The scurs managed to install the Acme aftermarket AC in the Gremlin’s Weather Eye, bringing us warmer temperatures as well as some meaningful rainfall. Will they be able to maintain control or will the Weather Eye need more tweaking? Starting Wednesday, sunny with highs in the low 80’s and lows near 60. Thursday, partly sunny becoming cloudy with a good chance of an overnight shower or thunderstorm. Highs near 80 and lows in the mid-60’s. Mostly cloudy Friday with a good chance for showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid-70’s with lows in the low 50’s. Saturday, partly sunny and cooler with a slight chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the low 60’s with lows in the mid-40’s. Partly sunny Sunday with a slight chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the mid-60’s with lows around 50. Monday and Tuesday, partly sunny with highs in the low 70’s and lows in the upper 50’s. The normal high for June 1st is 75 and the normal low is 54. We are still gaining daylight but at a slower clip, about a minute per day as we approach the summer solstice. Using government logic, the scurs are thinking we should set our clocks ahead another hour to increase that rate of gain.

The Full Moon for the month falls on June 2nd and is widely known as the Full Strawberry Moon. With good reason because June is the month to consume these wonderful delectable locally grown creations, especially when there’s ice cream in the freezer. The Sioux and Ojibwe both agreed that this moon was the Strawberry Moon, although the Sioux also called it the Moon of Making Fat. At the ranch, it is also noted for that, especially as the ewes graze the abundant lush green grass. They are definitely fat and happy at both pastures. They recently decided the nettles needed to be eaten, leaving stems where the nettles used to be. Glad they’ve taken a shine to them. Whatever turns your crank I guess.

Crops made some good progress finally once the temperatures warmed up. After the cold temperatures early last week with the wind, there was much snarling and gnashing of teeth. Corn gave the appearance of being frozen, although thermometers and weather observations would indicate otherwise. Some injury to soybeans from a combination of cold weather and pre-emerge herbicides was also noted, although most fields were not affected significantly. We did dodge a bullet, no question about it, but it’s time to move on to the next crisis in whatever form that may take. That may come in the form of the sudden abundance of rainfall. At the ranch, we garnered 1.08” over the weekend and right at an inch at the Mall for Men. Sprayers were parked Monday morning after getting a good start last week.

Gardening has been slow at the ranch with little daylight hours or workable soil conditions when Mr. Cheviot was available for slave labor. Still, there was a nice harvest of radishes from the March 31st planting with the promise of more to come. The peas are about to start flowering and there are few things better than eating them while picking them. The problem is not enough of them make it to the house. The Indian corn was planted though on Sunday right before the rain. Actually planting was finished during the rain. Conditions were getting sticky, although planting with the stab-type planter allows one to get by with it. The vine crop transplants from my little fat buddy’s greenhouse look spectacular and they were procured Saturday with the hope that the rain would hold off long enough to get them planted. Alas, it did not. On the bright side, they can be put into moist soil so not to worry yet anyway. Much of the Indian corn and the vine crop will be used for fall decorating at church and for a fall wedding.

The rhubarb has been out of this planet. Since Saturday was a washout, after doing about as many clean up chores as I could stand, it was time to make a pie and some rhubarb sauce. Luckily I’d harvested some the week prior so there was no need to go outside and get soaked. It had been a while though so I was out of practice on my pie making. However, it’s not that tough to figure out how to multi-task so the process gets done in an efficient manner. That way the clean-up isn’t a major pain. I did make one rookie mistake as I discovered shortly after putting it in the oven the first time that I’d forgotten the butter! As my little sawed-off Swedish carpenter buddy once told me it’s not how good you are, it’s how well you can cover your mistakes. With some sleight of hand the butter was slipped strategically through the slits in the crust so no one was the wiser. The rhubarb sauce? That’s like riding a bicycle.

The dogs have liked being outdoors more as the weather has straightened out. Fudgie camps on the porch, not unlike she did at Mom’s place. It gives her a good view of the sheep in the pasture as well as watching neighbor David’s excavation project. Ruby just likes to tear around then wait for us to emerge from the house for chores. Her TV watching antics continue to amuse us when indoors though. Last week a cat in an ad ran across the screen which prompted her to have a barking fit. Not long afterwards, the elephant from that COPD ad was thoroughly growled at. Good thing there were no Clint Eastwood cowboy flicks on or she would’ve gone right through the TV. Just like everyone else, even with all those channels, there’s nothing on television Ruby likes.

See you next week…real good then.