The scurs and the Weather Eye were in control this past week. This upcoming week, will they maintain, or be out of control? Starting Wednesday, sunny with highs in the low 80’s and lows in the low 60’s. Thursday, sunny with a good chance of an afternoon to evening shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the mid-80’s with lows in the upper 60’s. Mostly sunny on Friday with a fair chance of an evening shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the low 80’s with lows in the upper 60’s. Saturday, mostly sunny with a modest chance of a forenoon shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the mid-80’s with lows in the upper 60’s. Mostly sunny on Sunday with highs in the upper 80’s and lows in the upper 60’s. Monday, sunny with highs in the low 90’s and lows in the low 70’s. Sunny Tuesday with highs in the low 90’s and lows in the low 70’s. A week after July 4th finds us losing more daylight and at a more rapid pace, adding three to four seconds more per day than what was lost the previous day. The Full Moon for the month is on the 13th. On the 15th we start losing daylight at just over one minute and thirty seconds. The normal high for July 15th is 82 and the normal low is 62. The scurs hoarded putty knives, so people are paying black market prices to remove Farm & City Days Tootsie Rolls and bubble gum from their shoes.
The Full Moon is on the 13th this month and goes by the name of the Full Buck Moon as the antlers begin to appear on the male deer. It is also known as the Full Thunder Moon as thunderstorms tend to be numerous this time of year. Another common name is the Full Hay Moon, so named as hay is commonly harvested during the month. The Ojibwe called this the Raspberry Moon as the wild raspberries would ripen during this timeframe. The Sioux were also fruit lovers, naming this the Moon when Wild Cherries are Ripe. At the ranch, it generally is the Garden Weeding Moon, which is never ending until a frost decides otherwise.
Crop progress after the rain was nothing short of spectacular, as expected. Many corn fields are showing a flag leaf, meaning there should be tassels common as we move towards the weekend. From tasseling to relative maturity takes roughly 60 days. Soybeans are generally in full bloom presently. The soybean crop is generally made in August. Soybeans can rope-a-dope it through July, only to put on a lot of pods in August and increase the size of the beans in the pods for pods they are lacking. From full bloom to maturity takes roughly 60 – 70 days. Our GDU accumulation per the SROC last week in Waseca has us running 8% above normal. We should be able to maintain or slightly increase that when the next press release comes out on Wednesday.
We were very fortunate that the weather since the July 4th rain has been relatively moderate, which could buy us some time until the next significant precipitation event. The rule of thumb has always been that we need an inch of rain a week this time of year, so we need all the help we can get. If one looks at the shorter term, our odds for precip from NOAA’s 8 – 14 day outlook aren’t great. However, the 30-day outlook is still calling for even chances of above or below normal precip, albeit with better than even odds of above normal temps. Some of the weather pundits are indicating we could see precip in August get back to more normal amounts. We shall see.
There are definite signs we are in full midsummer form. Heard my first cicada of the season in Bugtussle on Saturday, followed by several at the ranch on Sunday. The first striped cucumber beetles were observed and promptly squashed in the ranch garden on Sunday as well. Other signs that we are at the midway point included the swallows beginning to line the power lines east of St. Olaf Lake. Not sure what types all of them are, although the barn swallows at the ranch are continuing to pump out nests of young. That’s good because they can eat a lot of the stable flies that continue inflicting painful bites on our ankles us when we least expect it.
Our gardens (and weeds) continue to benefit from the same rainfall the crops have. The weeds really came to life afterwards, making hoeing and pulling a near daily occurrence. Once one gets through it, it’s time to start over again. Everything is growing so rapidly it’s hard to stay on top of it. I had a wonderful conversation with Pastor Espe, who was anxious to inform me that saving his four o’clock tubers had been a success, with some of them already flowering or about to. He said he’d done nothing out of the ordinary storing them, other than putting them in a paper bag to overwinter. I’d taken great pains to make sure our tubers had every chance to survive, packing them in shavings and storing them in the crawlspace. Alas, my attempt ended in dismal failure. As he pointed out, maybe I was too kind. That’s entirely possible. The canna bulbs left in the heated garage over winter kept as well or better than those I’d packed away. It’d sure be a lot less messing around. I don’t think the hummingbirds will care as long as there are plenty of blooms this summer and as they migrate through this fall.
The Farm and City Days car show continues to be my favorite local car show. The organizers and staff make everyone feel welcome. Exhibitors come with a smile and leave with same. Luckily the ace mechanic had the Studebaker ready to go in time for the Saturday morning registration. The day offered one of the few opportunities I’ve had to sit, visit and listen to rock and roll without feeling guilty for a while. While I couldn’t care less about the competition aspect of car shows, it is nice to get a glimpse of the wide variety of automobiles, from Model T’s to the most modern and from domestic to foreign models. Best of all, everyone, exhibitors and spectators alike, were having a great time on a beautiful summer day. July at its finest. Something to look forward to in mid-January.
See you next week…real good then.