The scurs are keeping their eyes peeled for a Nash Rambler dealership for some pointers on the Weather Eye. Are we done with snow or will Old Man Winter make one last curtain call? Starting Wednesday, cloudy with a moderate chance of rain. Highs in the low 50’s with lows in the low 40’s. Thursday, mostly cloudy with a slight chance of showers. Highs in the upper 50’s with lows in the upper 30’s. Mostly cloudy on Friday with a good chance of an evening shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the low 60’s with lows in the mid-40’s. Saturday, sunny becoming cloudy with a good chance of showers and thunderstorms by evening. Highs in the upper 60’s with lows in the mid-40’s. Partly sunny on Sunday with a modest chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 50’s with lows in the low 40’s. Monday, mostly sunny with a good chance of showers. Highs in the upper 50’s with lows in the low 40’s. Mostly cloudy for Tuesday with continued chances of rain. Highs in the low 60’s with lows in the low 40’s. On the 6th we’re back to sunrise before 6 a.m. CDT. The normal high for May 6th is 66 and the normal low is 44. The scurs will be savoring those delicious May Baskets. Remember, you gotta give ‘em to get ‘em.
For many it has been another spring in slow motion. Fieldwork has been spotty although there was a fair amount of anhydrous ammonia applied in addition to a few fields of corn being planted last week. The snowstorm over the weekend, while not the ogre as advertised, still dampened spirits when it turned the ground white once again. Concerns too were voiced by some concerning imbibitional chilling on recently planted corn. In my years of experience it has happened a handful of times, a few times when it was expected and other times when it wasn’t. A good seedbed is always a plus, while planting into cold, tacky soil prior to a cold rain is seldom a positive variable.
About the only thing that seems to be running close to on schedule is the grass in area lawns and pastures including that at the ranch. A south facing slope in the lawn that has a lot of bromegrass creeping in from the pasture tends to take off in a hurry. The rest of the yard too is starting to look a little fuzzy in places. Indeed when one travels around the area, it’s not uncommon to see lawns that have already been mowed. That’s going to be a while at the ranch especially if it continues raining on weekends when Howard and Whitey are ready for action.
More bird action at the ranch as April 24th marked the return of the barn swallows. While some detest the mud nests and I’ve been annoyed with their placement at times, I’m always glad to see them back. They consume a lot of flying insects although probably not as many mosquitoes as the bats do. Speaking of that, I’ll be curious to see if the bats return as white-nose syndrome has been decimating bat populations across the country. In the meantime the brown thrashers have amped up their improvisational skills on display every morning at choretime. Presently they’re fairly easy to spot with the lack of foliage on the trees. Once the trees leaf out, brown thrashers and their pals the catbirds become difficult to see.
We did manage to find time last Thursday evening to get the Studebaker out for a car club run to Geneva. When we left the temperatures were pleasant and all systems were go. Everyone seemed happy to get their cars out after being cooped up all winter. We talked about future cruises and other business, then our supper came. Food was great and after everyone had visited long enough it was time to go out in the dark. The Silver Hawk’s lights work very adequately for a car of its age, but by today’s standards they seem pretty dim. We kept an eye out for deer all the way home while enough heat bled through the heater core under the front seat to keep us comfortable. We made it back in one piece and as far as we know, so did the Studebaker.
Sunday finally offered us a long overdue opportunity to move animals around and let the ewes with lambs out into the main lot. A few yearling ewes that will be going on the show circuit were stashed in a pen and the others were scooted over into the main pasture with another small group. The ewes with lambs seemed overjoyed to be out of their winter quarters and into the fresh air. Their hopping and running seemed to make that point rather clear. That all went far more smoothly than we had imagined, so I was encouraged that finishing the project by moving round bales, troughs and hay feeders would go just as smoothly.
Wrong! Something came up, so I was suddenly scrambling to get things done. After I took the snow blower off I noticed a puddle of Hy-Tran under the tractor. Sure enough it was coming from one of the male hydraulic couplings that had been dangling all winter, so I could use the directional spout on the snow blower. I figured the nipple on the coupling was probably wedged against something, releasing oil. Nope, it wrecked the tip and, after struggling to get around that setback, the rest of the afternoon went downhill. Since I’d spent a bunch of time trying to remedy a coupling debacle I had to leave moving the bale feeders for seed. The crowning touch though was getting zapped by the electric fence as I was hurrying to finish. I’d forgotten what a nasty wallop that fencer packs. When an afternoon starts off like that one did, sometimes you’re better off just to punt and go back in the house.
The next day after work went better. Still plenty of hassles, but the chores were done and I wasn’t under the gun to stay on schedule. I replaced the hydraulic tip, so I could pick up the bale feeders, then moved them back to the small lot where I’d plopped a couple round bales. Placing an enclosure around them brought a screeching halt to the ewes hay wasting entertainment. While it was a pain in the butt, I’d also unplugged the electric fence beforehand, so there was no chance to get a jolt like the night before. I may be old, but some things you never forget.
See you next week…real good then.