The scurs had a better go of it this past week, predicting snow although someone forgot to turn off the rinse cycle first. Will we see more white or clear precipitation this week? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with a high near 30 and a low around 20. Mostly cloudy with a modest chance of snow on Thursday with highs of 25 and lows falling to 5 above. Mostly cloudy on Friday with highs of 15 and lows dropping to near zero. Becoming partly cloudy on Saturday with highs again around 15 and lows near 5 above. Mostly sunny on Sunday with highs rebounding back in to the low 20’s with lows near 5 above. Mostly sunny and warmer on Monday with highs in the mid-20’s and lows of 20. Mostly cloudy on Tuesday with a chance of snow. Highs near 25 and lows around 20. The normal high for the next made up holiday on the 18th is 29 and the normal low is 11. The scurs will be taking off the 18th anyway to celebrate George Kennedy’s birthday. After all, he won an Oscar for his role in Cool Hand Luke.
Precipitation has rebounded somewhat from the dry month of January with amounts having eclipsed that month’s total already on the 11th at the ranch. So far for the month we’ve tallied .95”. While there’s no dispute that we’re not operating with a full soil profile, we have made some progress towards lessening the drought. Looking at the most recent update from NOAA shows a big swatch of green that says “Improvement” over our general geography. What’s even a little more heartening is both the 30 and 90-day outlooks also show better-than-even odds that we will receive above normal precipitation. Not that one wants to make book on it, but it sure is better than the opposite. We continue to see some snow cover as well so one has to believe that our chance of gardening outdoors as early as last year may not be as good.
Last weekend’s wet, windy weather seemed to bring one of our fat resident squirrels out for a snack before the weather decides to cool back down again. It also kept the redpolls busy at the feeders along with the full complement of chickadees, woodpeckers, nuthatches and blue jays. The cardinals appear to be staying around too with safflower being supplied for their enjoyment. The juncos have learned as well that there is some cracked corn they share along with cleaning up the squirrel’s leftovers. Saw the first pheasant in several weeks go sailing across the bottom of the pasture and into the CRP on Saturday morning while having my morning coffee. Long time no see.
Saturday morning brought the arrival of the first of what promises to be many new lambs at the ranch. There had been a ewe off by herself in the barn when it was feeding time during evening chores so we were positive by the time we came home from a scheduled birthday party, we’d see newbies. Of course when we arrived home, the ewe was in the barn alright, but she did nothing other than to stare blankly at me when I went out to check on her. Rather than have an all-night staring contest I opted to go back in the house for some shuteye. In the morning there was a bouncing baby buck lamb without all the drama. He has already grown in the past couple days to the point when he got out of the jug, he was tough to catch. Of course we didn’t schedule the shearer until the following weekend so we’ll probably have a few more lambs before then for good measure. The fun never stops at the ranch.
I made one of those trips back home I’d been dreading after hearing that an old friend and classmate of mine had passed away. Oddly enough he was the first one of our graduating class to leave us, as I understood it developing an infection that he was unable to overcome. The weather on Sunday did not sound good and in the morning, it lived up to its billing. After church I had my doubts about travelling east. By afternoon however there was a break in the precipitation on the radar and I decided it was go time. I’ll never regret it either. Our class of ’76 was a relatively tight knit group and even though many of us are scattered to the four winds, from a class of 72 students, about 20 of us were in attendance.
Scott Copeman was the unforgettable friend that every young man should be fortunate enough to have. He was one of those guys with an infectious giggle who would get you started laughing, often so hard you couldn’t stop. In junior high, I still remember him and Kenny Laube walking from Kenny’s house, fording the Spring Valley Creek and climbing over fences to get to our pasture where we started a fire to heat up a can of beans. Maybe it was the fact we as friends had done it or were laughing about how soaking wet they got, but for some reason those were still some of the tastiest beans I ever remember eating. Then there were the fishing trips and the laughs we shared as well as the fish we caught.
When we were seniors, Scott was in the boat where we were fishing crappies on 1st Crow Wing one sunny May morning. I hooked a large northern on a beetle spin and we were shocked as the line began rapidly stripping off the reel. When I got it up close to the boat he was on the stick with the net, getting the fish in the boat just before it managed to spit the hook. We looked at each other in disbelief as it flopped on the bottom of the boat and what else? Started laughing! Somewhere I think I still have a photo of that fish.
I’d come home on the weekends from college and remember driving the Gremlin down to Scott and Carol’s place in Ostrander to visit after they were married. We’d have a few libations and laugh so hard we’d cry well into the wee hours of the morning, recounting our glory days and the characters involved. I still recall how my sides ached the next day and now tragically, I still shed a tear. Thanks Scott for making our lives a happier place.
See you next week…real good then.