The scurs are thinking the Weather Eye must contain Kelvinator freezer parts. Will we start to warm up again or is the Ice Age upon us? Starting Wednesday, mostly sunny with highs in the mid-single digits and lows around -15. Yes, that’s a minus sign, again. Thursday sunny with highs around 10 above and lows in the mid-single digits. Mostly sunny on Friday with highs in the low 30’s and lows in the low 20’s. Saturday, Washington’s real birthday, mostly sunny with highs in the mid-30’s and lows in the upper teens. Mostly sunny on Sunday with highs in the low 30’s and lows around 20. Monday, mostly sunny with highs in the mid-30’s and lows in the upper 20’s. Mostly cloudy for Tuesday with a chance of a wintry mix, maybe even some graupel. Highs in the upper 30’s with lows in the mid-20’s. The normal high on February 22nd is 30 and the normal low is 12. Having replenished their sweets, the scurs can focus their sweet tooth on April 12th.
It was another roller coaster ride last week as far as temperatures go. The below zero high on Valentine’s Day brought back memories of last year’s February when lows dipped below zero on 17 of the 28 days. That memory was short-lived though as by Saturday, temperatures rebounded nicely into the low 30’s. Sunday’s mid-20’s were tolerable too as was Monday’s low 30’s high. Old Man Winter dumped what appears to have been another 5+” of snow on us after being led to believe that we were in for a light dusting or a wintry mix. Can’t send it back as they say but we can shovel, push or blow it out of the way until the next storm shows up.
Speaking of moving snow, that reminds me of a conversation I had with my LP delivery man. I certainly don’t enjoy wading through waist deep snow to check to gauge on the tank and I’m reasonably sure the delivery man feels the same when he fills it. I asked him if people are good about that and he responded that only about 10% of people take the time to clean snow out around their tank. Yipped! I don’t know about you, but I’ve burned lots of different fuels to stay warm including, wood, natural gas, kerosene, fuel oil and LP. It’s comforting knowing that LP tank is full. I appreciate that when I come in the house from chores the house will be warm. I have to be out there moving snow anyway. It seems silly not to clean out around the tank. Likewise with the mailbox. This a.m. I was out there with the skidsteer cleaning up the mess the snow plow left and it took under a minute.
Some cold weather followed our shearing at the ranch and is frequently the case, the ewes started dumping lambs left and right. Our luck has been just so-so. There have been more ewes not claiming lambs and beating them. This makes me question what some of the rams we’re using and the subsequent ewes we have out of them have been crossed up with. Cheviots are traditionally some of the best mothers in the sheep industry. As is frequently the case, when some of this crossing is done with a nudge, nudge, wink, wink, and the animal is passed off as “purebred”, some of the integrity of the breed no matter what kind of livestock it is, tends to go by the wayside. Bigger is not always better. When I’m out in the barn I like to see ewes mother their lambs and the lambs get up and be able to do it on their own. If I have a barn full of animals I have to babysit, I don’t want them and pretty sure no one else does either.
Ruby got no respite from the dog shows this past week. It turns out that there was a Rescue Dog show on for a couple more nights so more torment for a TV watching Border Collie. One can only bark and growl so much. She does seem to be getting revenge for our entertainment at her expense however. Whether it’s in response to the dog shows or just due to the warmer than normal winter, Ruby is already shedding like mad. I brushed several big wads of fur out of her coat and judging by the hairs my sweatshirt I certainly didn’t get all of it. Let’s hope she’s trying to tell us that spring will be coming sooner than later unlike the last couple years.
This winter is starting to wear on me. My vocabulary degradation has reflected that lately. First the Gophers basketball team got beat by hated Iowa on Sunday. Afterwards, trying to unhook from the snow blower took more time than it should have because everything was froze up on it. Then the bale spear for the three point dropped a bale requiring some readjustment to get it where it belonged. In the process the bale hooked and dragged a bunch of electric fence along with it, the yellow insulators zipping past the cab like bullets. I was getting pretty lathered up with all the diddling around, off and on and up and down. The air was getting pretty blue by the time the afternoon was over.
I still remember getting my mouth washed out with soap when I’d dare use some of those words. Mom wasted little time reacting. It was grab you by the scruff of the neck, drag you over to the sink and say “Open your mouth!” She used the heavy artillery too. Good old Lava soap, not some floral scented bath soap. For good measure if you’d really torqued her off she’d scrape the bar on your front teeth. The Lava soap tasted bad enough but the gritty texture of the pumice left a lasting impression, enough so you wouldn’t use those words again, at least not in her presence. Probably a good thing she wasn’t around to hear my performance Sunday. I can almost taste the Lava now.
See you next week…real good then.