Ten font locked and loaded, the scurs venture forth into another week of weather forecasting. Will it finally decide to be May or will we remain stuck in our mid-April trance? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with a moderate chance of showers and thunderstorms. Warm with highs near 75 and lows dropping to 40 - 45. Partly clear on Thursday with a slight chance of an evening shower. Highs of 45 and lows of 35. Friday, mostly cloudy and colder with a good chance of showers. Highs of 55 and lows near 40. Mostly cloudy on Saturday with a moderate chance of showers decreasing into the overnight hours as skies clear. Highs of 45 - 50 and lows back below freezing at 30. Partly cloudy Sunday with highs around 55 and lows in the 35 range. Monday, mostly sunny with highs of 55 and lows of 45.. Mostly cloudy and warmer with a chance of showers and thunderstorms on Tuesday. Highs near 60 and lows around 45. The normal high for May 1st is 64 and the normal low is 42. On April 26th we break above 14 hours of daylight as we continue to gain daylight at just under 3 minutes per day. With their Easter goodie supplies rapidly dwindling, the scurs will be keeping an eye out for those May baskets on Tuesday.
Field progress was slowed by measurable precipitation recorded six out of seven days since April 14th as of the 20th and eight out of 10 days as of April 23rd at the ranch. Still, the amount has not been insurmountable and the total accumulation since the 14th has only been 1.87 inches. With the subsoil as dry as it was, a few good drying days strung together and fieldwork could commence once again in earnest. Early planted corn in the area looked healthy as of last Friday and this Monday. The first planted corn should emerge sometime this week. That corn which hasn’t emerged yet appears healthy and the soils remain friable underneath yet, not saturated. Small grains and alfalfa continue to look very impressive, although the cooler temperatures have slowed their growth relative to what we saw initially back in late March and early April. There has already been a lot of handwringing and worrying about insect pressure due to the early spring. It’s a little early to get too flustered about that just yet. Some of the same freezing temperatures that zinged vegetation may have had the same effect on emerged insects, so time will tell.
Some inquiries have been made about the large number of small black and orange butterflies in the area. This spring has made for a phenomenal migration of red admiral butterflies. I had been meaning to write about these as early as late March when they first began to show up out at the ranch. The larvae from these butterflies feed primarily on stinging nettles so unless you are propagating nettles for tea or to torment your nosey neighbors, consider these butterflies the “good guys.”
Around the pond there are a few small patches of nettles, but would venture to guess they won’t amount to much. The blackened ground surrounding the wetland from the earlier burn has become a green carpet since timely rains have occurred. The kestrel continues to set on a clutch of five eggs and would expect to see some hatchlings in the next week or so. No activity in the new nesting box, but with the rains the water level in the pond has increased. There are a couple pair of blue-winged teal normally on the water and frequently Canada geese using it as an area to rest after feeding on the new green grass surrounding it. On warmer evenings, the western chorus frogs and the American toads blend their chirps and trills together into a soft, sweet, white-noise lullaby. Sleeping with the windows open is pure heaven when that occurs.
In the yard this week we witnessed the first of the white-throated sparrow migration, typically a precursor or vice-versa to the appearance of Harris and white-crowned sparrows here. Sure enough, Monday morning the white-crowned sparrows arrived along with the first barn swallow of the season. Along with that, there are some male goldfinches dressed in their full colored bright yellow suits. That usually means one thing: It’s time to start stocking up on jelly for the Baltimore orioles that can’t be far behind. Last year set some kind of record for us with somewhere near 30 orioles in the trees on the south side of the house at once. That meant some serious jelly consumption to be sure. It will be interesting to see if we encounter those numbers again or if that was just an anomaly.
The garden progress continues to follow that of area farmers as in slowly. Some of the vegetables planted back on the 14th have started to emerge including the lettuce and radishes. The last of the early garden was actually planted on the 17th as conditions dried enough on the surface to allow it. The carrots and beets went in nicely then received several rains after that. Last Sunday the late potatoes were procured. Even my potato producing buddy from ND claims that Pontiacs are still about the best tasting red potato out there. Apparently they are somewhat disease prone, but here they seem to thrive. The Norkotah russets fast became a favorite after last year. They kept well into the spring and made for some great baked potatoes especially on some of those cold nights. The vine crops were also seeded Sunday. I thought we had cut back but there were still six flats with 108 total hills started. There will be several hills of cucumbers direct seeded and at least a couple hills of zucchini planted yet too. Oh yeah, we really cut back all right. This is sorta how Congress operates, isn’t it?
The rainy weekend weather allowed some work to progress on the Studebaker project once again. Getting the water jacket on the engine cleaned out before sticking the newly refurbished radiator back in it had been on my list for quite some time. Doing it without everything in the way is always a plus. Using the flush kit I modified to accomplish the task it was surprising how little crud was actually in it. Much of that had apparently come out earlier when the radiator itself was removed. The flushing operation came off without a hitch except I discovered the water pump leaked. A new water pump is available so may as well get that installed before placing the radiator back in front of the170 cu. in. flathead six beast under the hood. A leaky water pump comes as no surprise since the car had set since 1983. Something that may come as a surprise to some readers is the fact that from 1957 to 1963, Studebaker was the importer for Mercedes Benz automobiles with many dealers offering the import as an additional line. What could’ve happened if Studebaker had continued their arrangement with Mercedes? I guess we’ll never know.
See you next week…real good then.