The scurs and Weather Eye did indeed dial in Indian summer for last week. Will Old Man Winter make a comeback or will he still be busy harvesting votes? Starting Veteran’s Day, sunny with highs in the upper 30’s and lows in the mid-20’s. Thursday, partly sunny with a slight chance of a rain and snow mix. Highs in the upper 30’s with lows in the upper teens. Sunny Friday with a modest chance of evening snow. Highs in the upper 30’s with lows in the low 30’s. Saturday, mostly cloudy with a fair chance of a rain/snow mix. Highs in the mid-40’s with lows in the mid-30’s. Partly sunny on Sunday with a slight chance for rain. Highs in the mid-40’s with lows in the low 30’s. Monday, sunny with highs in the mid-40’s and lows in the upper 20’s. Partly sunny for Tuesday with a moderate chance of rain. Highs in the mid-40’s with lows in the mid-30’s. We continue to lose daylight at a more leisurely clip of just over 2 minutes per day. The normal high for November 16th is 41 and the normal low is 24. The scurs will be honoring those who served on the 11th. Never forget those who served, so that we could enjoy our freedom.
Large amounts of fieldwork were wrapped up this past week, as well it should’ve been. With warm, dry conditions, it made the perfect opportunity to make headway with tillage as well as manure and anhydrous ammonia applications. Soil conditions are as good as they’ve been in many a year for tillage. Most remaining fields of corn were harvested with little drying necessary. Several fields had cornstalks baled off of them. Cleanup around dryer setups and bin sites was accomplished without the usual freezing cold temperatures. What looked somewhat like late December back in October had an almost September appearance. No one complained about it either, especially once colder temperatures and rain brought us back to reality Monday afternoon.
At the ranch we were able to capitalize on the nice weather as well. Leaves that had been under the October snow had become crispy crackly dry, perfect for grinding up into confetti with the mower. Cutting the overgrowth of grass should allow a lot of the remaining leaves to blow off where they’ll be of little consequence. If they are we may get another chance to grind those up, too. A garter snake slithering along Friday afternoon while mowing made me optimistic. The valve core was replaced on the 656 tire, so the fluid would stay in it, then the tractor was greased. The last of the bales were stacked and the screenings wagon was hooked up after moving copious amounts of stuff out of the way. The journey to the kindly neighbors’ ensued to clean up the last of the screenings there. Some additional screenings were placed in the barn there, so that group of sheep would have a supply to carry them until their return to the ranch.
The next day meant placing the bunny deterrents around the hydrangea and burning bushes, both know as bunny candy. I’d already sprayed them with Liquid Fence, which I’d borrowed from my sawed off Swede buddy. The stuff smelled like a combination of ripe turkey manure and rotten grain commonly found in the bottom of leg pits. The cages placed securely around our new shrubbery, it was time to head for the former pygmy goat farmer’s place to clean up the screenings under his dryer. With the crew he had assembled, a few hours later and that task was accomplished. The 263 International engine growled its way home, pulling the nearly full wagon. There are several reasons I can’t hear anymore and that’s probably one of them. Once home, the screenings were covered and backed in the shed, after which the two troughs were moved back into the brood ewes pasture. Mrs. Cheviot dumped the last of the planters, then we did chores to call it a day and a weekend.
There are still plenty of things to accomplish yet. A partial day Friday spent getting my pickup hauled into Ike’s when it refused to commence burned up time I’d planned to use for oil changes. Also getting prepared mentally and otherwise for barn cleaning. Yes, the weather has finally deteriorated to the point where I won’t feel guilty about using nice weather for an otherwise mundane task. As luck would have it however, I loaned the spreader to a neighbor, so he could clean the chicken coop and dispose of the leaves in his yard. My only request was that he grease it, so I could cross that task off the list. I’ll need to move the snow blower out of the way to get at the manure forks, then attach them to the skidsteer. Drop the oil on both the tractor and skidsteer, then grease the latter; we should be ready for action. A freeze up might be handy to keep mud off the road. Just a thought.
Lastly will be bringing the sheep home from the kindly neighbors’ pasture. The ewes and one-eyed ram have been there since late May or early June; a long spell. However, they’re still finding plenty to eat. Seeing an earthworm during Tuesday morning’s cold November rain gave me hope it could wait a week or so yet. The forecast of an ice storm was somewhat concerning, although worrying about weather is usually an exercise in futility. It’ll do what it’ll do and the time for the animals to return home will inevitably arrive. In the meantime it’s just like everybody else, pull for the finish line and hope for the best.
See you next week…real good then.