The scurs’ confidence in the Weather Eye continues to yield dividends. Not only was it warmer last week, it was also drier. Do we continue on a tear, or is Mother Nature about to rip us a new one? Starting Wednesday, partly sunny with a moderate chance of forenoon showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid-60’s with lows in the mid-40’s. Thursday, sunny with a slight chance of an evening shower. Highs in the upper 60’s with lows in the low 50’s. Mostly sunny on Friday with a modest chance of an evening shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the mid-70’s with lows in the upper 50’s. Saturday, partly sunny with a moderate chance for showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid-70’s with lows in the upper 50’s. Partly sunny on Sunday with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid-70’s with lows in the mid-50’s. Monday, mostly sunny with highs in the mid-70’s and lows in the mid-50’s. Partly cloudy for Tuesday with a decent possibility of showers and thunderstorms, highs in the mid-70’s with lows in the upper 60’s. On June 17th we’ll have 15 hours and 28 minutes of daylight, gaining a few more precious seconds by the summer solstice. The normal high for June 17th is 80 and the normal low is 59. The scurs are thinking it’s about time to dig into the strawberries and Schwan’s ice cream. Get ‘em while they’re fresh.
The full moon for the month also falls on the 17th and goes by The Full Strawberry Moon — with good reason. June is the month in which the strawberries are in season, at least in this part of the world. The big, juicy red berries are hard to resist. The Ojibwe also called it the Strawberry Moon as did the Sioux. At the ranch it is the Moon of Lush Pastures, certainly the case this year after all the rain in May. Sometimes I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea to make some hay on part of it. When I think of all the extra work, it passes.
Some hay was made this past week and was exceptionally nice. The rains held off Tuesday just long enough to allow it to happen. Hay will be in tight supply once again in many areas, so it will likely be worth the effort to bale it. Postemerge weed control applications took center stage last week as well thanks to the favorable weather conditions. Much of the earliest planted corn was V4 pushing V5. Some early-season sulfur deficiencies were noted even though there had been broadcast sulfur applied to the fields. Sulfur along with some nitrogen banded near the row seemed to make a major difference this time around. Whether it translates into a yield difference remains to be seen. Final soybean planting and replanting was wrapping up earlier this week. Some holes needed it. Given the warm temperatures, the soybeans planted last week practically flew out of the ground.
At the ranch, our planting continues as well. Mrs. Cheviot claims to have planted the last of the pots for the summer. We’ll see. Somehow there always seems to be a few more. The cannas are coming up as are the four o’clocks. Barring some unforeseen circumstances, the hummingbirds should have something to dine on. Not sure how much vegetable planting will be done. With free time after work and on weekends at a premium, it appears it will be limited. I feel fortunate just to get the lawn mowed once a week. Parts of it you can’t see from the road missed the last rotation and it shows. It’ll get done eventually, just lots of other things higher on the priority list.
The birds have been starting their day off about 4:30 a.m. like clockwork. First, a robin starts off for a few minutes, then a cardinal chimes in. Shortly thereafter an oriole pipes up and not long after the wren is off to the races. This goes on for about an hour, then almost as suddenly as it started it goes quiet. It appears there are lots of nests in the yard and surrounding area so it’s likely there are young to be fed. There are lots of bugs, worms and other high-protein sources that it should be pretty easy to find something for all of them to eat. The lower amount of jelly being consumed at the feeder and the lack of female orioles is probably a clue.
I am somewhat concerned about the bat population at the ranch. I have yet to see one at dusk in June. Generally one can hear them scratching around under the soffit on the old part of the house just before emerging to feed for the evening. So far it’s been silent. One reason may be white-nose syndrome, an epidemic fungal disease that has wiped out a large portion of the bat population nationwide. Even though they can carry rabies, I like bats. As long as they stay outside and don’t get in the house, we get along just fine. In light of all the standing water we’ve had, the notion of something flying patrol in the dark consuming mosquitoes appeals to me. In the absence of bats, it puts more pressure on other organisms such as swallows and toads to pick up the slack. Unlikely as swallows shut down at dark and toads don’t fly.
The brood ewes are enjoying their lush pastures. Their primary occupation is eating as much as possible this time of year and they’re wasting no time. The pasture fence at home was in desperate need of spraying Sunday so after battling to get the sprayer operational, I set out to take care of it. Not long after starting I found one spot where the fence was down, so repaired that. I resumed spraying and ran across another area where the deer had raised Cain with it. Fixed that and finished the task. What should’ve taken a half hour turned into a couple hours’ worth of messing around. To top it off, mowing the lawn later that afternoon, the crank on the mower deck snagged the electric fence, making for yet another fence repair session. Some days seems like riding fences is all I get done.
See you next week…real good then.