The scurs had the Weather Eye in the zone again. Can we stop waiting for the other shoe to drop or has Old Man Winter got one last trick up his sleeve? Starting Thursday, partly sunny with a modest chance of rain. Highs in the low 50’s with lows in the mid-30’s. Mostly sunny on Friday with highs in the low 50’s and lows in the low 30’s. Mostly sunny on Saturday with highs in the low 50’s and lows in the low 30’s. Sunday, sunny with highs in the mid-50’s and lows in the mid-30’s. Sunny on Monday with highs in the upper 50’s and lows in the upper 30’s. Tuesday, mostly sunny with highs in the mid-60’s with lows in the upper 40’s. Mostly cloudy on Wednesday with a fair chance of rain. Highs in the upper 60’s with lows in the upper 40’s. The Full Moon for the month occurs on April 23rd. The normal high for April 23rd is 59 and the normal low is 38. The scurs are fairly certain that the patio furniture can be put out, at least for this week.
The Full Moon is next Tuesday and goes by many names depending on your location and occupation. The most common name, The Pink Moon, is for the ground or creeping phlox that cover the ground in wooded areas across parts of the eastern US. More common in the area where I grew up were the bluebells that covered the wooded river and stream bottom areas. It also goes by the Full Planters Moon by settlers, the Egg Moon and Flower Moon by others. The Ojibwe called this the Broken Snowshoe Moon or the Frog Moon. The Sioux knew it as the Moon of Greening Grass as the bison their lives depended on depended on the grass coming to life. At the ranch, we know it as the Moon Where Hoses Don’t Need Draining. And the crowd goes wild!
Rapid planting progress was made in places locally. Soil conditions were favorable as were soil temps, although as many maintain, soil temperature this time of year becomes a lesser factor as the calendar date rolls on. It gave many an opportunity to get their planters tuned in and work any bugs out before getting serious about it. Tuesday’s rain brought planting to a screeching halt. Some haven’t started yet and some are done corn planting. Great. There are no wrong answers at this point. Only time will tell if there even was a right or wrong. And even if there is a “wrong,” changing to avoid it happening again within reason could be just as wrong the next time. If people were that smart, they certainly wouldn’t be gambling on farming. There would be easier, more lucrative ways to make a living. You can make book on it.
From the “Let’s not and say we did” department, I know, let’s raise sheep! Still waiting on four ewes to come in yet, although one is teetering on the edge. I fully expect on each next trip to and from somewhere else to see a ewe trotting across the pasture with several lambs in tow. Not sure exactly why we have so many stragglers this spring. Did the older ram just run out of bullets? We usually try to parcel the ewes out, so they have no more than 20 apiece to breed. We had purchased a January ram lamb that worked well on the 9 ewes we had him with. We particularly didn’t want to overload the young lad and were left with no other alternative after losing a valuable ram the year before. It’ll all come out in the wash. The price of lamb for both fats and feeders, like beef, is strong. As Jerry Speir, our old FFA advisor with the decidedly Oklahoma twang always said, “When demand is up, supply is down.”
No lack of demand for continued sunshine. It has brought hay fields and pastures around quickly, allowing grazing animals to go on pasture. It should help stretch thin hay supplies and hopefully get an early start on first cutting. Lawns and gardens look promising as well. The rhubarb at the ranch is on track for a pie in the next week or so. Early watering followed by rainfall and warm temps certainly didn’t hurt. The pear trees in the yard should start flowering this week with the apples hot on their heels. There’s no shortage of pollinators as found in the wetland after harvesting the last picking of pussy willows. Many of those bushes were flowering already and the insect activity around them was tremendous. Same with the hyacinths in the flower bed. When those fruit trees cut loose the air should be buzzing.
Bird activity is slowly but surely following the season. Tree swallows appeared on Sunday and usually barn swallows aren’t far behind. Juncos numbers are thinning which usually means there will be white-throated, white-crowned and Harris’s sparrows at the ranch soon. Hot on their heels are the first orioles and hummingbirds of the season. Sure, the weather may take a breather from the 80-degree highs we had Sunday, but as long as there’s a source of food, the migration will proceed on schedule. It has to. There are only a limited number of days to make nests, lay eggs, raise a brood of young or two, then turn around and head south again. There is no stopping it.
Poppy’s daily activities continue to include her playmate and little buddy, the small white tomcat. It doesn’t matter what time of day it is, they usually seek each other out and it’s game on. When feeding the bottle lamb before bedtime, it’s particularly amusing. There will be a dark-colored blur, Poppy, followed by a white blur, the kitty. Next thing you know, the roles are reversed. It’s hard to tell who’s really chasing who. A lot of bobbing and feinting, hissing and growling, but nothing serious as far as the cat scratching or Poppy biting. When it’s time to go in the house or in the cat’s case, back to the barn, then it’s over. Until the next time.
See you next week…real good then.