The scurs’ hot streak continued last week although judging by the hate mail they received, they’d rather it didn’t. Will Shelley deliver more this week? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with a good chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 70s and lows in the mid 60s. Mostly cloudy on Thursday with a better chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs again in the upper 70s and lows in the mid 60s. Mostly cloudy and slightly cooler overnight on Friday with a remaining good chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the low 70s and lows near 60. Partly cloudy on Saturday with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the low 70s and lows in the mid 50s. Finally, mostly sunny on Sunday with highs in the low 70s with highs in the low to mid 50s. Monday, mostly sunny with highs in the mid 70s and lows in the low 60s. Tuesday, chances of rain again with highs in the low 70s and lows in the low 50s. The normal high for May 31 is 74 and the normal low is 53. Our daily gains in daylight are slowing as we move into June to about a minute per day. The Acme do-it-yourself ark kit the scurs ordered has been backordered.
Another disappointing week for fieldwork with some getting out to attempt to make something happen on Friday only to plug planters, get equipment stuck and then get rained out before dark. It has been frustrating to say the least. About one more week and corn planting will be over for all practical purposes. Then the decision will have to be made whether to take the insurance money, depending on the coverage, or take the risk to plant soybeans. Some will not have that option with chemicals already applied to some fields that would preclude that. We’ve had a pretty good run though with ’93 being about the last time we had widespread planting difficulties. It’s not the first time something like this has happened and probably won’t be the last. The corn that has emerged is peeked as are the soybeans that are up. Yet further evidence we need sunshine and warm temperatures.
Can’t plant the garden, and I’m out of trees to plant or places to put them. When you’re dealt lemons, make lemonade. Making a batch of rhubarb sauce Sunday was an easy way to make use of what we do have. It’s so simple yet such a tasty spring staple. The plants have really become huge with seed heads coming already on the green variety and a few even showing on the red plants. There really is no difference in the flavor although the natural red color of the sauce makes it look more appealing, one reason some recipes call for the addition of red food color when using the green variety. Up next: Rhubarb pie!
Watching the birds and peeking in their houses has made for an interesting diversion as well. Always curious to see who is where and how many. It too has not been without some disappointment. The wood duck nesting box that housed the kestrels remains unoccupied. Makes me wonder if something happened to them or more positively, if they found a better location. The house sparrows seem to have become emboldened in their absence, showcased by the remains of the tree swallows they’ve pecked to death in some nesting boxes. It irritated me to find they’d moved in on houses that had produced tree swallows for over a decade without incident. The house sparrows promptly made it onto the same list as the skunks. Obviously they have not seen Clint Eastwood in “Unforgiven.”
On a more pleasant note, there is a chickadee nest in the nesting box on the edge of the yard. Was looking to see what kinds of nests we had on Saturday and found one box that was full of moss, lichens, and other odd looking nesting material. Having seen a photo someone had posted on an outdoor forum I frequent, that was my first thought. There had been a pair of chickadees hanging around and recently there has only been one seen at a time. Sunday during the nasty weather I spotted both again and watched as one of them made its way back to the bluebird house in question and went in.
Sunday was one of those days too, to catch up on how many birds were there during the week. Otherwise the only snapshot I get of who’s emptying the feeders is if I go home to make a sandwich and let the dogs run briefly. The jelly consumption had spiked, making me wonder if some of the house finches and chickadees seen helping themselves were responsible. Nope, it was a horde of orioles instead. There had been 6–8 at times but when I looked out and lost count at 16, that was pretty self-explanatory. They have also become rather brazen and seem to have lost their fear of me. Their jelly feeder was empty so I decided to fill it. One colorful Baltimore male got within about 3’ of me so I extended the jelly spoon towards him and rested it on a twig. Hesitant at first, he greedily cleaned up the remaining jelly in the spoon. Cross that off my bucket list.
The soccer mom van remains the gift that keeps on giving. Saturday was time again to make one of those trips to the store where you go the bathroom in the big orange silo. The van sleeps outside but it didn’t hesitate one iota, making the journey to Owatonna without skipping a beat. It wasn’t raining, it started, the heater worked and the van didn’t even pee on my foot like it sometimes does. For some odd reason after a rain, water collects somewhere up under the hood. Upon affixing my soccer mom driving wig, placing the van in reverse and backing up, water can be heard running. If you look down at your left foot, you suddenly discover where. Our Border Collie Gus also used to do the same thing when he was happy to see you so I’ve always figured the soccer mom van was just glad to be going somewhere.
Once inside the store it began to rain outside, again. After running through checkout I made my way back to the van and loaded my supplies. Wig in place, I fired it up, put it in reverse and sure enough the sound of running water could mean only one thing: my left foot was wet! That and turning the windshield wipers on, the wiper blades were in tatters. It was my lucky day though. Went back inside and Don helped me find the right wiper blades, the ones that didn’t cost me more than the van was worth. Thanks Don!
See you next week…real good then.