The scurs’ growing confidence in the Weather Eye continues with Mother Nature doing a good spring impression. Can we bank on it yet or is one last flourish in store? Starting Wednesday, mostly sunny with highs in the upper 60’s and lows in the low 40’s. Thursday, partly sunny with highs in the low 50’s and lows in the low 30’s. Partly sunny on Friday with a modest chance of a rain and/or snow shower. Highs in the low 40’s with lows in the upper 20’s. Saturday, mostly sunny with highs in the upper 30’s with lows in the low 20’s. Sunny on Sunday with highs in the low 40’s with lows in the upper 20’s. April Fool’s Day, mostly sunny with highs in the upper 40’s and lows in the low 30’s. Partly sunny for Tuesday with highs in the upper 40’s and lows in the low 30’s. On March 30th the sun will rise before 7 a.m. The normal high for April 1st is 49 and the normal low is 29. With all the nice weather as of late, the scurs are looking for some banana seeds to plant. April Fools!
As mentioned above it’s finally giving us some indications that spring might officially be underway. Snow that seemed like it would never leave suddenly did last week, although there is plenty of snow remaining in fencelines, groves and wetland areas. In some instances it likely has kept temperatures from reaching their forecast highs. Frost in the ground has retreated as well. We’re now able to close the walk-in door on the pole barn at the ranch. Typically when the frost gets about 18-20” deep the door frame heaves, making it necessary to use a bungee cord to keep the door shut. No frost depth update from SROC as of press time, so will have to take the word of the barn door at the ranch.
Saturday was fruit tree pruning day, or at least one of them. I made a good start, although the Gator having developed a leaky tire beyond repair limited my pruning to only what I could reach from the ground. The way the trees are pruned it’s handy to back the machine in under the tree, climb up into the box and prune standing on a nice solid surface. Certainly easier than using the pole saw and much quicker. Plus, after the job is completed one can pile all the brush in the back and dump it in a pile. It shouldn’t take long once the tire is repaired to finish the tree pruning job though. Starting with the trees when they’re young has made the process less painful, although I was feeling it on Sunday. Shouldn’t have to worry about repairing cartilage in my left shoulder as I doubt there’s any to repair. Sure fun to listen to it make noises though.
Sunday we were finally able to catch up and get the last of the shearing done that we’d postponed in February due to the bitter cold weather. Temperature-wise Sunday was almost perfect for shearing. Cloudy with a periodic light drizzle falling, it was as good as it gets. No one got too sweated up and the sheep were comfortable with the temperature, a far cry from shivering through weeks of sub-zero lows. It went smoothly and by noon we had everything done with lunch on the table. Another job that the winter had postponed and made matters certainly more complicated than we wanted them to be.
Speaking of those complications, even though everyone has spring on the brain, we’re waiting for the snow to get off the fences so we can turn the lambs out into the main lot. Deep snow banks and electric fences aren’t compatible. Neither are livestock owners when livestock is on the lam. Few things increase my vocabulary as when animals are where they’re not supposed to be. Couple that with living on a road where traffic flies along at speeds well over the limit and you begin to understand my anxiety. Using some hog panels we’ve been able to open the east door finally to help with air quality. One of these days though, the lambs will need to get out and run. When that happens watch them explode! Better them than me.
It’s become a debate what to do with the chains and snow blower on the tractor. Take them off and guaranteed it will snow. Leave them on and it limits what can be done with the tractor around the yard and pasture. Lord knows there are lots of things to do. The blower will have to come off soon anyway as it will be time to latch onto another round bale for the main lot. If it warms up enough the pasture may offset some of the hay consumed in that lot. The blower and tractor will both need some repairs, so after moving a bale or two, it may be time to schedule that. It would be nice to park the blower in the shed and have it all ready to go for next winter. It’s called playing with the lead, pal.
Another Gopher winter sports season is in the books. We watched as much as we could and, given the rotten weather since mid-January, that was frequently. We even renewed our livestreaming capabilities, so we could watch the Gopher women’s basketball team. Some wondered why we did that. As I pointed out to them we’ve been watching Lindsay Whalen since she played for Brenda Freese. It’s been interesting to watch her from being a high school standout to professional player to college head coach. Even though she was hired late, had little time to recruit, and the team struggled early on in Big 10 play, they did O.K., all things considered. It will be even more interesting to see how the team looks as Whalen begins to put her stamp on it. I look for toughness and durability.
Along those lines, one can’t forget the fond memories either we’ll have of seeing Jordan Murphy play these past four winters. When he was a freshman I remember saying to myself, watch this guy develop. He might be somebody. He had that lunch-pail mentality and didn’t take plays off. He’d get knocked down, get back up, didn’t whine or complain and went about his business. When the dust settled there was frequently a double-double involved. Sure enough, four years later when coach Pitino gave him a curtain call at the NCAA tournament, there weren’t a lot of dry eyes in the house as they chanted “Jordan Murphy! Jordan Murphy!” Betting there were a lot of us at home who teared up as well. I’ve watched a lot of Gopher buckets over the years. Murphy was/is special and we were fortunate to have watched him play.
See you next week…real good then.