Mother Nature was picking up hitchhikers again last week. Not only was Jack Frost a rider, he brought his buddy Old Man Winter along. Will the scurs & Weather Eye forecast a reprieve or are we doomed to serve our sentence? Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with a good chance of evening rain. Highs in the low 40’s with lows in the upper 30’s. Thursday, cloudy with a good chance of rain changing to snow by Friday a.m. Highs in the mid-50’s with lows in the low 30’s. Mostly cloudy Friday with a modest chance of snow. Highs in the upper 30’s with lows in the low 30’s. Saturday, partly sunny with a slight chance of overnight snow/rain showers. Highs in the upper 30’s with lows in the upper 20’s. Mostly cloudy on Sunday with a fair chance of rain/snow showers. Highs in the upper 30’s with lows in the mid-20’s. Monday, mostly cloudy with a slight chance of rain/snow mix. Highs in the mid-30’s with lows in the low 20’s. Mostly cloudy for Tuesday with highs in the low 30’s and lows in the low 20’s. The normal high for October 23rd is 56 and the normal low is35.Trying to find something positive, the scurs point out that the rate at which we are losing daylight has slowed by a about a second a day. That’s about like hearing your tax increase isn’t as much as they’d planned on.
As the fall has unfolded, the weather has made for relatively good going. Much of the corn remaining to be harvested is taking very little propane to dry, much to the chagrin of the LP man. Moisture contents are in the mid-teens to lower 20’s. Fall tillage has progressed quickly with many fields already put to bed. Relatively light precip has left soil in better condition than it’s been for many falls as well as lessening any fire danger. Anhydrous ammonia is being applied in some fields. The soil temps are definitely low enough. With no sign of change to appreciably warmer weather, it may allow us to get fall application done before Old Man Winter fires more than a warning shot. Granted the calendar date is perhaps a week earlier than some would like. However, getting excess moisture or ground frozen beyond what applicator knives will penetrate is always a distinct possibility. Not that applying everything in the spring isn’t possible; it’s nice to have the workload spread out just in case. A bird in the hand as they say.
The workload at the ranch is never spread out. It just keep coming at you in waves. Apples have been harvested as were the last of the tomatoes. There should be ample BLT’s and sliced apples with caramel into the month of November. The cannas need to be dug yet but otherwise gardening for the season is largely done. The lawn could use a mowing too although that will likely wait until the last of the leaves drop. Harvest and other preoccupations have taken precedence. An oil change for both mowers before putting them to bed for the year needs to happen. Both the tractor and skidsteer also need their oil changed and a good greasing before barn cleaning season commences. At least with the 24 degree low the Monday a.m. the paper wasps nesting in the loader arms on the 656 shouldn’t sting me. Hate when that happens.
We turned the heat on at the ranch as well. It was time. The floor heat keeps up pretty well with low temps in the 30’s and low 40’s. Once it gets much below that the forced air furnace needs to kick in to make up the difference. Changing the air filter prevented the burnt dirt smell when it started up as expected. One always keeps their fingers crossed when clicking the thermostat over from the air conditioning to the heat setting. Listening for the burner to light then hearing the fan kick in one breathes a sigh of relief when the furnace starts to take the chill off. When it shuts down then cycles again several minutes later, it’s reassuring that it’s functioning like normal for what could very possibly a long heating season ahead. Oh goody.
The sheep aren’t noticing the cold much nor will they until they’re shorn sometime in January or February. Right now their fleece is roughly 3” long and is like wearing a large wool comforter while ambling around the pasture. There has been a noticeable change in their choice of forages lately though. While there is still plenty of grass for them to gnaw off, the nutritional quality is waning. The flock continues to dutifully clean up any fallen leaves in the pasture at the ranch. The Canada thistle plants they chewed the flower buds off of all summer long suddenly are attractive to eat. The stinging nettle patches are also fair game. At the kindly neighbors’ pasture in particular, when it’s time to load the sheep up for the season, the only thing left of the nettle patches are a few stems. Fine by me.
The change of seasons continues in the backyard as well. All the nectar feeders were taken down, cleaned and stored for the winter. They were replaced by suet feeders and the woodpeckers were on them almost immediately. So far the starlings and house sparrows seem to be preoccupied elsewhere as what they’re after is easier to access than the horizontal suet feeders. A fully feathered male cardinal was around Sunday, reminding me I’d used up the last of the sunflower seed with the last fill. Guessing they grew more in North Dakota this past summer.
Driving back from cleaning out my Mom’s place on Sunday, I had tuned in to the Vikings games just to see if they’d turned things around. They had not. Suddenly there was a newsflash that Sid Hartman had passed away at age 100. After mentioning Cannon last week, it signaled the end of another era, one that I had truly enjoyed. Back when people actually listened to ‘CCO radio, Sid was a fixture, handing out certificates for Murray’s Silver Butter Knife Steaks for appearing on Today’s Sports Hero as well as frequently being a guest on the Cannon Mess. The Sports Huddle on Sundays was a good listen and left me wanting more until the next Sunday.
While I never totally forgave Sid for his role in moving Gopher football off campus (he later admitted it was a mistake), I couldn’t help but respect and admire him. Starting off selling newspapers, writing a column and becoming the sports editor at the Fish Wrapper to the Free World as Cannon called it is quite an accomplishment, not mention managing the Minneapolis Lakers and being a well-known celebrity on many sports shows on both TV and radio. Coming from humble beginnings and working hard on your way to the top is the American dream. I’d forgotten too until the other day I still have my Sid bobble head displayed in my office. Looking at it brought back great memories of Sid-ism’s. Could almost hear him saying “all those geniuses” and “where are they now?” Thanks Sid for brightening my day many, many times.
See you next week…real good then.