The scurs and Weather Eye delivered yet another better than average batch of weather. Will they keep it going or will our luck run out? Starting Wednesday, mostly sunny with highs in the low 50’s and lows in the upper 20’s. Thursday, becoming mostly cloudy with highs in the low 40’s and lows in the low 30’s. Mostly cloudy Friday with a fair chance of a rain/snow mix becoming all snow by evening. Highs in the upper 30’s with lows in the upper 20’s. Saturday, mostly cloudy with a modest chance of forenoon snow. Highs in the low 30’s with lows in the upper teens. Partly sunny on Sunday with highs in the mid-20’s and lows in the mid-teens. Monday, partly sunny with a slight chance of snow. Highs in the upper 20’s with lows in the upper teens. Mostly cloudy for Tuesday with a moderate chance of snow. Highs in the mid-30’s with lows in the upper teens. On December 9th we fall below 9 hours of daylight and on the 15th the sun begins setting later once again at 4:37 p.m. The normal high for December 15th is 26 and the normal low is 9. The scurs started their Christmas shopping procrastination early, December 26 2019 to be exact. Why put off tomorrow what you can put off today?
Still some evidence of tilling going on in area fields, and judging by the aroma in the air when the wind is the right direction, some manure application. Most fall anhydrous ammonia is rumored to be on, as is bulk-spread P & K. It has been a phenomenal fall, one we probably deserved after the past several years where we felt lucky to get the crop harvested. Others weren’t so fortunate. Dry weather has some concerned now that this area is showing up on the drought index maps. As Mark Seeley has been fond of saying, this is a good time of year for a drought as far as crops go. Snow does little to supply moisture for crops when the ground is frozen, with most of it melting and running off when it thaws on top of still frozen ground. It does contribute significantly for wetlands, rivers and streams. It is generally frowned upon when farmers attempt to crop those areas.
At the ranch, we continue to reap the benefits of the warmer-than-normal temps and the lack of precipitation. North facing slopes remain frozen, protecting them from trailers, tractors and the skidsteer. While time has still not allowed manure hauling to commence, the equipment is ready at a moment’s notice. The change to winter weight oil was made last week along with everything being lubed and repaired. Good going for a few days and it’ll be history. Sunday forenoon allowed the oil to be changed on the lawnmowers, so they’ll be ready for next year right out of the chute. I also got the Studebaker out Sunday to fill it with gas for the winter. It had some E-10 in it from the last cruise, so it needed to be blended down to minimize potential problems. It’s wise to run some of the blended-down fuel through the system, so I made a long loop afterwards. I opted not to turn the heat on under the hood, so it made for a chilly ride. With the heater core located under the front seat, next time I’ll know enough to turn the bun warmer on.
One other benefit of the warmer temps was evident last Friday. Mrs. Cheviot discovered a new natural colored buck lamb born overnight. It was a little bit of a surprise, although we were well aware all the ewes had been exposed. Of course, now that there’s one on the ground, we’re on the lookout for more. The ewes look broody, so the “wow factor” really isn’t there. The lamb on the ground was out of Olivia’s 4-H project lamb, Nelly, from two years ago. Sometimes those first time lambers can be a pill. In this case however, everything clicked. The lamb was all dried off, the ewe accepted it well and she had milk to burn. It’s always a good idea to check on them at noon afterwards. When I did, the lamb Olivia named Leo got up, stretched, then went over and hooked onto Nelly. A little bit later Leo was happily bouncing around his long narrow pen. Nothing to see here, move it along.
The warm temperatures and the open winter have made the appearance of birds at the feeders somewhat more sporadic. They’re around, just not consuming as much seed as they do some years. The suet feeders and the ear corn seem to be the exceptions. I got some raw suet from Morgan’s as I didn’t have time to pick up suet cakes before Thanksgiving. I feared the birds might be spoiled, but my fears were unfounded. The woodpeckers tore into it without skipping a beat. Best of all I can put a pretty good sized hunk in the feeders, so they don’t need to be filled so often. The ear corn too has been a hit. Sunday there were six fox squirrels in the yard at the same time, some kind of a record for us. They were all fat and sassy with very shiny coats. Strange.
At Mom’s again last weekend, more of the old equipment I grew up with on the farm continues to leave. The Schultz Spreadmaster manure spreader was among the more “unique” pieces that someone purchased. At a whopping 125-bu. capacity, it seemed like a monster in its time. The tandem axles made it nice to back up to with no heavy tongue to contend with or jack to accidentally tear off. It also made the spreader a little less apt to compact the ground due to the reduced axle load. It always seemed large relative to what some of the neighbors had. Many cold Saturday winter mornings as a lad I’d get chores done, fire up the E3, then hook up the spreader to clean the chicken coop.
The spreader had to be backed in, so the rear end was flush against the coop in line with the window. There wasn’t room enough to pull it alongside. The window then needed to be removed and the manure pitched out the opening. One had to toss it the length of the spreader over the upper beaters to get an even load. Otherwise, the manure frequently wouldn’t all fit. It was a satisfying feeling to hear the thud of those first forkfuls hitting the front panel of the spreader. Once the load was spread and the coop was bedded, Mom typically had fresh gingersnaps warm out of the oven waiting in the house. I’ve pitched numerous loads of sheep manure into our present spreader and somehow it takes a lot longer. Part of it is I am old and part of it is the New Holland 520 holds about 217 bu.! That and I only have freezer burned frozen waffles and egg rolls to look forward to when I get inside.
See you next week…real good then.