The scurs and the Weather Eye predicted Old Man Winter’s flying dropkick off the ropes. Luckily his aim wasn’t very good. Does he relent or do we get more of the same? Starting Thursday, sunny with highs in the mid-30’s and lows in the low 20’s. Mostly cloudy Good Friday with a fair chance of rain and snow showers. Highs in the upper 40’s with lows in the upper 20’s. Partly sunny on Saturday with a remote chance of a.m. snow. Highs in the low 40’s with lows in the upper 20’s. Easter Sunday, mostly cloudy with a fair chance of an a.m. rain/snow mix, turning to all rain by evening. Highs in the upper 40’s with lows in the mid-30’s. Cloudy on April Fool’s Day with a continued modest chance of a rain/snow mix. Highs in the mid-40’s with lows in the low 30’s. Tuesday, sunny with highs in the upper 40’s and lows in the upper 20’s. Sunny on Wednesday with highs in the mid-40’s and lows in the upper 20’s. On the 29th, the sun will rise at 6:59 CDT. The normal high for April Fool’s Day is 48 and the normal low is 29. The scurs will attempt to fool the Easter Bunny by setting out additional Easter baskets to fill.
Our spring that was moving down the road at a record pace suddenly took a turn for the ditch. Temps that had reached 70 earlier in March were trying their best just to get above freezing. Wet, sloppy snow was the precip du jour Saturday night into Sunday. Rain followed turning dooryards into giant Slurpee’s. Or, as I like to think of it, the Border Collie spring we had going evolved into a Corgi spring. Let me explain. We were experiencing a spring that followed our wishes as if on command. After last winter, we craved a warmer one and we got it. It was almost hard to keep up with, almost like an anal Border Collie aiming to please. Along comes a Corgi, who while being a personable herding dog, marches more to the beat of its own drummer. Oh, it’ll come when called, stopping to dawdle when encountering any distraction first, but eventually gets there. That’s more the norm for spring and we should just be thankful we were spared another one like the last year.
We have to be pleased with the recent moisture we received. As of Tuesday a.m. at the ranch, we garnered 1.62” total since last Friday and a whopping 2.1” in Bugtussle. As I keep mentioning, we were not totally destitute for soil moisture going into winter. Actually, after the December rainfall that few gauges measured we already had fair subsoil moisture for crops to draw on. One individual confirmed that when water ran out of his new drain tile once connected. With under an inch of precip between January and February, we didn’t add much moisture, although what did fall went into the soil. There was some evaporation, but that moisture still counted. Where I grew up in SE MN, it was very dry in 1964. Crops suffered and people were praying for rain. We had a lot of snow in the winter of ’64 and ’65. I was six and remember digging snow caves in the drifts with the scoop shovel. It rained on Easter Sunday and six consecutive Sundays after that. Careful what you wish for.
More positives from the recent rains: It’ll soon be time to get the Studebaker out. I’m not real jazzed about taking it down the road until I’m fairly sure the salt and most of the sand has been washed off the road. Not that the paint is necessarily pristine; it’s just that it doesn’t need any help getting any worse. Probably be a good idea to start with the basics and get it running first. That typically hasn’t taken long once the battery is charged up for a day or so. Probably the worst thing once the fluids are checked is getting the dust off of it. Afterwards, usually that calls for a short run to a local establishment to limber it up and remember how to drive it. It’s like riding a bicycle. The worst part is getting in another vehicle after driving the Stude and thinking you’ve dropped it into first. Pull back and down. Reflex action. Reverse with an automatic on the steering column. Oops. Don’t forget those memory pills.
Progress in the lambing barn is at a slow pace. There are six ewes left to lamb with only one showing some obvious signs of being remotely close. The rate they’ve been coming in, it might mean another six weeks. Not sure why. Sometimes one can see a warm weather spell in last fall’s breeding season that may influence it. The gestation period for a ewe is approximately five months and they come into estrus roughly every two weeks in prime breeding season. If temperatures get too warm, it can affect a ram’s fertility negatively. Nothing was reflected by the temperature data from the SROC that should be relative. Sometimes when ewes carry too much condition going into breeding season they will tend to continue cycling until later in the breeding season. This is not uncommon for some of the show ewes that have been pampered and spoon fed. Doing them a favor for showing success sometimes comes with baggage.
I’d like to take a minute to extend thanks to all the faithful readers giving me encouragement to sit down and keep writing this column every week. I run across them in my daily travels and appreciate their comments. Whether you grew up on a farm or not, I try to include observations involving country life. We may not have all the conveniences that those living in urban areas and municipalities do, but we don’t have a lot of the negatives keeping us from stopping to smell the roses. Sometimes nice to keep it that way.
Poppy enjoyed her latest round of snow, although it was short-lived. By Sunday afternoon with the rain falling, all the fun had gone out of it and it was just slop. It did give us an up close and personal look at how a Corgi’s coat functions. When Poppy would come inside, she was very wet on top. Once she was wiped down and shook off, her coat was amazingly dry to the touch. Within an hour it was completely dry and even softer from the rain. Taking your fingers and parting her fur, one gets an up close and personal look at what a Corgi’s double coat is all about. All the while, trying to fend off Poppy’s wriggling and playful nipping. The downside is one can also see that undercoat is starting to loosen up as spring draws nigh. Corgi hair will soon appear in little windrows along the baseboards, another sure sign of spring.
See you next week…real good then.