The scurs and their Weather Eye are back on a lot Christmas card lists after being blacklisted in mid-February. Does Old Man Winter have one last gasp or is he just taking a breather? Starting Wednesday, cloudy with a good chance of rain. Highs in the upper 40’s with lows in the low 30’s. Thursday, partly sunny with highs in the mid-40’s and lows in the upper 20’s. Sunny Friday with highs in the mid-40’s and lows in the mid-20’s. Saturday, mostly sunny with increasing clouds and a slight chance of evening snow. Highs in the mid-40’s and lows in the mid-20’s. Partly sunny on Sunday with an increasing chance of a rain/snow mix by evening. Highs in the mid-40’s with lows in the mid-20’s. Monday, partly sunny with a modest chance of a rain snow mix. Highs in the low 40’s with lows in the upper 20’s. Partly sunny for Tuesday with a slight chance of a rain/snow mix. Highs in the low 40’s with lows in the mid-20’s. On March 11th the sun will rise at 6:30 a.m. CST. Due to the time change, it will take until April 14th to get back to that point. In other words, at precisely 2 a.m. on the 14th it’s time to move our clocks ahead an hour. More about that later. The normal high for March 14th is 39 and the normal low is 22. The scurs have 911 on speed dial for when they fall off the chair changing their clocks.
Some activity in area dooryards as they begin to dry up. Some field cultivators have been spotted outside and surprisingly, it was warm enough during the early part of the week to work outside. Some of the frost is starting to come out, depending somewhat on landscape position and snow cover. Up until the brutal stretch in February, we had pretty easy sledding. Incidentally, the February temperature averaged 11 degrees below normal at the SROC in Waseca. Frost depth on March 8th was still at 11” as a result. It should come out quickly though with rain in the Wednesday forecast and temperatures getting above freezing daily. It may take the soil a while to warm up, but hey, it’s still the early part of March yet. Plenty of time to prepare and, with most of the snow gone, once it warms up, it may come pretty fast.
It was surprising last week how quickly some of the signs of spring revealed themselves. I’d poked around the garden during lunchtime on March 4th and noticed the rhubarb buds were starting to open. I couldn’t believe it, so I took my divining rod (electric fencepost) and proceeded to poke around the yard. Much to my surprise on the south facing slope south of the house, the frost was largely gone. It was especially surprising as the area had relatively shallow snow cover most of the winter. As I pulled out of the driveway there were a dozen robins bopping around in the road ditch.
After the rhubarb revelation, I suddenly remembered to check the daffodils I’d planted in late October after digging them up at Mom’s. Sure enough, I counted eight of them emerged on Saturday. At last count there were 15. Saturday brought the first grackles to the yard and killdeers were heard. Lots of geese have been flying over and, during Monday night chores, some swans were lumbering along as only swans can do. That evening around dusk, the first sandhill cranes were heard as well. While we may take our licks yet, we’re heading the right direction thus far. The only disappointment was my quest to locate pussy willows. There was still some snow too deep in parts of the wetland to allow access to some, but where they were accessible, they hadn’t opened much yet on Sunday. That will change. With the cooldown coming, it should help the catkins maintain their integrity for Mrs. Cheviot’s decorative touch.
We’re thundering down the stretch in the lambing department. As of Monday, there were a half dozen head left to go, depending on whose figures you use. Mrs. Cheviot insists there are only four left to go; that one of the ewes is still open. I disagree. After all these years, it’s almost a guarantee that ewe that appeared open in early March will dump out a pair of ratty twin buck lambs the end of May up until mid-June. Or worse yet, a set of runty, no account triplet buck lambs, equally as useless and annoying, especially when they need bottle feeding.
One ewe we were dreading was acting as though she was about to explode at any moment Monday morning during chores. Listless and wanting to be off by herself, she looked absolutely miserable. Her distended bag was also lopsided, indicating she’d probably only milk on one side. Nothing happened during morning chores, so hi ho, hi ho it’s off to work we go. When I checked back at noon, I first needed to make a pit stop. I looked out the bathroom window and saw the ewe wandering off towards one of the brush piles in the pasture. Oh, goody. I mixed up the bottles for the bottle lambs and fed them, then headed off for the pasture to find the ewe.
I checked around the two brush piles, thinking she’d probably hole up on the leeward side. Nope. Maybe down along the fence line out of the wind. Not there either. Looked behind the grove. Nada. Where the? As stupid as sheep are, they don’t just disappear into thin air. I kept walking and looked off to the far end of the pasture. Suddenly, I spied her head peeking above an area of longer grass. I walked over to where she’d nested. She got up and her swollen bag swayed to and fro as I tailed her all the way back to the lot. Fat chance she’d stay there. Oh, well, I’d tried. I washed the bottles and made a quick lunch. Before I drove out of the yard I checked to see where she was, figuring she’d made it back to the far end of the pasture. Oddly enough, she was in the lambing barn. I was still betting anything we’d be dragging her and her lambs, dead or alive, back to the yard when I got home.
Wrong on all counts. I got my clothes changed and tramped out to the lambing barn. Amazingly enough, she’d had the lambs inside and they were hooking onto the side of her udder I was sure was no good. Not the case as Mrs. Cheviot checked her after we got them penned up. Not only that, the enlarged side of the bag milked like a Jersey cow! While they were both buck lambs, they were both healthy and smart, figuring out the ewe’s equipment without issue. Whew! Some days it is truly better to be lucky than good.
See you next week…real good then.