pioneer in electric cars at one time and a styling leader; with many of the trends it started being copied and implemented by the Big Three. In “More Than They Promised: The Studebaker Story” Thomas E. Bonsall devotes a chapter on his thoughts of what caused Studebaker to cease auto production. While they are opinion, they tend to be backed up with facts and data.
Coming out of WWII, Studebaker was a hot brand. After building thousands of military trucks, amphibious vehicles and B-17 aircraft engines for the war effort, they were the first company to come with new automobile styling postwar. Tired of the war, people were ready for something fresh and new. They bought them like hotcakes. Studebaker’s low level of productivity relative to the Big Three was to become their Achilles heel. While avoiding strikes, the company had been lax on labor, allowing low productivity in favor of high volume. This would later cost them dearly. The redesign of the ’53 product line also came into play. The coupes were beautiful and exciting, selling well. The overall market for coupes was limited, however. The Baby Boom was on and the demand for larger family cars was part of it. Studebaker’s sedans and wagons were dumpy looking and unpopular. In some cases they were on a shorter wheelbase than the coupes.
Overall sales and profits plummeted. The Ford-General Motors sales war in the ‘50’s caused companies like Nash-Rambler and Studebaker to become caught in the crossfire. This robbed Studebaker of the high volume they’d relied upon. Their dealer network was also weak, making matters worse. From 1953–1955, Studebaker lost two-thirds of its market share. Low volume and high cost of production are not an equation for success. Aside from the blip on the radar with the introduction of the Lark in 1959, it was mostly downhill after that. While Studebaker manufactured some classic automobiles in the ‘50s and ‘60s such as the Starlight Coupe, the Hawk series and the Avanti, the public was convinced that if they purchased one, they’d be left with an orphan automobile. When the lights finally went out in Hamilton, Ontario, the end had been coming for some time.
See you next week…real good then.
The scurs tweaking on the Weather Eye made everyone happy. Temps over the weekend and early week were well above normal as advertised. Will our trek towards an early spring continue or is trouble looming on the horizon? Starting Wednesday, partly sunny with highs in the upper 40’s and lows in the mid-30’s. Thursday, partly sunny with highs in the low 50’s and lows in the mid-30’s. Mostly sunny Friday with a slight chance of evening showers. Highs in the low 50’s with lows in the low 40’s. Saturday, partly sunny and warmer with a modest chance of showers. Highs in the mid-50’s with lows in the low 40’s. Mostly cloudy Sunday with a slight chance of showers. Highs in the low 50’s and lows in the low 40’s. Monday, mostly sunny and warmer with a slight chance of a morning shower. Highs in the upper 50’s with lows in the mid-40’s. Partly sunny skies for Tuesday with highs in the mid-50’s and lows in the mid-40’s. The normal high for March 13th is 38 and the normal low is 21. The scurs are thinking the ice fishing season is about shot. You’ll just have to settle for store-bought ice from now on.
Time for the dreaded time change once again over the weekend. Many crabby, tired people cheated out of another hour of sleep. Oh but it’s so nice to have that extra hour at night, some say. It is? All that tends to happen is we stay outside and work for an extra hour after getting up and bumbling around an hour earlier in the dark for a few weeks. I have an idea: Since some of these presidential candidates are such a bunch of brain surgeons (actually the brain surgeon dropped out), why don’t they come out against this foolishness and see how many votes it would get them? At least promise to leave it one way or the other. They’d have my vote.
Another weekend of phenomenal weather for early March. It was nice last week that it at least stayed frozen in the mornings and into the afternoon in some cases, allowing for some manure hauling to take place. The weekend warmth along with the breezes changed the landscape quickly. Snow is a rare sight, having retreated to some fencelines, tall grass areas, windbreaks and north sides of buildings. At the ranch there are vestigial snow piles that are disappearing rapidly. Not a lot of sod or gravel in them either which is a good thing. However it appears I did do a pretty good job of thatching the yard while I was at it. I’m sure it needed it.
One possible concern in the fields for those with cattle or sheep though is the breaking of dormancy by the alfalfa. If daytime temperatures continue on their present trajectory, odds are it will happen soon. Not a bad thing necessarily although if temperatures are to suddenly nosedive, it could put the crop in jeopardy. Yes, if it kills out alternatives can be seeded. However, talking to most farmers over the years when this has happened, almost to a man they’d much rather have the alfalfa than some alternate source of forage. It’s an extra hassle and expense most would just as soon not incur.
The skies have definitely been full of signs of spring. Over the weekend, I saw killdeers could hear some sandhill cranes to the south of us. An eagle has been making the rounds lately too, feeding on some roadkill deer on Steele Co. 21. Sunday I saw my first ducks of the spring flying in formation heading northwest. When I came outside for nighttime lamb check about 10 p.m. I could hear the whirring sound of their wings along with their quacking as they passed overhead. The local ponds weren’t open yet so it was hard to say exactly where they might be going. March 6th is awfully early for migrating ducks in SC MN. Usually we’re just talking about seeing robins. Incidentally, they officially have one snow on their tails to their credit.
In the lambing barn it looks like we’re about halfway there. We’ve processed one group and moved them in order to make room for the next wave. With the warm relatively dry weather, it has been easier going than some years. Probably the worst thing about it being warm is the ewes feel no obligation to go inside to lamb. It’s too warm inside and they can sneak off to lamb out in the pasture. It’s OK as long as there aren’t complications but when one has to coax the ewe up out of the pasture and into a pen, it gets old if it happens with any frequency. We’re not getting any younger.
We did have one ewe that complicated matters with a set of triplet buck lambs. She was an older model and wasn’t in good enough condition to handle all three. They were extremely aggressive and the ewe went down, almost smothering one of the lambs. Not wanting the headaches that go along with feeding three buck lambs, we called Auntie Mar Mar to see if her Mom, Agnes, might be interested in taking one or more of them. It sounded like she was up to the task and at last check was thrilled to have them. We were just tickled she’d take them.
Extra work is not something either of us need right now. Keeping the lambs already on the ground alive not to mention what’s still yet to come takes enough time as it is. Feeding 3 bottle lambs 4 – 5 times a day, multiplied by 15 – 20 minutes by the time you mix up the milk replacer, warm it up, walk out there, feed them, walk back in, clean the bottles out and put them in the rack to dry amounts to over an hour a day. They don’t give lamb milk replacer away either. It’s about double the cost of calf milk replacer. While we donated the first batch of milk replacer, we really appreciated Agnes’s kindness. It’s always comforting to know that the lambs went to a better home than we’d be able to provide them.
See you next week…real good then.
Just the other day I had read that the watershed folks said they may be able to start dredging Albert Lea Lake in about five years. Once the dredging of Fountain Lake starts, I may become a little more optimistic about that actually happening. I know they have been doing quite a lot of work to improve the water quality of our area lakes and streams. Unfortunately for me I have some serious reservations about how much man’s intervention in nature actually makes all things better.
An example of that was what my grandson Trevor experienced a few weeks ago. If you have ever driven past Pickerel Lake on Highway 69 when the ice is out you have more than likely seen the many clumps of weeds now floating about the lake. This in itself is an act of nature, but what Trevor found was a result of reclaiming a lake. He went there to see what the ice fishing would be like a few years after the last restocking effort and what he found was that under every hole he drilled were weeds right up to the bottom of the ice. He did find one spot where the weeds were about two feet below the surface. Now you might be thinking if he had drilled a hole in the wrong spot, but that’s not necessarily so. After moving around the lake and drilling 70-plus holes in different areas of the lake, he only found one spot where the weeds weren’t up to the surface.
This leads me to think that this lake will probably never be much of a fishing lake again. Yes, I said again, because although it had an overabundance of rough fish at one time, there were still game fish and the lake was navigable. As it stands now, after “reclaiming” the lake, about the only type of boat that could navigate that lake in the summer would be a canoe or an air boat. I do not like to be negative in my writing, but I have always loved the beauty of this lake and looked at it as a body of water fit for both fishing and hunting. As it stands today, it resembles a duck pond and even if there are fish in there, you’d have a hard time getting a line to them. The water clarity of Pickerel Lake is very good right now, but that can be a double-edged sword. I know there is a tradeoff; whenever you take away the rough fish and clean up the water, the vegetation flourishes, especially in a shallow body of water like Pickerel Lake. Is there a light at the end of the tunnel or is this lake destined to become a slough? I don’t know the answer, but I do know that I don’t get that good feeling I once did when I drive past this once beautiful body of water.
— — —
From most reports that I have heard, fishing on local lakes has been spotty. I did talk to someone who had good luck with the crappie bite on a Fairmont area lake. No slabs, but some decent eating fish. It has been pretty slow on our local lakes and I attribute a lot of the hit-and-miss fishing to the late ice-over. Some of the larger Northern Minnesota lakes have been producing limits of walleye and some nice jumbos.
With that in mind, the Minnesota DNR is reminding fishermen that dark houses, fish houses and portables must be off the ice no later than midnight for each of the dates given in the following categories below:
Dates of removal are determined by an east-west line formed by U.S. Hwy. 10, east along Hwy. 34 to Minnesota Hwy. 200, east along Hwy. 200 to U.S. Hwy. 2, and east along Hwy. 2 to the Minnesota-Wisconsin border.
• South of line - March 7, 2016
• North of line - March 21, 2016
If shelters are not removed, owners will be prosecuted, and the structure and contents may be confiscated and removed, or destroyed by a conservation officer.
After removal dates, shelters may remain on the ice between midnight and one hour before sunrise only when occupied or attended.
Storing or leaving shelters on a public access is prohibited.
It is unlawful to improperly dispose of ice fishing shacks anywhere in the state. Please clean up around your shack and check with local refuse providers or landfills for ice shelter disposal information.
Until next time, enjoy the outdoors, and always be careful when you venture out on an area lake because with this warmer weather no ice is ever 100 percent safe.
Please remember to keep our troops in your thoughts and prayers, not only during the holiday season but for the rest of the year. They are the reason that we are able to enjoy all the freedoms that we have today.
The scurs may need to do a little tweaking on the Weather Eye to keep it operating at peak performance. Will the adjustments get the temperatures warmer or are we stuck in the Kelvinator refrigerator/freezer? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with a slight chance of evening snow. Highs in the low 30’s with lows in the low 20’s. Thursday, mostly cloudy with highs in the low 30’s and lows in the low 20’s. Mostly cloudy Friday with a slight chance of rain and snow in the morning and a modest chance of snow in the afternoon and evening. Highs in the upper 30’s with lows in the upper 20’s. Saturday, mostly sunny and warmer with highs in the low 40’s and lows in the upper 30’s. Mostly sunny Sunday with highs in the low 50’s and lows in the upper 30’s. Monday, partly sunny and warmer with highs in the mid-50’s and lows in the low 40’s. Mostly sunny skies for Tuesday with highs in the mid-50’s and lows in the low 40’s. We will go over 11½ hours of daylight on March 7th. The normal high for March 7th is 35 and the normal low is 19. The scurs are nearly certain we’re looking at an early start to the gardening season. Those seed packages for sale at Wagner’s don’t lie.
While March came in like a white (snowy) lamb we still have a pretty good shot of an earlier-than-normal start to spring, at least on paper. The last remaining vestiges of the earlier snow became fewer and farther between last week. Ice remains on most area lakes, although it isn’t safe enough to think about driving on anymore. There were still ice fishermen trying their luck on St. Olaf Lake Tuesday morning. A week ago Monday at the SROC, frost depth was measured at 11”. This past Monday they reported the frost to be out. I confirmed that at the ranch in the yard on the south facing slope Monday night. Using my trusty divining rod, otherwise known as an electric fencepost, I determined there was no resistance regardless of where I probed. However, the frost is not out completely in all areas as the yard on the northwest side of the house was still like concrete. And when it started to cool down in the evening, the soil began to refreeze on top rapidly.
Migrating birds lent credence to the notion that we may indeed be headed for an earlier-than-normal spring. Last week, horned larks were in evidence on area roads. Flocks of geese increasing in size Saturday made one wonder where they were all going. A small flock of swans flew by the ranch the same morning. A few red-winged blackbirds appeared in the early afternoon, followed by some good sized flocks as the afternoon wore on. We had robins feasting on the leftover crabapples and they were bobbing along the pasture, making me wonder if the frost was out already. Of course even if it was, the temperatures were likely too cold yet for much earthworm activity.
Lambing season at the ranch always reminds one that spring will eventually be on the way. The lambing pens are starting to get full and it’s time to start moving some down to the main barn to make space. It definitely makes chores more efficient feeding larger groups as opposed to little individual pens. The dogs usually look forward to this activity as it gives them some sense of purpose. Being that third and fourth “person” does make a difference. Of course they are always ready to “help” and sometimes they actually do. Not having to get off the skidloader to close a gate is a nice perk. Keeping the cat “herded” is also a plus. Helps us avoid stepping on the poor thing when it gets underfoot as we’re carrying water buckets, feed pans and hay.
Saturday afternoon was a good time to get a start on the main fruit tree pruning. I’d done some major surgery earlier on some obnoxious crabapple trees after being mortally wounded mowing the lawn. It went fairly quickly on the smaller trees that we’ve been staying on top of. Their shape is nice, so most of what needed to be done was to prune the excess sapwood. The Haralson presented a little more of a challenge. It got skipped a few years once upon a time and since it’s a lot older hence larger, it was more time consuming. I got the main trees done with the exception of the Fireside, which will be a several hour-long project. When I came to a stopping point I saw a sure sign of spring: A motorcyclist! Made me think about getting the Studebaker out. Seeing some water coming out in expansion joints on area roads made me reconsider that idea. It was likely laden with salt; certainly not worth the risk of getting it on a classic automobile.
Thinking about the Studebaker though reminded me that the upcoming week in March would bring about a significant date in the history of the former automobile manufacturer. Fifty years ago, on March 4, 1966, Studebaker announced they would cease automobile production at their sole remaining plant in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It came as little surprise as the company had been reeling when they closed the main plant in South Bend, IN in December of 1963. Sales and profits had plummeted further since that time leaving the company little alternative. The local dealership in my hometown, Marzolf Implement, closed the automobile portion of their dealership and focused primarily on selling Allis Chalmers agricultural equipment. The owner’s kids, however, drove one of the later model Studebakers for several years. With all the salt, the body looked a little rough, but it must’ve been a tough little car recalling some of the treatment it received. Those models in particular obviously had not yet become valuable collector cars back in the 1970s. It’s a different story today and some of us old-timers who were driving those old cars are now on the lookout for them. Gotta have fun somehow.
See you next week…real good then.
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The scurs may have been premature in their pronouncement that winter was on the ropes. Will the Weather Eye return to its former glory or will the scurs be making another parts run? Starting Wednesday, mostly sunny with highs in the low 30’s and lows in the low 20’s. Thursday, mostly cloudy with highs in the upper 20’s and lows in the upper teens. Partly sunny Friday with highs in the mid-30’s and lows in the upper 20’s. Saturday, mostly sunny with highs in the low 40’s and lows in the mid-20’s. Mostly sunny Sunday with a modest chance of snow. Highs in the upper 20’s with lows in the mid-teens. Monday, partly cloudy and warmer with highs in the mid-20’s and lows in the low single digits. Mostly sunny skies for Tuesday with highs in the low 20’s and lows in the upper teens. We will go over 11 hours of daylight on the 26th, with the sun rising before 7 a.m. on the 25th, and setting after 6 p.m. on the 29th. The normal high for March 1st is 33 and the normal low is 16. These temperatures compare to what we typically see around the end of November. The scurs are confident that March will most likely come in like a slightly chilled lamb.
A drastic change in the weather quickly melted much of our snow from about midweek until the present. While windy and cloudy conditions didn’t allow it to feel as warm as forecast, the snow cover has receded. Most snow now resides in road ditches, windbreaks, and around building sites Presently by all calculations there is less than an inch of snow depth on average. Geese were seen overhead on the 18th and a mass exodus of fish houses from St. Olaf Lake was noted on the 19th. A robin was heard at the ranch on the 20th. Frost depth has begun to change as measured at the SROC. Last week it measured 13” and on Monday the 22nd, it had decreased to 11”. Grass under the snow still has a lot of green color to it in both the lawn and pasture at the ranch. It didn’t take long Monday morning and a few ewes decided it was green enough to be eating. That doesn’t take long, especially if it’s on the other side of the fence.
Shearing happened last Tuesday and came off without a hitch, although the older I get the longer it seems like it takes to get ready and clean up afterwards. Seems to be a pattern developing here. We had a great catcher and the shearer did his usual phenomenal job while we just tried to keep up with shots and pour on insecticide. Between the treatments and the cool weather this time of year, we haven’t seen anything resembling parasites and the animals generally have nice full fleeces. It’s probably been 45 years since I’ve seen a sheep tick. This was another year when the fleeces were lighter in weight than what we’d maybe like, but they were also extremely clean. There was very little in the way of foreign material in them and they were very white. All except the black/natural colored fleeces, of course.
Lambing season started in earnest on the 22nd with two sets of twin buck lambs. It was gratifying after having a single buck lamb born dead the week before. One always worries with a start like that and it didn’t make matters any better to see a ewe starting Monday morning then quit. When she wasn’t doing anything at noon, my fears rose that it would be time to fish some dead lambs out of her during evening chores. Not to worry. Sometimes it’s best not to mess with Mother Nature and let things take their course. Fortunately this turned out to be one of those times.
Letting the dogs out and checking for lambs at night then doing chores in the early morning makes for some good yet quick stargazing. In the dark early morning, Venus remains very prominent low in the eastern sky. As one ventures out at 10-ish in the evening, Jupiter has reappeared in the eastern sky and is very bright. The Big Dipper too is apparent in the northeastern sky and the handle end is down. It’s heading towards its spring position though, where it is fabled that once it tips upside down, it empties its water upon the springtime landscape.
The warmer temperatures seem to meet with everyone’s approval. As if on cue after last week’s mention of the Full Raccoon Moon, raccoons and skunks have begun to stir. Warm temps have awoken them and they’re no doubt scrounging for food and perhaps places to raise a new brood. Driving past St. Olaf Lake Monday morning, there was already one raccoon fatality. A few miles up the road, a skunk was running down the middle of the Lake Road and took the first left past the golf course. He must’ve seen the road posting signs.
Fudgie and Ruby of course have liked the warmer temps too, excelling at getting muddy from head to toe in a matter of minutes. Now that the ice patches have disappeared between the house and barn, it is a fast track for a Border Colllie. Fortunately it’s been freezing up overnight so the mud isn’t always a factor. Scraping the yard down as I did before shearing really helped keep things from getting too far out of hand in the ice department. After all, a little mud we can deal with; the ice we’d rather not.
See you next week…real good then.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it, BTN announcers
Written by Jim LutgensThe scurs are glad to announce that global warming has returned. After copious amounts of PB Blaster, the control cables on the Weather Eye are back to predicting weather with the best of them. Will it be enough to make it to spring or will we get stuck with more winter? Starting Wednesday, partly sunny with highs in the mid-20’s and lows in the upper teens. Thursday, mostly cloudy with a slight chance of evening rain. Highs in the upper 30’s and lows in the mid-30’s. Partly sunny Friday with a modest chance of rain. Highs in the low 40’s and lows near 30. Saturday, mostly sunny with highs in the low 40’s and lows in the upper 20’s. Partly sunny and slightly cooler on Sunday with a slight chance of rain and snow. Highs in the upper 30’s with lows in the low 20’s. Monday, mostly sunny and cooler. Highs in the upper 20’s with lows in the upper teens. Mostly cloudy skies for Tuesday with highs in the low 30’s and lows in the low teens. The normal high for Washington’s real birthday is 30 and the normal low is 12. This brings back temperature-wise to roughly the end of the first week in December. The scurs cannot tell a lie: They will be celebrating with cherry pie and ice cream of course.
The Full Moon for the month will occur on the 22nd, which coincides with Washington’s birthday. It goes by The Full Snow Moon as the snows were deep when the tribes of the Northeast got to February. For our area however, February ranks 4th in total average snowfall. The Ojibwe called this The Sucker Moon for the suckers began running in rivers and streams. The Sioux called it The Raccoon Moon as the raccoons would tend to awaken at this time of year and start to move around as the temperatures began to warm. At the ranch it is of course The Full Lambing Moon as soon the ewes unload their cargo. And not a moment too soon as far as some of them are concerned.
Last week was a cold one and thankfully not one where we were lambing. Temperatures were even below normal for early January. While temperatures were cold, they didn’t reach the predicted overnight lows Friday night. Nor was there much snow. For the month thus far we have tallied about 9” of snow with 6” – 7” of that coming early in the month. Frost depth continued to head downwards however from 12” at the SROC on the 8th, back to 13” on the 15th. As an anecdotal reference, the walk-in door on the barn at the ranch is beginning to get sticky, something it does as the frost gets deeper. It tends to heave the frame up on the bottom as a result. Typically it gets to the point where the only thing that will keep it shut on a windy day is a good old-fashioned bungee strap.
Tuesday afternoon will be shearing time at the ranch with the ewes having won a reprieve after the temperatures were so cold over the weekend. There should be only 40 or so to do, so it should go relatively quickly. Probably the biggest hang-up has been trying to keep the ewes out of the snow prior to shearing. The little nuisance snowfall events have provided just enough snow to make the wool wet if we don’t shut them in ahead of time. The shearer doesn’t like it, the catcher doesn’t like it, the bagger doesn’t like it and the mills don’t like getting moldy wool. Can’t blame any of them. It’s not good to keep bred ewes cooped up though for long periods of time so getting the shearing done will make all parties concerned breathe a collective sigh of relief. Fun to observe; not so fun to be a participant.
Luckily, the Gopher women’s basketball team has provided something to look forward to all winter long. Having been fortunate enough to attend several games and watch most of the rest on TV has made the winter seem to fly by. I do have to laugh at some of the BTN commentary however. They have generally given the Gophers very little credit all season long aside from Rachel Banham’s scoring prowess and occasionally the one-two punch of Rachel Banham and Carlie Wagner. Last Sunday while watching the Nebraska-Michigan St. game they tried to make it sound as if the Gophers’ 110-73 mauling of Nebraska back on the 11th was some kind of a fluke. Even Monday night they seemed preoccupied with putting Iowa into the NCAA tournament for much of the game. Funny how it suddenly stopped when Banham put a dagger in their heart with a last-second 3 ball to win the game. As one fan said: “There! Put that in your pipe and smoke it!” The only thing worse has been BTN’s network hockey coverage. It’s as bland and stale as a piece of white bread left out on the counter for three weeks. Watching the Ohio State band perform during the intermission between periods? Give me a break. Makes me long for the good ol’ days of the WCHA.
Ruby is working on surviving another Westminster Dog Show. One more night and she should be in the clear. This is the only dog we’ve ever had that pays much attention to the TV. Even as a kid I don’t recall the dogs barking or growling at anything on the tube. I’m sure the advent of the HD signal probably has something to do with it. The agility trial on Saturday night served as a warmup for her. All the action and movement probably catches her attention more than just the handlers taking the dog around the show ring in a circle. The dogs Ruby gets most vocal about? No real clear pattern, although her favorite is usually the Border Collie.
See you next week…real good then.
Reports of the scurs being able to suntan soon turned out to be greatly exaggerated. The Weather Eye is faltering once again. Can a 42-year-old Gremlin part stuck on a 1977 “ice-age” prediction be converted back to global warming or will it remain stuck on January? Starting Wednesday, partly sunny with highs in the single digits and lows in the mid-single digits below zero. Thursday, partly sunny with a slight chance of evening snow. Highs in the low teens and lows in the mid-single digits. Partly sunny Friday with highs in the low teens and lows near –10. Saturday, mostly sunny with highs in the mid-single digits and lows a few days below zero. Mostly cloudy and warmer (finally!) on Sunday with a modest chance of snow. Highs in the low 20’s with lows in the mid-teens. Monday, partly sunny and warmer. Highs in the upper 20’s with lows in the low 20’s. Mostly cloudy skies and continued warmer for Tuesday with highs in the mid-30’s and lows in the low 20’s. The normal high for February 14th is 27 and the normal low is 9. On the 15th, we’re back to 10 hours and 30 minutes of daylight again, about the same as October 26th. The scurs are planning on cashing in on the Valentine’s Day candy. It’s been a long drought since Christmas in that department.
Not a bad week until we ran into the Sunday night and Monday winter storm. Luckily there wasn’t a lot of snow and the snow that had fallen the previous Tuesday had melted some over the weekend. This put a crust on the snow to keep it from breaking loose and drifting. If that hadn’t happened, the situation could’ve been a real mess. As it was, school was cancelled Monday after being called two hours late initially. Visibility was poor, down to less than a quarter mile in spots. Small cars would suddenly appear out of the ground drifting ahead of my pickup. Snow began sticking on the pavement in the afternoon, causing additional driving woes for the commute home. Why is it we live here again?
Overall winter really hasn’t been too bad. Sure, we’ve had our share of colder conditions the latter part of January and now in the first part of February, but this is Minnesota. Heating bills have been moderate, thanks in part to cheap LP and natural gas prices. Our below-zero days have been a fraction of what we can expect and the days are becoming appreciably longer. One can be outside at 5 p.m. and still have enough light to make it until almost 6. Morning also is beginning to be lighter and by month’s end the sun will be rising before 7 again. Something to look forward to.
The birds in the yard have had it pretty cushy too. There has been plenty of corn to keep the pheasants happy. Even though they’re not daily guests, they are numerous when they are. There are frequently more than a dozen. With the recent bad weather they’ve been glad to see the ear corn feeder on the edge of the yard. The usual visitors include juncos, nuthatches, chickadees, downies, hairies and blue jays. Not much for goldfinches and can’t say why. Too many house sparrows of course, although they have really been scarce in the barn since the cat took up residence there. It’s now possible to sit on the tractor or skidloader without first wiping the bird droppings off of them.
The ewe flock is getting girthier as shearing day approaches. They too have benefitted from relatively mild winter conditions. Unless it’s been windy, most nights they sleep outside, leaving their outline in the frost behind them as Ruby rousts them from their slumber with her barking and growling. Glad I don’t have an alarm clock like that. That would be enough to make anyone grumpy. Due dates for lambing start about the 18th so it will be good to get the shearing out of the way first.
The dogs continue to take winter in stride. Many dogs aren’t so lucky and we tell them that. Ruby did notice the Doritos dog ad during the Super Bowl, putting up a fuss when they were in the checkout line. The Westminster Dog Show is coming up soon so she will have an overload when that happens. Fudgie continues to plod along, glad to have opportunities like Saturday and Sunday when snow removal makes up for not being able to follow the lawnmower around. Both dogs come in ready to sleep well after those occasions, as does their master.
The snow removal policy in the People’s Republic of Steele Co. continues to mystify me. During last week’s snowstorm, the snowplow started going by late morning when it was snowing like mad and went by a couple more times in the afternoon. Then, the next morning they were Johnny on the spot again. Sunday as I left for church, they had been by already and taken some of the finger drifts out of the way, leaving me in total disbelief as to what county I had suddenly been transported to. The roads were in great shape without a lot of salt and sand. I was in total disbelief.
My faith in them was restored however after the next snowfall event. Again, the plow was back on the “better late than never” schedule. After plowing the end of the driveway out was wondering what happened and when they’d get there to redeposit what I had just shoved out of there. Plus I’d need to clean out around the mailbox, which would be futile until they made that pass and plopped a wad in front of that. Rumors have been circulating that perhaps they’re getting hung up in the roundabouts by Owatonna and can’t figure out how to get off. Oh well, as my favorite barber likes to tell me, in another hundred years I probably won’t care.
See you next week…real good then.
The scurs were pleased to see the Weather Eye at peak performance once again. Are we home free and looking at spring or will we get a taste of February reality? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with a slight chance of snow. Highs in the upper teens and lows in the mid-single digits above zero. Thursday, partly sunny with highs in the low 20’s and lows in the low double digits. Mostly cloudy Friday with highs in the upper 20’s and lows in the upper teens. Saturday, partly sunny with highs in the upper 20’s and lows in the upper teens. Partly sunny on Sunday with a slight chance of evening snow. Highs in the low 30’s with lows in the upper teens. Monday, mostly cloudy and slightly cooler with a slight chance of snow. Highs in the low 20’s with lows in the mid-single digits. Mostly cloudy skies and much cooler for Tuesday with highs in the mid-teens and lows near zero. The normal high for February 9th is 26 and the normal low is 7. On the 5th we go over 10 hours of daylight again, something we haven’t had since November 5th. In spite of Tuesday’s inclement weather, the scurs are sensing that tanning on the lawn furniture is just around the corner.
January turned out to be less of an ogre than it sometimes is. Sure we had our below-zero temps, but in general it wasn’t bad. Snowfall too at the ranch was well below what we typically see for the month, tallying a paltry 4.3”, a little less than half of what is normal at the SROC in Waseca. The snow tended to be very dry as well, with the liquid equivalent measurement being about a third of that at the SROC. The interesting thing was that Old Man Winter seemed to get a lot of mileage out of the January snow we did have. Road ditches were nearly filled and it seemed every time you turned around, there was a nuisance drift in the way or snow to shovel out of the way. There was a lot of cloudy weather which probably helped keep our temperatures on the warmer side. The NOAA February outlook calls for better than even odds of above normal temperatures while we they call for even odds of above or below-normal precipitation. This would make everyone happy if it comes to fruition. Normal snowfall is about 9” and the liquid equivalent is about 1”. Unfortunately, we might get it all in one snowfall event.
Last weekend was about as nice as one can expect for this time of year. Temperatures on Saturday reached the mid-40’s at the ranch and on some bank thermometers, causing the snow to disappear in rapid fashion. Sunday brought a slightly cooler encore performance, but one that was still comfortable enough to grill on the patio. Even the ladybugs were waking up and annoying us in the house. With another bonus day on Monday though, one could almost expect the other shoe was about to drop. The humidity was high as evidenced by all the fog Monday morning and it has been a while since we’ve had a real storm. In other words, we’ve been long overdue for a real live blizzard. Some of the drama queens on the TV weather were already talking about 1-35 being closed as early as Sunday morning. When it happens, they look like geniuses. When it doesn’t, you never hear about it.
Fortunately, we are a few weeks away yet from lambing at the ranch. Still, it was a good idea to button things up so the animals could get in out of the weather if needed and stay dry while they were at it. The water tank was filled and the door was closed up again after letting the barn air out over the past week’s nice weather. Another round bale was procured from the Dubya’s ahead of the storm. The tractor and skidloader were pointed out the door, ready to counter-punch whatever happened to be thrown at us. Keeping the feedlot area cleaned out is a must. It’s great for gestating ewes to be able to get out and traipse around. Getting some exercise keeps their metabolism going and makes the lambing process go a lot smoother as a result.
Of course, being one who lives in the country yet has an office in town, I had to journey out just to see how bad it was. I can always make the excuse that I’m a weather spotter so as long as I’m not endangering my life or others, then it’s OK. When I left the ranch it was starting to snow. After about an hour of tepid conversation at the Mall for Men with the little fat buddies, I decided it may perhaps be time to think about moving towards home. Had to stop at the post office to wish them a Merry Christmas first then on to the grocery store to procure the raw material to make French toast.
The roads on the way home had deteriorated slightly in an hour to the point where there was generally 2” – 3” on the roadway. It was a little tough to see in places too, especially where there was a building site or sheltered area on the north side of an east-west road. Still, I was glad to pull into the driveway and glance over to see the snow-covered ewes still outside grinding away on their round bale. It really wasn’t that cold out and with their 4” wool blankets still intact, they probably had no clue it was even snowing. Nobody ever said they were smart. Unloaded everything from the truck and went in the house. Nice and warm, electricity still on with the dogs to entertain me inside and birds and squirrels to entertain me outside, until choretime anyway. Just relax and enjoy the ride.
See you next week…real good then.