The scurs are convinced there must be a polar vortex setting on the Weather Eye. Will they discover how to disconnect it or are we stuck with it? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with a good chance of snow by evening. Highs in the low 20’s with lows in the mid-teens. Thursday, cloudy with a good chance of forenoon snow. Falling temperatures throughout the day with lows near -10. Mostly sunny on Friday with highs around zero with lows in the mid-teens below zero. Saturday, mostly sunny with a slight chance of evening snow. Highs in the low teens with lows in the mid-single digits. Mostly cloudy for Sunday with a good chance of snow. Highs in the low 20’s with lows around 10 above. Monday, mostly cloudy with some possible lingering forenoon snow showers. Highs around 20 with lows near 10. Partly sunny for Lincoln’s Birthday with highs in the upper teens and lows back to near 0. We continue to gain daylight at about 3 minutes per day. The normal high for February 12th is 27 and the normal low is 8. The scurs are thinking this will be another week of weather to forget about. Honest Abe.
Another week of weather for the books at least in some parts. Low temperatures of -30 or slightly below were recorded at Waseca and Albert Lea. The thermometer at the ranch only recorded lows of -26 and -24 for the last two days in January. At the SROC in Waseca the frost depth reached 19” on February 1st. This corresponds with the walk in door frame on our barn heaving up so it won’t close. The cold temperatures made the month go from well above normal to ending up slightly below normal. These are some positives to it though. Emerald ash borer mortality reaches about 90% when temperatures reach -30. Soybean aphids are also subject to mortality around -29 although eggs on buckthorn bud bracts buried in the snow are insulated from the cold. Western corn rootworm eggs generally don’t take cold such as we’ve had well. It takes more severe cold to impact northern corn rootworm eggs. In other words, you can’t count your rootworms before they hatch.
Speaking of hatching, lambing season is upon us at the ranch. It didn’t start out on a positive not last Friday with a ewe delivering a set of dead triplets. At least the ewe waited until the weather warmed up so we had to be thankful for that. Monday morning another ewe started in and at choretime plopped out a big buck lamb. It was 9 above and within minutes of Mrs. Cheviot stripping the ewe out and toweling the lamb off it was up nursing. We had to head off to work and when I came through at lunchtime, the buck lamb was joined by a twin sister who was at the lunch counter herself. The buck lamb’s mouth was warm and when he stood up to stretch, there was no question everything was going the right direction. Cheviots are noted for their hardiness and these twins demonstrated it nicely.
We continue to host a bed and breakfast for pheasants. There have been as many as 10 sleeping in the pine trees in our front yard at night. Once the sun is up they stretch their wings and fly across the dooryard towards heavy cover. The first few times the racket they made taking off sort of startled me. Now it’s become, oh, the pheasants are awake. They have switched off occasionally, sleeping in some of the other evergreens in the windbreak. This probably helps keep the owls and hawks off balance while they get their shuteye. The pheasants also cruise through the backyard, picking up under the bird feeders. With the recent ugly weather, they now have ear corn in their feeder to help tide them over. Not easy being a pheasant somedays.
It was a maintenance weekend at the ranch. The warmer temperatures were just what the doctor ordered. The recent cold snap victimized the skidsteer battery. This made a trip to the store where you go to the bathroom in the big orange silo necessary. It helps to be a contortionist when taking the battery out of the skidsteer. Luckily the new battery casing was a little smaller making the process less painful. Once that was in place it meant moving some of the snow from the nooks and crannies I couldn’t get at it with the snow blower. Much of the snow left after cleaning would later melt leaving glare ice. It was resurfaced like a Zamboni with Sunday night’s rainfall so the ranch is back to being a crashed ice track.
In the cold snap the rear tire on the Gator suddenly went flat. It was the same one I’d caught on a piece of angle iron last summer, putting a gash in the tire face. Until recently it held air just fine. Filling it with enough tire goo, airing it up and driving around in the fog it finally stayed up. It was time to unload big square corn stalk bales along with moving a couple more round bales of hay into the feeders. In order to do all that the snow blower needed to be unhooked from the tractor and the three point bale spear attached. Since the bale spear won’t go high enough to lift the bales over the rails on the trailer, they’re dragged off with a tow strap first. Then they’re picked up with the bale spear. Once the bales are set down, they still have to be pushed into place with the skidsteer.
Hay was pitched into small mangers from one of the bales the sheep had nearly finished. After tidying up in the feedlot with the skidsteer, it was time to move round bales. The bale wrap and some of the spoilage on the outside of the bale was removed so the bale feeders could be locked in place. Each of the eight 7’ panel weighs in at around100 lbs. That process complete, I disconnected the bale spear and reconnected the snow blower. After chores, it had been decided earlier we should grill some lamb burger to celebrate surviving the brutal cold snap. In order to do that, the patio had to be shoveled off to get at the grill. Whew! With all the weekend’s on and off, heavy lifting and general physical activity, no need for exercise machines. Good thing the Super Bowl turned out to be a Super Bore. I nodded off after burgers and halftime. I hurt but it was a satisfied hurt. No doubt about it, if there’s a slow, tedious, painful way to do something, by golly we’re gonna find it.
See you next week…real good then.