Fencelines

[Dotch]

Said I've been crying, my tears they fell like rain…

For the last forecast period the scurs were tracking pretty well but got a little overzealous with the temperature and rainfall for Monday and Tuesday. We’ll take it after the beating some have taken recently. Drier this time around? Starting Wednesday, clear skies with a high of 80 and a low of 60. Ditto for the first day of July. Continued sunny on Friday and warmer becoming partly cloudy by evening with a chance of showers or thunderstorms. High of 85 and low around 65. Partly cloudy Saturday, high of 85 and low of 65 with a moderate chance of showers and thunderstorms for the evening hours. About the same story for Independence Day and Monday with warm temps continuing under partly cloudy skies. Highs should top out in the mid-80’s and lows in the mid-60’s. Cooler Tuesday, highs reaching 75 and lows near 55 with a chance of a thunderstorm. Normal high for July 4th is 83 and the normal low is 60. The scurs will be laying in a transport of mosquito repellent and keeping a wary eye out for the Fireworks Police.

Speaking of mosquitoes, they’ve been about enough to carry one off when it hasn’t been storming. However, those who haven’t suffered crop damage from hail and excess rain should be witnessing some of the most tremendous growing conditions we’ve experienced in quite some time. Corn and soybeans look about as good in most areas as we’ve seen since some of the banner years such as 2004. Small grains appear to be maturing about on schedule with the potential for harvest likely about 3 weeks to a month away. Delays in spraying soybeans due to wet conditions have dampened spirits somewhat but fortunately, soybeans can take more weed pressure than corn for a longer period of time before it impacts yield, especially with the soil moisture we’ve got. A few soybean aphids were found locally last week. However infestations continue to be extremely light and jumping the gun by treating at this point demonstrates a lack of respect concerning this pest. 2nd cutting hay has been dampened too especially if it’s been cut.

Thistles are probably my least favorite weed as they are a constant battle thanks to people who don’t attempt to control them. With the products available nowadays, it’s really not that difficult. Cultural methods can still be used especially with biennial species such as bull thistles and musk thistles. As written a few weeks ago, mowing works well and if they decide to come back, a second mowing finishes them off. Something else that’s kind of handy to get at thistles in those nooks and crannies is one of those old bean hooks, one of those like we used to use to take volunteer corn and other weeds out of the soybeans with. It’s also a device that is capable of taking your finger off as I discovered. No wonder my typing is so slow! Can’t find bean hooks in hardware stores anymore so you almost have to go online to order one. Mine has provided hours of entertainment since it arrived.

Is Ruby a budding entomologist? It just could be. Letting her out at night, the fireflies keep her occupied as do the moths that fly out of the grass when she goes outside to do her business at night. She also knows the word “bug” and will look to see if there are any flies buzzing around nearby inside the house. Gus on the other hand is more apt to pursue four-legged prey. On Sunday afternoon, 4 squirrels happened to be under the ash tree in front of the house so uttering the word “squirrel” was all he needed once the door was opened to roar off after them.

Some have noted a decline in the oriole numbers at their feeders and while ours haven’t increased, they’re still eating jelly and pulling the nectar feeder down on a regular basis. Last week there were 2 brightly colored males and a female that seem to be regulars. We seem to have a corner on the finch market right now too. There are typically a couple dozen at a time, about half of them female and half the bright yellow males, catching the attention of several guests over the past week. There is also a good report on the bluebird status at the kindly neighbors pasture. Was going to clean out the house that had fledged one batch of bluebirds already and get it ready for round 2. Too late. They had re-nested and there were 2 hatchlings, with 3 blue eggs yet to hatch. Mrs. Bluebird was letting me know about it too. Another bonus was an additional house that was added in case the wrens had moved into the other house as they had last year. The post the house was attached to was in a logical spot and within a day, there appeared to be a pair of bluebirds checking on it, going in and out. Sure enough, upon opening the house, there was a bluebird nest being constructed inside.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Well now they call me the breeze…

The scurs are thinking the July dry-out is underway although with the Waseca Co. Fair looming on the horizon, they aren’t counting their chicks before they hatch. Starting Wednesday, slight chance of showers with a high around 80 and low of 65.Thursday through Sunday, partly cloudy, highs of 80 and lows near 60. Next Monday, cloudy, high of 75 - 80 with a low of 60. A little warmer Tuesday under partly cloudy skies, high of 80 and low of 65. The normal high for July 9th is 83 and the normal low is 61. The scurs are working on a line of tiny shotguns for controlling the burgeoning mosquito population.

The seasons are rolling along. The Big Dipper is descending towards its autumn position in the NW evening sky after being nearly straight overhead in the month of June. Some Native American lore has it that the autumn leaves were poured out of the upside down bowl. Some weather folks also comment about the dipper being full of water when it’s upright or empty when upside down. Venus continues to dazzle in the western sky, appearing yellow almost like a mini-moon as it approaches the horizon. As of the 9th, we will have already lost about 10 minutes of daylight since the summer solstice with the sun beginning to set again before 9 p.m. on the 4th.

Well, we made knee high by the 4th of July in both crops this year, something we don’t always achieve. It helps that there hasn’t been any more ponded water in fields, hail or tornadoes for awhile. We should notice some tassels appearing in the corn soon, particularly in the sheltered fields and areas of fields that are protected. Soybeans have really come on and with weed control operations complete for the first go round, some really look impressive. Fields with soybean aphid detects are increasing but the aphid numbers are still very low and finding them has been a challenge to this point. Small grains are turning and it won’t be too many more weeks and they’ll be off. Some good haying weather this past week for a change with many fields of 2nd cutting being harvested.

Can’t recall a period of time where the mosquitoes have been any more vicious than the past week or so. The back of my neck is pebbled about like a basketball. It should come as no surprise I guess with the amount of rain we received in June and the standing water that followed. 8+ inches of rain at the ranch for the month will do that. Still, it is nearly impossible to go outside without being attacked by swarms of the little dip(terans). It has made lawn mowing, gardening and almost every other outdoor chore just that, a real chore. No doubt, repellents work but getting yourself covered well enough so they don’t find a chink in your armor is a challenge. Luckily the wind on Friday and Saturday made life a little easier. The lawn got mowed and the garden was salvaged. It avoided the fate of being sprayed with Round Up and having been declared a total loss. Both operations went OK at least until you got in behind something or around the trees and shrubs. No doubt about it, the wind definitely didn’t blow them all away.

Gus has been shedding his coat more rapidly as of late with much of it blowing away in the breezy Saturday night brushing episode. Have to wonder if that heavy coat wasn’t part of his plan to thwart the biting insect population. Knowing Gus and his propensity for planning, it’s highly doubtful. Ruby’s bare tummy affords her little protection so when she comes inside, the first order of business is to squash as many bugs as possible before they escape into the house. At 3 months, she’s honing her ball retrieving skills and the next move is to get a soft Frisbee to start on. She likes the sheep, especially the little “berries” they leave behind.

Baby birds are scattered everywhere around the yard. It certainly doesn’t take long for the allied birdie warning system to go off when a cat or small hawk happens by. There are young downies coming to the feeders and young orioles are appearing at the jelly feeder. Young house wrens are strewn about the bushes and young blue jays can be seen but mostly heard. Most of the nesting boxes here are empty and quiet now, the young tree swallows having fledged. They seem to congregate over by the lake, leaving the barn swallows in charge of the lawn and pasture. And one can see little heads already poking above the used but not abused robin’s nest in the barn. That sure didn’t take long.

The little fat buddies had a good month of June in which to have training sessions. Rain makes grain and goodies seem to appear as a result on the training table. P.H. (otherwise known as S.H) took pity on us this past week. Easy to do as we are a rather pitiful looking lot. The homemade sweet rolls not only were a welcome sight, they were delicious. In our hunger for wisdom and knowledge, we must maintain our stamina. Man cannot live on coffee alone.

See you next week…real good then.

[deadeye]

Jeeze dotch, it's only the 4th of July and your starting in on FALL stuff.  We gotta hang on to summer for while longer.   

[Dotch]

lol! Now tell me with a straight face that fall isn't your favorite time of year, you deer hunting machine you! 

[Dotch]

How many more times...

With the rainfall pattern starting to take on that July feel, the scurs are confident that it will continue, at least to the end of July. Starting with Wednesday, partly cloudy skies with a good chance of showers and thunderstorms. High of 85 and low around 65. Clearing on Thursday but continued warm with highs once again near 85 and lows of 65. Mostly sunny becoming partly cloudy on Friday, warmer and humid with a chance of showers. High of 85 – 90 and lows of 65- 70. Slight chance of a shower on Saturday under partly cloudy skies. High of 85 and low near 65. Sunday, partly cloudy with highs once again near 85 and a low of 65. Monday mostly cloudy with a good chance of rain. High of 85 and low of 65. Partly cloudy again on Tuesday with a high of 85 and low temps of 65. Normal high for July 17th is 84 and the normal low is 61. The scurs will have money left over following Farm and City Days. Luckily they bought stock in a putty knife company beforehand. Edna has been doing land office business selling putty knives to scrape all those road kill Tootsie Rolls off the bottoms of people’s shoes. The scurs next stop: The Waseca Co. Fair.

Gotta love our little local celebration. It causes kids young and old to complain the next day they have a bellyache from eating too much candy. I must’ve been looking a little gaunt. People kept feeding me things. First, there was plenty of candy thrown my direction during the parade. Then someone fed me some deep fried green beans followed by some other folks feeding me fresh mini donuts. That scale at home has to be wrong.

Corn should be nearly tasseled out by week’s end and soybeans should be starting to show some initial pod set, all the while blooming profusely. Third cutting hay has benefitted from all this moisture although the southerly winds have brought enough potato leafhoppers into the area that alfalfa should be watched for this pest. And potatoes of course. Pastures have never looked so lush. Our own pasture has an abundance of white clover flowering in it, giving the appearance of a light snowfall at times. Did happen to see a painted turtle when the pasture was mowed last, probably from the wetland down below on an egg laying mission. Even turtles need to get out of the water once in a while. Rainfall patterns while giving us plenty of rainfall in general have been more erratic. For instance, rain that fell on the 7th amounted to.25” at the ranch, .4” - .6” in Bugtussle proper and a couple miles to the north, 3 inches. The problem is that those who get doused once seem to keep getting doused.

There have never been more orioles at our place than this summer. Usually this time of year we have a few but this year, we counted a half dozen in the tree with the nectar feeder. It looks like Mom, Dad, Uncle Charlie and the kids. It’s possible there are more than that as they are excellent at concealing themselves in the dense foliage. The way they’re going through grape jelly and sugar water, one can only ponder how much of either product sold at Wagner’s actually is consumed by humans.

In the garden we should see some ripe tomatoes this week, Champion is the variety I believe. The squirrels already ate one last week so it probably doesn’t count. Appears our zucchini have been tormented as well by the rodents. I see squirrel fricassee come about the weekend of the season opener. The snap peas have been a little disappointing but it should come as no surprise with all the warm wet weather and harvest delayed by the mosquito invasion. The lettuce is about ready to be worked under and replaced with a planting of early maturing string beans. Had green beans through September last year doing that so it ought to be worth another try. The larger vine crops are like an emerald carpet right now, unrolled across the garden. In the mornings the yellow flowers add a beautiful accent much to the delight of the bees pollinating them.

On the insect front, we heard something strange and thought for a minute there was an electrical problem down by the barn. Nope, just a cicada getting cranked up for the season. We’ve written about the next insect many times and probably will write about them many more times. There have been some comments and questions about all the red and brown butterflies this season and whether they should be sprayed with something. The answer to the first question is they are red admiral butterflies and the answer to the second question is absolutely not. The varying colored, spiky covered caterpillars that develop into these butterflies consume nettles and plants in the nettle family as their primary source of nutrition. The butterflies themselves are rather omnivorous, dining on tree sap, decaying fruit and bird droppings. Yum! When they can’t find these treats, they will dine on nectar from sources such as alfalfa, clover and milkweed. There are generally two generations produced in the northern U.S. and they migrate south in the fall. They can’t survive the coldest winters here so it is generally believed that they are repopulated by migration from the south each spring. In addition to being pretty to look at and fun to watch their sputtery yet rapid flight, they’re actually one of the good guys.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Will your tongue wag so much when I send you the bill?

The scurs were tight about the rainfall being spotty. Like most things though rainfall tends to average out. Sometimes it just takes longer than others. Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy with an increasing chance of showers and thunderstorms as the day wears on. Highs 80 – 85 and lows of 65- 70. Mostly cloudy with a chance of rain Thursday and Friday. Highs 80 – 85 and lows 65 – 70. Partly cloudy to mostly sunny for Saturday, Sunday and Monday with highs again running 80 – 85 and lows around 65. Clouding up Tuesday with a chance of rain. Highs near 80, cooling down with the passage of the front with lows of 55 – 60. Normal high for July 23rd is 84 and the normal low is 62. As of the 21st we will officially be below 15 hours of daylight for the first time since May 22nd. More twilight hours for the scurs to sleep in the hammock now their mosquitoes have been sprayed.

The Full Moon for July will occur on the 25th. Yes, I know most calendars say the 26th but it’s the old UTC trick where we get a chance to be ahead of the game. This Full Moon goes by the Full Buck Moon as velvet covered antlers are beginning to protrude from white-tailed deer noggins. It is also known as the Full Thunder Moon for the numerous thunderstorms that commonly occur during the month. Some also know this as the Full Hay Moon for obvious reasons. The Ojibwe knew this as the Full Raspberry Moon and they were absolutely on target as there are many wild raspberries for the snacking across the countryside. The Sioux were more into stone fruit calling this the Moon When Wild Cherries are Ripe.

Crops are thundering along with corn fully tasseled and pollinating for the most part and most soybeans reaching R3, that is one pod 3/16” long at any of the uppermost 4 nodes on the main stem with a fully expanded trifoliate. Some are even R4 which is one pod ¾” long at one of the uppermost 4 nodes with a fully expanded trifoliate on the main stem. In other words, development is progressing well. Second pass glyphosate applications are nearing completion and soybean aphid detects continue to rise. Numbers however remain well below thresholds at this point so waiting to combine the last pass of glyphosate with an insecticide application at this point is probably not going to be an option. Small grain harvest should start soon with lowered expectations than what we had last year. Pea harvest is winding down and yields dropped off substantially once we ran into all the heat and rain. Peas don’t like wet feet or hot weather.

The garden at the ranch mirrors some of what we’re seeing in the fields. For instance, the cooler season crops such as the snap peas and onions have been OK but haven’t reached the level of production we saw last year. However, things like carrots, beets, string beans and tomatoes appear to be having a banner season. The cucumbers are right there too with a few reaching pickling size last weekend. Can’t wait for those slicers however. Most of the vine crops are loving life as are the waterhemp and redroot pigweed. Lambsquarters have taken a hiatus and not a moment too soon. The vine crops look promising at this point with a lot of squash, pumpkins, gourds, etc., being set already. The old fashioned tiger lilies have burst into bloom adding some bright orange color to the yard. They attract some attention from the hummingbirds although they much prefer the impatiens and petunias.

The orioles continue their feeding frenzy although they are somewhat fussy about their table fare. Ran short on grape jelly the other day though and only had enough for a dab in one of their dishes. Decided to put some apple butter in the other one to see what they’d do with it. They weren’t buying it, licking the jelly side clean and scolding me to put the real McCoy back on the menu.

Ruby continues to grow rapidly and get into more things she shouldn’t. She become familiar with the term “no” pretty well and usually doesn’t continue the offending activity once she’s told to stop. She’s a popcorn and crumb lover, keeping the floor clean when she’s inside. Multi-tasking seems to be a strong suit as playing with 2 toys at once is to her liking. That Border Collie crouch and stare have suddenly become part of the little dog’s repertoire when attempting to herd Gus. Gus has become the wise older brother whom Ruby idolizes and sticks to like glue. Gus doesn’t mind until he gets about fed up with being herded.

Another Waseca Co. Fair is in the books so Moms and Dads across the county can breathe a sigh of relief as their summer running can let up a little. Fair time was always fun for us as kids, finding all kinds of activities and new kids to have fun with at the fairgrounds in Preston. Water fights and dropping the rubber spider suspended from the rafters with a piece of fishing line on people were standard operating procedure. A stuffed pair of pants stuck in a pair of boots tucked under a cow’s paunch was always a crowd pleaser. It was that is until someone panicked one time thinking someone had been squashed by the cow and ran off to get the sheriff. Oh yes, our parents had many of the same issues to deal with although as we got older, we matured somewhat and became more self sufficient. We were always amazed however to see the parents of kids our own age feeding their animals for them, bedding the critters and jumping into the pens to get the animals ready for show while the kids stood and watched while talking smart. Wonder if their parents ever got their records done for them so they could collect their premium check?

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

…but I ended up alone at the microphone.


The scurs hit the first rain right but somehow forgot the Friday night event. Oh well, given the generous rains that fell this past week, no harm no foul. This week? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with a chance of morning showers. Highs near 85 and lows around 60. Thursday, partly cloudy with a high of 85 and a low of 60. Partly cloudy Friday and Saturday, highs of 80 – 85 and lows of 60 – 65. A slight chance of an evening shower both days. Sunday starts off partly cloudy becoming mostly cloudy by afternoon with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs of 80 – 85 and lows near 60. Cloudy Monday with a chance of rain. High of 80 and low of 55 – 60. Becoming partly cloudy Tuesday, high of 80 and low of 55 – 60. Normal high for August 1 is 83 and the normal low is 61. The ads are out so the scurs have to start their back to school shopping soon to avoid the rush.

Crops moved along once again with warm temperatures and abundant rainfall falling across most of Greater Bugtussle and environs. At the ranch between the Thursday and Saturday rainfall events the gauge tallied 3.2”. Prior to that only about 1.2” had been recorded for the month of July. Some locations received more than that but since the crop is consuming water rapidly, there was room in the soil profile for most fields. Corn has pollinated well and grain fill will be commencing rapidly. Soybeans continue to set pods and are ahead of schedule in most fields. Small grains have been a mixed bag with spring wheat disappointing from a yield standpoint but the quality has been good. Oats have yielded well but the test weight is not heavy, not to be unexpected with the kind of heat we received on the tail end of the fill period.

The garden has really started to kick it in gear. String beans, both green and yellow made it worth my time to don the mosquito repellent and pick a couple 6 qt. buckets full. The cukes fired up too, with the first half dozen being consumed quickly, followed on their heels by another dozen with dozens more set that should be ready within a few days. More tomatoes are ripening too so BLT’s can’t be too far behind. Being slathered with repellent also made me feel brave enough to take on the weeds that had overgrown the onion patch. Since some of the weeds were so large, it made for an early harvest for some of the onions. Oh well, nothing wrong with cucumber and onions in vinegar or with sour cream is there? Sweet corn is available at the local sheep shearers. All these things make me a regular columnist.

Warm season grasses are heading and flowering as are many warm season plants. Just at the ranch alone, we have big bluestem, little bluestem, yellow Indiangrass and switchgrass all heading out. In lawns including ours at the ranch, crabgrass has made its lighter green presence known, especially after it gums the mower deck up. Wild bergamot and cup plants can be seen flowering in many CRP acreages across the countryside.

On the bird front, someone has taken the bullhorn away from the robins at the ranch. At least that’s the way it sounded some mornings. The wrens end up alone at the microphone as they start in shortly before 6 a.m. It’s still better than the robins and their 4:30 solos. Sadly the bluebirds that had taken a shine to the nesting box at the kindly neighbors had their box taken over by an over ambitious wren. I removed the twigs in disgust and now there’s a male house sparrow eyeing it. Nothing a BB gun won’t cure. The brightly colored male orioles at the ranch seem to have disappeared. However the youngsters are still hanging around, keeping the sugar water and jelly feeder hopping most of the day.

One can tell it’s moving towards late summer as the sounds of the katydids can be heard through the open windows after the sun disappears. Katydids are a strange looking grasshopper and cricket relative generally lime green with long back legs and antenna. They are more frequently heard however than they are seen and they are loud. Males produce the distinctive “katy-did, kat- didn’t” sound by rubbing their wings together to attract females. Katydids primarily feed on trees and shrubs and the damage their feeding causes is typically noneconomic. Some would argue the racket they make causes economic damage. It usually just makes a nice white noise backdrop to drift off to sleep for this ink stained wretch.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

There in my truck the dog and I…

The scurs were once again on their game with last week’s forecast. What sayeth the scurs for this week? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy, high of 85 and low of 60 – 65. Thursday and Friday, mostly clear with highs of 85 and lows of 60 – 65 both days. A slight chance of showers late Friday evening. Saturday, partly cloudy with an increasing chance of rain as the day wears on. High near 85 and low near 65. Sunday, partly cloudy with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. High of 85 and low of 65. Monday and Tuesday, warmer under mostly sunny skies. Highs near 90 and lows of 65 – 70. All in all a very seasonal weather pattern for early August. The normal high for August 7th is 83 and the normal low is 60. The scurs will be getting a cold fresh squeezed lemonade before seeing George Jones at the Freeborn Co. Fair.

The July weather we experienced was certainly a departure from what we’ve experienced the past couple years. Last year there were some days it didn’t get above 60 for a high and both of the previous 2 years were disappointing from a precipitation standpoint. Last year at the ranch we recorded a paltry 1.73” of precip for July. This year the tally was 6.07” and there were several reports of higher amounts than that. For the months of June and July, the total was 14.16”. Commercial canning company sweet corn harvest began in July and while yields weren’t fantastic, it’s not often we see it start this early. Much of the field corn last week was already milk stage and the soybeans were primarily R5 with pods beginning to fill. Last year we were starting to wonder whether or not the crop would make it to the finish line. What a difference a year makes.

Garden produce is abundant too and by the looks of things will only become more so. At the ranch the string beans continue to pump out buckets full with the cukes just starting to hit full stride. The melon crop took awhile to get its act together but there are plenty of melons being set along with loads of blossoms. There appear to be a lot of squash set and they’re almost full size. They’re also running out into the windbreak area to get away from each other. There are also some orange pumpkins although we cheat a little as Autumn Gold starts out yellowish-orange.

Elsewhere around the yard, the chokeberries were bountiful, making a surprising tasty snack while mowing the aforementioned windbreak. Apparently someone must’ve told the birds because they’re rapidly disappearing. The serviceberries suffered the same fate while the nannyberries while plentiful are still green yet. There was one plum on the little tree planted last year so was waiting with great anticipation to pluck it before the birds got to it. Too late. Took a look at one side of it and it looked perfect and the other had been taste tested likely by someone with feathers. The apples are not as abundant as last year and there is evidence of tampering there as well. Finding some half eaten apples scattered around the yard tends to make think something with 4 legs is one of the responsible parties.

Looks like we may be seeing the start of the hummingbird migration from the north. There was a male at the oriole feeder on Sunday. Up until then most of what we’ve seen has been female or young birds. Regardless, all of them love the pots containing coral nymph salvia, followed by petunias and impatiens for dessert. There are a few 4 o’clocks blooming now as well so that ought to keep them happy for awhile. The young orioles are continuing to eat their fill of jelly and sugar water daily. One wonders how much longer that will continue with the seasons being pushed along as fast as they are. The goldfinches must be nesting or close to it. The sunflower and thistle feeders are occupied primarily by males along with some rose-breasted grosbeaks and house finches. There is one late nesting wren that occupied an unused bluebird house. There were 7 eggs in the clutch when I checked last week. As prolific as they are, it’s no wonder it gets so loud around here come June.

Almost every farmer has one and I’m no exception: That rusty old pickup truck that still runs, smells like an old pickup, looks like heck and is a good candidate for a shedding dog to ride in. I was dirty and unkempt (this happens when you do it all) so I fired up the old ‘90 Dodge Saturday morning as it was easier than unloading the other truck to make a feed run. It was licensed, insured, tires were all up and it hadn’t been run for awhile so what the heck? As a puppy Ruby gets most of the attention so it’s only fair to take Gus along on these excursions. He loves to ride so we roared off, leaving a trail of black diesel exhaust behind us. Of course since the air conditioning wasn’t functioning and the temperature was climbing rapidly we had both windows rolled down.

This precipitated a dog hair tornado of major proportions inside the cab as we rolled along towards our destination. Sitting in the seat beside me with one ear up and one ear down, Gus panted happily as the people we met along the way waved at us and smiled. Upon arrival, after spitting out the Gus fur and scraping it off my unshaven face, I went inside to visit the proprietor of my favorite feed store. I always get a charge out of Jim, nothing pretentious or sugar-coated, what you see is what you get and he doesn’t judge, even if you’re covered with dog hair. Feed loaded and the world’s problems solved, we set out for home as the “hair-storm” commenced once again. Had some business to discuss so stopped at neighbor David’s on the way by. He kinda gave us the hairy eyeball when we first drove up, probably wondering what kind of circus freak show had just landed in his driveway. After an initial look of bewilderment, it didn’t take him long to figure out it was just his goofy neighbor and a shedding black and white Border Collie named Gus.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

And once you're gone, you can't come back

The scurs forecast of the heat wave was a little late but it came none the less. Will it last into this week? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with a decent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs of 85 – 90 and lows dropping to 65. Clear on Thursday becoming partly cloudy with a slight chance of evening showers. High reaching 85 again and low of 65. Partly cloudy Friday with increasing chances of showers and thunderstorms as the day wears on. 85 for a high with a low of 65. Saturday marks what could be a cooling trend with a slight chance of a shower and partly cloudy skies. High of 85 and low of 60. Sunday, partly cloudy, high of 80 and low of 50. Sunny skies both Monday and Tuesday with highs around 75 and lows of 50 – 55. The normal high for August 15th is 82 and the normal low is 59. On the 15th we will be down to 14 hours of daylight, about the same as we experience on April 27th. The scurs are taking a break from the fair circuit this week and sleeping in, taking advantage of a tardy sun rising now after 6 a.m.

In the fields more rapid progress as this crop is racing to the finish line, already. Was in a field of corn late last week that was denting. Granted it was 100 day corn planted early. However compared to where we were last year at this time, there’s no comparison. Soybeans too are far ahead of schedule across Greater Bugtussle, with some fields starting to reach past R5 and some early varieties planted early pushing R6. There should be ample time for one more cutting of alfalfa yet although the rainfall may have something to say about the tonnage that will be harvested. Rainfall accumulations in August have slowed somewhat as compared to July but there should be ample soil moisture for us to finish without needing a lot more rain. It’s a sign too that there is still a fair amount of corn left across the countryside as one can hear the bin fans running in the evenings in an attempt to cool down some of the corn that’s not keeping well. Most would agree, it would be nice to finally get the 2009 crop behind us, especially the corn that was a bear to store.

Used to be at the Mall for Men we knew it was sweet corn season by watching the sweat line on the water tower in the morning hours. Since the old water tower was torn down a few years back the little fat buddies have been scrambling to come up with another method. The discussion was that maybe we could tell by checking the sales of high end toilet paper at Wagner’s. Wouldn’t you know, recently we received a $1 off coupon for high end bathroom tissue in the mail. We may have a mole in our midst.

Hummingbird numbers continue to increase around the ranch. There is usually one sitting on the wire feeder hanger to protect his/her turf. The young orioles continue to gobble down nectar and grape jelly at a breakneck pace although there was a brightly colored male there recently. Peeked in the wren’s nesting box to see if they’d hatched and they were almost big enough to leave the nest. About all one could see was long beaks, feathers and eyes as I slowly closed the door on the nesting box.

There have been lots of questions about the abundant yellow butterflies, primarily where did they all come from. The obvious answer of course is from other yellow butterflies. Actually most are alfalfa butterflies also known as the Orange Sulphur. They are among the first butterflies to appear in the spring, with larvae feeding on alfalfa and other legumes like clover as well as soybeans. Orange Sulphurs will typically produce at least 2 generations per year at this latitude. Numbers are rarely high enough to cause economic damage in the midwest while they tend to be more of a concern in the southwestern US. The butterflies over winter as pupae and given the ample snowfall and depth last winter, chances are their overwintering survival was much better than usual.

The Pro Farmer Crop Tour is coming up so decided with the rain last Saturday it was time to enhance my tattered work wardrobe. Headed the soccer mom van down the road to the store where you go the bathroom in the silo with the orange roof on it. While going commando had crossed my mind, wearing underwear is unfortunately one of those necessary evils. There are some in the sock drawer that are probably illegal to wear in several states. At least they come in colors now which is a good thing. It’s a lot tougher to mess up if you have to do a few loads of laundry yourself as opposed to the days of the “tidy whities” and the dreaded pink underwear when something red snuck in there. Jeans were next on the agenda so shopped and found bargains even though my size is rarely available in all the different styles. I can see I definitely have to spend more time at the training table so I can fit into everything they have.

On to the shirts. There were so many to choose from but since I’m just going to beat the tar out of them anyway, it doesn’t pay to buy anything fancy. I do have to draw the line somewhere though. Found some shirts on the bargain racks where the colors were definitely not found in nature. I’m beginning to understand where some of the people on “What not to Wear” or those featured in those People of Wal Mart emails get their fashion sense. I mean who wouldn’t want a red and green striped shirt that makes you resemble a giant watermelon? Of course unlike women shopping at a ladies store, when a guy shops in a man’s store, it is never a wise idea to try any of this stuff on until after you get home. Why you ask? Because if it doesn’t fit it gives you a legitimate excuse to go back there. Since your primary mission won’t be to buy more clothes anyway, you’ll have more time to look at necessities like tools and weapons of mass destruction.

See you next week from the road…real good then.

[Dotch]

Old friends, old friends,
Sat on their park bench like bookends

The scurs were hitting on all cylinders once again with heat and rainfall coming as advertised. This forecast period? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with a chance of overnight showers. High of 85 and low of 65. Thursday, partly cloudy with a chance of showers increasing throughout the day. Highs 80 – 85 and lows of 60 – 65. Friday, partly cloudy with a chance of rain. Highs 80 – 85 and a low around 60. Partly cloudy Saturday, Sunday and Monday with highs of 80 – 85 and lows of 60 – 65. Tuesday mostly clear and humid. High of 85 and low dropping to 65. Normal high for August 20th is 81 and the normal low is 58. The scurs will be salivating over the wide array of edibles at the Steele Co. Fair.

The 24th marks the date of the Full Moon for the month of August. It is known by several names including the Full Sturgeon Moon, the Full Red Moon and the Full Green Corn Moon. The Ojibwe knew this as the Full Berry Moon, probably for the abundant blueberry crop they shared with the bears. The Sioux called this the Moon When Geese Shed Their Feathers and the Moon When Cherries Turn Black.
Crops continue to progress towards harvest at a rapid pace. Last year at the same time we were wondering if we were going to make it with corn still in the milk stage and soybeans exhibiting a lot of flat pods. Taking to the air this past week there is more nitrogen deficiency in the corn than we would’ve imagined. What kind of impact it will have on the yields won’t be known for certain however until the combines roll. The soybeans may be the Cinderella crop this season. They’ve had a rough couple seasons and are about due to let us know that we can still raise them in a profitable manner.

The soybeans have been loaded with all kinds of insects this year and there have been questions about yet another butterfly. The painted lady is medium sized butterfly that belongs to the same family of butterflies as the red admiral we’ve written about previously, the true brush footed butterfly family. These butterflies migrate in from the southern US and Mexico each season. The larvae feed primarily on thistles, mallow family plants but can also feed on legumes including soybeans. Rarely are they a problem unless an unusually large spring migration occurs. The larvae feed on soybean leaves and fasten them together with silk. The body is dark with yellow spots and has numerous spines covering the body. The butterfly itself has an upperside that is orange-brown with a darker wing base. The forewing has a black apex patch and white bar on leading edge. The hindwing has a row of 5 small black spots sometimes has blue scales. The underside has a black, brown, and gray pattern with 4 small eyespots.

Sadly we said goodbye to a couple of old friends in the wee hours of the morning this past Friday. The strong straight line winds that blew through the area snapped the large ash in the front yard at ground level and also uprooted the old spruce that was 60+ feet high on the side of the house facing the road. Both were a part of the landscape for many years. The ash was planted sometime back around 1964 as we have some black and white photos of the then freshly remodeled house. In front of it were two small whips, the one on the east being the female ash that was a fixture since that time. The orioles were extremely upset after sunrise Friday morning that the tree that had held their jelly feeder was horizontal and they spent much of the morning diving into it trying to locate their breakfast.

Difficult to tell exactly how old the spruce was but pictures from the 1950’s show the 2 spruce trees on that side of the house, looking almost as large as they did when the wind destroyed the first one in 1996 and now its mate in 2010. The tree was still very healthy and was a landmark when driving up the hill by the ranch. Like the ash it had been home and shelter to many of our feathered friends over the years. Sure, our house was damaged by another smaller tree that was snapped off and the house can be repaired. We’ve also planted a new windbreak and many other trees to supplement and replace some of the trees as they age. However in our lifetime there will be no replacing the loss of these two large trees that stood sentinel over the yard we call home.
See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Oh let the sun beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream…

The scurs were in the ballpark but didn’t quite grasp the heat we experienced over the past weekend. Let’s hope this forecast is closer to real time. Starting Wednesday and Thursday, mostly clear with highs of 75 – 80 and lows of 45 – 50. Friday, clear with a high around 80 and low of 60 – 65. Warmer Saturday and Sunday, highs of 85 and lows of 60 – 65. A slight chance of showers creeping on Sunday evening. Partly sunny Monday, high of 85 and low of 60 with a return of the humidity. Mostly cloudy on Tuesday with a good chance of thundershowers. Highs of 85 and lows dropping to a comfy 55 overnight. The normal high for August 26th is 79 and the normal low is 56. Speaking of August 26th, the scurs will be readying themselves for another foot long culinary delight at the Great Minnesota Get Together.

August 26th is one of those watershed days in terms of our late summer season. The sun will rise at 6:30 a.m. and will set at 8 p.m., making for 13 hours and 30 minutes of daylight. And that’s O.K. because on the 27th it will be over a full 2 hours less than at the summer solstice. The State Fair will be underway and that signals that the end of summer is nearing and autumn cannot be far behind. The largest planet Jupiter has made a showy appearance in the eastern sky if you go outside about 9 p.m. and look almost due east. About that same time if you look high in the northwestern sky, the Big Dipper continues to sink slowly closer to the horizon. If you’re lucky you may see a falling star from the tail end of the Perseid meteor shower as you sit on a blanket and put your arm around your sweetheart. Or in my case Gus and Ruby.

Crops continue to move along. The milk line is coming down rapidly on the corn which means we’re heading for a potentially much earlier harvest than what we had last year. Soybeans are almost entirely R6 with the exception of replants and soybeans planted after peas. SDS (Sudden Death Syndrome) continues to show up in more soybean fields and in a broader scope in those fields that were detected several years ago. This disease is caused by a soil borne fusarium fungus that infects the roots earlier in the plants development. It is expressed when the plants become stressed at a later date and the fungus gives off a toxin that basically shuts the plant down, suddenly. At present, there is no commercially available genetic resistance. There are differences in tolerance however so that will need to be part of the criteria when selecting a variety to plant on the field the next time.

Our garden woes at the ranch continue. The mosquitoes started it on the downhill slide and the recent hailstorm pretty well cooked the goose of the sweet corn with a little assistance from the raccoons. The squash and pumpkin vines took a major hit too although most of them were far enough along to assure we’d still have a decent crop. Same thing with the tomatoes. The produce may be marred with some pock marks but hopefully the insects and pathogens leave them alone until harvest. Fortunately the muskmelons and cukes were protected by the trees so they escaped relatively unscathed. Much of the rest of large plot has become infested with weeds to the point that I’m considering using a lawnmower or the brush blade on the weedeater to reel it back in. The orioles may have flown the coop after being without nectar or jelly for several days. The hummingbirds remain in their stead though, busily working over the flower pots and planters.

Another Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour is in the books once again. Seems like we just got over the 2009 version not all that long ago. We covered a lot of territory on the eastern leg, sampling corn and soybeans in fields through the best parts of OH, IN, IL and IA east of I-35. Essentially, when one adds up the numbers it amounts to a crop not all that different than what we had last year in terms of bushels nationwide. However, corn grain quality should be improved over 2009. As some of you can attest, that shouldn’t be too difficult.

Thank goodness for little fat buddies. On Saturday 2 of us did battle with the chainsaw on the ash tree the Friday the 13th storm knocked down and won. We were soaked with sweat because of the sun and suspect we would’ve both been on the verge of heat exhaustion had we not taken some breaks for water allowing our ageless bodies catch up. This gave us an opportunity to expand our minds as well. The little hackberry that was planted to the SE of the ash has already proven itself as shade tree as we sat in the lawn chairs underneath and admired the hackberry nipple galls on the undersides of the leaves. Doing my best Cliff Clavin impression, I explained to my little fat buddy, these galls are caused by psyllids or jumping plant lice, small native insects that resemble miniature cicadas. Adults are about 1/8” – 3/16th” long and emerge from the leaf litter in the spring. They deposit eggs as new leaves are opening. The eggs hatch and the nymphs feed on the leaves, with the gall measuring about 4mm wide by 6mm tall. Adults emerge from the galls in September then hibernate in crevices in the bark overwinter. Normally these insects aren’t economic but can cause premature leaf drop if they’re heavy enough. And here I bet he thought I was making this stuff up.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Don't sit down it's time to dig another one.

The scurs forecasting prowess was put to the test last week and they responded masterfully. A little more typical early September weather? Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy, high near 80 and low of 60 with an increasing chance of showers and thunderstorms by the evening hours. Partly cloudy Thursday, slightly cooler with a chance of some lingering showers. Highs around 75 and lows near 55. Clear to partly cloudy both Friday and Saturday with highs of 75 – 80 and lows of 55 – 60. A slight chance of an overnight shower Saturday or a morning shower on Sunday. Monday and Tuesday put us back into summer again. Highs 80 – 85 both days with lows of 55 – 60. A good chance of thunderstorms both days. Normal high for September 6th is 76 and the normal low is 51. The scurs will have had about enough State Fair and will be sipping coffee while watching those large yellow livestock carriers deliver the kids back to school.

It looks like we should be safe from the September 7th frost that would’ve been calculated from the date of the first thunder for the season. Seldom are such dire predictions right but when they are you can bet everyone will hear about it. As it is, as a result of last weekend’s blast furnace-like conditions, the crops have moved extremely rapidly toward maturity. As of last week already there were reports of early planted, early relative maturity corn that had reached maturity. The soybeans are turning in most fields too. There are areas in fields where that maturity has been hastened beyond what would be considered normal and there may be some pod and stem blight or another of the diaporthe fungal disease complex speeding things up prematurely. This is not the easiest of pathogens to diagnose as it doesn’t necessarily behave or look like the descriptions or pictures in the books. It does however lower yields in those spots. Fortunately thus far anyway, they are just localized spots. Rainfall for this past month of August up through the 30th has been of the pace of June and July, totaling just 1.83” at the ranch so far. We have dried out substantially.

We finally got some decent haying weather. After seeing hay most of the summer any color but green, this looks and smells just as good as I remembered. It was also just as much fun to stack as I also remembered. Say the words “baling hay” these days and youngsters look at you like you’ve suddenly come down with the plague and can find more reasons why “that just isn’t going to work out for them” than imaginable. In the old days growing up, we were always looking for ways to make some money and if baling hay was what it took, that’s what we’d do. Times have certainly changed. Maybe if they had a Wi-Fi version…

On a more positive note, the orioles have been back at the ranch this past week after their feeders ran dry for a spell. I put a dollop of jelly in each bowl one evening and the next morning they were back. Filled their nectar feeder too and that brought even more out of the woodwork. There were still some mature males as of this writing and their colors had to make me believe we’d be seeing leaves that color sooner than we’d like. Hummingbirds continue to work the planters and pots over during daylight hours as do the white-lined sphinx moths after dark.

Cantaloupe explosion in the garden upon my return from the State Fair. Picked and gave away as many as I could find takers for then butchered the rest, placing them in containers in the fridge. The size is amazing with some of them being larger than dodge balls. They taste a lot better than dodge balls however.

I’ve read some articles decrying the lack of toads and frogs around the countryside as downright criminal. Apparently they haven’t been to the ranch. Earlier in the summer there were scads of little toads, each small enough to sit on a dime. With all the rubble and refuse to hide under after the storm a couple weeks back, I probably fished a dozen small toads out from underneath and placed them in shady flower beds or other cool, damp places where they could escape the noon day sun. They’re about an inch long and an inch wide now. Mowing lawn later that day to keep the place from looking like an abandoned farm site, an equal number of frogs and toads were seen hopping out of the way from the unkempt grass. No deformities when examined, just normal frogs and toads. When not digging holes, Ruby is frequently scolded for playing with the bigger toads by the steps when we let her out for evening potty time. There are also large toads down by the barn where they can be spotted catching flies with a flick of their tongues.

Of course stories like these don’t sell papers or galvanize people into action to carry out someone else’s agenda, now do they? One thing we don’t see as many of at the ranch as when we first moved here is garter snakes. Others have said the same thing. I’m sure someone is convinced it’s something we’ve done that’s to blame so we should all have a rally at the capitol to support a ban on whatever someone is convinced is causing it. Not me. Bills to pay. Got a column to write, even if it doesn’t sell papers.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Here comes the rain again, falling on my head like a memory…

The scurs thermometer for the Labor Day holiday went a bit awry however the rain did threaten to make it a washout. Do we have a rainmaker this week? Starting with Wednesday, mostly sunny with a chance of evening showers. High of 70 and low of 55 - 60. Mostly cloudy Thursday with a good chance of rain. Highs of 70 and lows near 60. A chance of showers Friday with cloudy skies becoming partly cloudy by late afternoon with a better chance of an overnight shower or thunderstorm. High of 75 and lows around 55 – 60. Saturday, partly cloudy with a slight chance of showers in the morning then clearing by afternoon. High of 70 – 75 and low of 55. Mostly sunny on Sunday and Monday, highs of 75 and lows of 50 – 55. Partly cloudy on Tuesday with a good chance of developing showers and thunderstorms. High of 80 and low of 55 – 60. The normal high for Sept. 12th is 74 and the normal low is 49, about the same as we see on May 22nd. We slipped below 13 hours of daylight on the 6th and the autumnal equinox looms closer. Now another State Fair is in the books, the scurs will be tuning in to watch the Vikes attempt to avenge their NFC championship loss to New Orleans, who will be sans Darren Sharper.

With that upcoming equinox, farmers will be getting anxious to get their harvest underway. It’s coming but with a little slower pace since temperatures have moderated. That’s OK, there should be plenty of time barring unforeseen circumstances. We should be past the danger of a frost doing much to harm either the corn or soybean crop. As mentioned, symptoms of pod and stem blight can be identified in the soybeans. Fortunately the areas affected appear to be relatively minor in size. In the meantime, patience is a virtue.

Was finally able to saw up the storm casualty spruce tree despite its large size. Counting the rings on the tree, it appears to have been roughly 85 years old. Calvin Coolidge was President and we were in the middle of the Roaring Twenties. My Mom was born in 1925 so that was around the same timeframe as whoever planted the tree. Maybe someday someone will wonder who planted all the trees 85 years ago on the place here. I hope so. They’re growing well and are starting to have the desired impact. Odd the things one thinks about after running a chainsaw.

It appears the orioles may finally be gone for good this time. At both the ranch and my Mom’s place, neither of us had seen one since last Saturday. Although, one never knows. The last one seen at the ranch was wearing a little Brett Favre jersey. Oh well, we had them here from early May and the first part of September is about when we’ve generally seen them leave. Means more grape jelly for us. The swallow numbers continued to build last week and it will come as no great shock to go out for chores one September morning to find them gone too. Don’t even want to talk about the hummingbirds leaving yet. Am afraid a couple swans flying up off of the pond area may be a harbinger of things to come however.

Insects have been on the minds of many lately and judging by the bites apparently on many bodies. Yes, those late season mosquitoes are back with a vengeance, not messing around, just biting aggressively. Dragonflies at a recent plot tour just ahead of the thunderstorm on August 31st were absolutely amazing. There must’ve been over a thousand of them buzzing around eating whatever they could find. Their aerial display made it difficult to concentrate on what the speaker was presenting. A few minutes before the downpour they were gone, leaving us to fend for ourselves against the mosquitoes. Saw more lacewings in one place than I ever recall seeing. The sliding glass patio door was just covered one evening before a rain shower. And yes, those pesky ladybugs, namely the multicolored Asian ladybeetles are starting to appear in area houses. Hope you put out the welcome mat.

Despite the weedy mess it became later in the season, the garden continues to crank out produce. The cantaloupe crop has been nothing short of phenomenal and couldn’t believe my eyes when digging carrots. It had been many years since growing the last carrots so it was a pleasant surprise to see the long orange roots appear when lifting the soil with the potato fork. Not to knock store bought carrots but these were mighty tasty. There was even another picking of yellow wax beans, well after one would’ve guessed they were done. Before digging some onions and potatoes, decided it was a good idea to run the mower over those areas after raising the deck up as high as it would go. Made me smile to once again know where the rows actually were. Can save a lot of time digging that way.

At the Mall for Men the little fat buddies have been sequestered in the back corner of the newly established cubicle maze. Apparently the intent is to keep all that wisdom and knowledge from falling into the wrong hands. We were recently discussing the windmill project to the south and decided it wasn’t windy enough around Bugtussle proper to make windmills feasible. Others would argue that fueled by coffee, there’s plenty of wind at the Mall for Men especially in the morning on a rainy day.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Man, you been a naughty boy, you let your face grow long...

The scurs weren’t kidding about rain and as they predicted we saw some rain last week. Fortunately accumulations in and around Bugtussle weren’t excessive so few weekend plans were spoiled. This week? Starting Wednesday, cloudy with a good chance of showers with a possible thunderstorm. High of 65 and low of 50. Thursday, cloudy again, high of 65 – 70 and lows of 45. Partly sunny Friday, high of 65 and low of 45 with a slight chance of an overnight shower. Cloudy on Saturday with a chance of showers, highs near 65 and lows again in the 45 – 50 range. Still cloudy on Sunday with highs of 65 and lows near 50. Clearing on Monday and cooler. Highs near 70 and lows of 50. Cloudy and cooler on Tuesday with another chance for showers. Highs of 60 and lows around 40. Normal high for September 17th is 73 and the normal low is 47. These are roughly the same highs and lows we see on May 18th – 19th, the difference being that we have almost 2 ½ hours more daylight that time of year. Look for our sunrise to be back to 7 a.m. on September 21st. Jupiter is spectacular and is the first object seen in the early evening eastern sky. The scurs are predicting the Gophers vs. USC football game Saturday will be like watching Custer’s Last Stand.

Crops continue to mature although the cooler weather has certainly slowed progress, making some of the optimistic predictions that we’d see some soybeans harvested by Labor Day just that. Most corn has black layered and soybeans for the most part will be out of the woods concerning frost danger in about another week. Some of the 1.8 maturity beans will probably go next week or before. Soil moisture varies in areas. As one gets closer to Mankato, rainfall accumulations have nearly doubled what we’ve received at the ranch, making soils there saturated. With little crop uptake, days becoming shorter and average temperatures becoming cooler we start adding to the stored soil moisture for next year.

After cleaning up as many sticks, leaves and spruce needles, gave the lawn another shave. It’s face had grown fairly long, not an all bad thing after the warm summer. The crabgrass has begun to retreat and the cooler days have allowed the bluegrass to regain control once more. That’s the way farm yards work. Sure, you can make work out of it if you want but when you drive over it with a tractor, truck, skid loader, hay rack or a manure spreader you’re just thankful it’s green. Shouldn’t be too many more trips across the yard this season before the inevitable anyway. Pasture thistle mowing should be about history for another year at the ranch too. Most of the time mowing off biennial thistles such as bull thistles and musk thistles once they bolt and put on flower buds is enough to keep them at bay. This year variable time of emergence required repeat mowings to keep them at bay. Not just at the ranch but all over, yellow foxtail found something in the season that met with its favor too, crowding out some of the dormant cool season grasses when the weather was hot in August. The sheep aren’t fond of it so mowed that off also.

At the ranch the hummingbird numbers continue to swell. There are more now than at any time up to this point and it shows in the amount of sugar water being consumed. No jelly consumption so am assuming that unless the squirrels decide to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, the oriole feeder can come down for the season. Speaking of squirrels, they seem to be leaving the bird feeders alone at least temporarily. There’s suddenly plenty of ear corn to feed on and evidence of them feeding on the acorns from the red oak tree is fairly plain. Goldfinches continue to lose color although one of the still bright yellow males was investigated closely by a hummingbird apparently to see if he was a yellow 4 o’clock. He got all huffy and took exception to the intrusion which caused the hummingbird to zip away quickly to the safety of the nearest nectar feeder. There are still swallows gathering on the wires across the road from the ranch. Wonder if they can see the lid to the Weber grill that has been absent since the August 13th thunderstorm. A few robins have been passing through and the occasional bluebird here and at the kindly neighbors pasture too, their rather demure call to be heard on still mornings and evenings.

There are sign that fall is knocking on the door. The sumac has begun to blush on the road cut and the walnut trees have started to lose their leaves already. Hemp dogbane is yellowing up as are some of the grasses namely switchgrass and cordgrass. Nannyberry clusters continue to turn from a yellowish color dark blue, making for a tasty treat when performing one of those fall mowing expeditions. While the berries from the chokeberries were eaten long ago, their leaves are turning a flaming red. If these previews are any indication, we may experience some of the best fall colors in several years, that is if the autumn winds don’t blow them all away first.

Ruby is growing up. She’s a small dog, not just a puppy anymore. The focus when playing with a tennis ball has become an obsession. It does no good to try to distract her. Staring at a tennis ball for long spans of time until the ball is thrown is more than sufficient to her being. The holes she digs now versus what she could muster just a few months ago would make even J K Routh Construction proud. Gus even joins in for old times sake. The resulting craters in front of the house will be filled shortly before freeze up with the hope that neither Border Collie will be able to dig through the permafrost. At least not until spring anyway.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

No time for a gentle rain…

The scurs were on task last week, calling the cloudy, damp, cool weather about as expected. Do they see a repeat performance for this forecast period? We shall see. Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy becoming cloudy in the afternoon with a slight chance of rain during the day and a good chance of showers for the overnight hours. Highs 65 – 70 and lows of 55 – 60. Thursday, cloudy with a good chance of showers and thunderstorms during the day with showers decreasing by evening. High of 70 – 75 and low of 50 – 55. A welcome return to some sunshine under partly cloudy skies on Friday. Highs 65 – 70 and lows around 50. Partly cloudy Saturday with a slight chance of showers. High near 70 and low of 50. 3 nice cookie cutter days in a row for Sunday through Tuesday. Highs of 70 - 75 and lows of 50 – 55. The normal high for September 24th is 70 and the normal low is 45 so we should be seeing some seasonal weather with lows slightly above normal. While the autumnal equinox falls on the 22nd here, we actually don’t see our daylight slip below 12 hours until the 26th here. This will give the scurs plenty of twilight hours to find their old Brett Favre doll. Rather than stick pins in it like they did when he played for the cheeseheads, they’ll use a match instead to see if they can light a fire under him.

The Full Moon for September falls on the 23rd while the equinox actually falls on the 22nd here due to the Universal Time differential. The Full Moon for this September is the Harvest Moon as it is the Full Moon closest to the autumnal equinox. Some years it is known as the Full Corn Moon as this is the time the Indian tribes of the northeast harvested corn, beans, pumpkins and other staples for the long winter. The Ojibwe knew this as the Full Rice Moon as they would harvest wild rice in their birch bark canoes. On the prairies the Sioux called this the Moon of the Drying Grass as the native prairie grasses such as Big Bluestem, Little Bluestem and Yellow Indiangrass were mature. In the Bugtussle area this is known as the Moon of the Growling Combine as farmers curse the remaining green stems and pods on the soybeans.

Aside from the soybeans planted following peas, the vast majority of soybeans are close to combining. Notice I said close. The weather has been uncooperative and some of the stems and pods without a good hard frost have been stubborn about getting ready. This is probably a blessing in disguise for those who are tempted to harvest them anyway, throw some air on them and put them in a bin. Horror stories of later discovering those green pods have rotted out bin walls are all too common. There has been some hail damage to soybeans in the area that will cause people’s anxiety level to rise even higher if the season becomes more drawn out. With the first warm sunny day such as Monday afternoon, pods pop open on their own and shatter when the sickle or the bats on the reel come in contact with them. Where evident earlier the SDS spots are noticeable now as more weathered areas with pods and stems being a lighter color. Some early corn has been harvested. Yields have generally been very good with quality and moisture vastly improved over last year.

As of 9/20/10 the hummingbirds remain at the ranch. Monday morning was wondering if they were still around until noticing one foraging in the patch of blooming 4 o’clocks. Shortly after that another one appeared and the aerial acrobatics were on. Maybe one more partial batch of sugar water for them as October looms closer on the horizon. A few swallows still drifting through yet as one drives the area, however the large groups appear to have vanished. Some nuthatches, red-bellied woodpeckers, blue jays and flickers are commonly seen in the backyard now that the leaves are beginning to turn. Speaking of turning, the goldfinches have all but lost their yellow plumage now, coming in droves and nearly covering the ground beneath the sunflower feeder. It won’t be long and the leaves will join them.

Ruby continues to learn new and useful tricks like how to take naps on a drizzly weekend afternoon. After eating a little lunch, tune the TV to a lopsided or boring football contest (the Gophers or Vikings have qualified recently), turn the sound down to a murmur then climb into the recliner. Trouble is the rate Ruby’s growing it won’t take long and the two of us won’t fit anymore. She’s also getting fussy about which teams she watches, requesting a Twins dog collar after we purchased her a nice new purple one for her. Somehow Bert Blyleven and Richard Bremer seem to put her right out.

A friend of ours from Chatfield was by on Saturday to pick up a ram for fall again. He got another natural (black) colored Cheviot from us and like those we’ve raised in the past, this one was equipped with overdrive. After beating on us to the point we were gasping and wheezing to catch our breath, Gary and I wrestled him to a standoff, setting the ram on his behind to trim his feet. A freshly trimmed set of wheels for trooping up and down the hilly limestone outcroppings while following his harem should be just what the doctor ordered. We were just thankful the ram went in the trailer and neither of us wound up needing to see a doctor. In the hillside pasture at the ranch the ewes have been enjoying their melon rinds and the last of the leaves from the storm damaged boxelder trees sawed up over the weekend. See? Boxelder trees are good for something..

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

This is the mystery of the quotient - Upon us all a little rain must fall.

The scurs were successful in getting Brett Favre fired up after lighting a match to his backside. They also predicted the rains as forecast and am quite sure most had wished they’d missed. The upcoming forecast period should help. Starting Wednesday, mostly sunny with highs around 75 and lows of 45 – 50. Thursday and Friday, clear, highs of 65 – 70 and lows of 45 – 50. Mostly sunny Saturday through Monday. Highs of 65 and lows around 40 – 45 with frost possible on Saturday night.  Warmer on Tuesday with highs reaching 70 and lows of 50. The normal high for October 1st is 68 and the normal low is 42, much the same as we see the latter part of the first week in May. Sunset will occur at 7 p.m. CDT on the 28th, 2 hours later than what we experienced during the summer solstice. This week the scurs expect to lounge on the porch swing while watching the trees turn and take in all the sunshine, if the ladybugs leave them alone that is.

After barely getting a start in areas, farming came to a screeching halt last Wednesday with the onset of a record breaking storm that deposited over 11” in parts of the area and 8.13” at the ranch. In town it’s hard to say because there is every kind of rain gauge known to man, each differing in their degree of accuracy. Incidentally, those Pioneer rain gauges will hold about 7.8” of rain total even though the markings stop at 5.5”. Here again just how accurately the gauge is calibrated may be in question. Trust me on this one; it wasn’t a rainfall amount contest you wanted to win for bragging rights. Coming to town and seeing the streets lined with refuse and people’s ruined belongings piled up was about enough to make one wonder how something like this could happen. Crops are still submerged in places and it’s anyone’s guess exactly how much and  what kind of damage we’ll see once we get back into the fields in earnest. Scuba gear is still at the cleaners.

Looks like the last of the hummingbirds may have left the ranch. Saw what was likely the last one on Saturday the 25th. None on Sunday or Monday so unless they make a curtain call, it was probably the last we’ll see until spring. Lots of robins moving through right now, gobbling down earthworms and picking at the nannyberries in the yard. The pheasants have shown up in the yard again and are using the shrubby plantings as anticipated as a corridor between heavier cover. Some of the stubby tailed young roosters are getting cocky (no pun intended), strutting out a bit too far where the red-tailed hawks could potentially draw a bead on them. Adjacent to the pond in neighbor David’s field, Sunday night a pair of sandhill cranes was making their presence known about dusk with their almost prehistoric sounding call echoing off his buildings in the hollow. On the pond itself 4 blue-winged teal took flight, rapidly disappearing into the dimming evening sky.

The garden is waning as fall progresses. Still, it’s fun to go out to see what one can scavenge from its remains. Found several cucumbers that looked like they might be OK yet. Sure enough, there were no seeds, they were crisp and sweeter tasting than many of those picked in August. Tomatoes are getter harder to find and when I do find them, they seem to spoil more rapidly than their predecessors. Somehow it doesn’t stop me from looking. Took a gamble (fruit is a gamble) on some of the remaining muskmelon and was handsomely rewarded. Some of the ugly duckling cantaloupe left in the patch have been extremely tasty, much too good to throw over the fence to the sheep. Once it dries up a bit it’ll be time to finish digging the spuds, carrots and beets as well as gathering the remaining vine crops. By next weekend the fall colors should be more intense making the task a little more enjoyable.
     
Moles have been on my mind lately. Actually they’ve been on the newly landscaped slope on the south side of the house. They’ve managed to make a mess of things to a certain extent so want to get them out of there before winter sets in before they really screw it up. Have weighed all the options and even watched Caddyshack for some pointers. Unfortunately, moles are a little more difficult to deal with than the occasional pocket or striped gopher that shows up in the yard. Moles feed primarily on grubs and earthworms so am sure given the high organic matter content of the composted manure in the area of concern that’s likely what they’re after.

Doing a little research the best approach may be to trap them. One needs to understand the little beasts before engaging them in combat. First, every once in awhile moles will make a mound or a “molehill”. These mounds are typically connected to deeper tunnels and nesting cavities. Second, moles consume somewhere between 70 – 100% of their body weight on a daily basis. This is why the series of surface tunnels is so extensive. They are also capable of digging about 1 foot per minute. When trapping, it’s important to identify the surface runs that are being actively used by poking some holes in them with a stick to see if they are filled back in with soil. If so, for a harpoon trap such as the one I have, one needs to smash down a small area on top of the ridge on an active tunnel and set the trap accordingly. A fairly comprehensive reference on controlling moles from the University of Nebraska can be found at: http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/pages/publicationD.jsp?publicationId=1234

Still not 100% convinced this is going to work. If you hear a loud series of explosions somewhere east of Bugtussle you’ll know it didn’t.

See you next week…real good then.

[deadeye]

I had moles at a previous residence.  After a couple years of battling, I gave up and moved.

[Dotch]

lol! They've hit the pause button this week and haven't made any new runs or filled in the holes I made to try to locate them. After I read your post I had visions of packing my belongings in the Studebaker and heading for Zerkel.

[Dotch]

Seasons change and so did I...

The scurs got the sun and the Saturday night frost right making the growing season all but complete for another year. What does the next forecast period hold? Wednesday brings sunny skies with a high of 70 and a low of 45. Clear on Thursday with highs again around 70 and lows of 45 – 50. Clear to partly cloudy Friday through Sunday with highs reaching 75 and lows bottoming out in the 50 – 55 range. Columbus Day mostly sunny with a high near 70 and a low of 45 – 50. Clouding up on Tuesday with a chance of an afternoon shower or thunderstorm. Highs of 65 and lows around 45. The normal high for October 8th is 65 and the normal low is 39. The scurs will have the umbrella at the ready. After September they’re not taking any chances.

We’re coming off what was a record for precip in many locations across the state. At the ranch we garnered 12.51” for the month, 15” less than the 12.66” recorded at the SROC in Waseca. Still, harvest progress was made in area fields with soybeans coming off where field conditions allowed. Yields have been somewhat of a mixed bag. Remember that pod and stem blight we wrote about a few weeks back? That along with several other diseases including anthracnose have shown some negative impact. Other places especially those where soybeans have been planted after several years of corn yields have been fantastic with some plots topping out over 70 bu./acre. Not a lot of corn harvest activity yet as of this writing but there are fields that farmers will go after as soon as they’re done harvesting soybeans.

In the heavens, we’re still getting a great show from Jupiter, rising in the east, visible and shining brightly in the E-SE sky an hour or later after sundown. The Big Dipper has assumed the position in the NW sky associated with autumn. Here in Bugtussle on the planet earth, this week we’re seeing fall colors changing rapidly and it will probably mark our peak color. Bluebirds continue to move through as do small groups of robins, grackles and red-winged blackbirds. Goldfinches have mysteriously disappeared from our feeders at the ranch, replaced with a smattering of house finches. The nuthatches don’t mind not waiting for a perch from which to pluck a sunflower seed. A male red-bellied woodpecker helps himself to the ear corn when the squirrels aren’t monopolizing the cobs.

In the insect world boxelder bugs are making their presence known at the Mall for Men. If harvest wasn’t messing things up the little fat buddies would probably be hosting legalized gambling for boxelder bug racing. And of course who can forget the lovely multi-colored Asian ladybird beetles? Given the warm weather forecast, it would probably be wise to stay away from white houses with south facing exposures the rest of the week. There are still some fun insects to watch though, namely the white-lined sphinx moths that continue to work over the petunias, morning glories, 4 o’clocks and salvia both at the Mall for Men as well as at the ranch. One was spotted the evening of October 4th even after Sunday morning’s frost.

Mushrooms seem to be showing up all over this year and September was good for some of the edible types. Recently found several hen of the woods and there have been plenty of giant puffballs in our pasture at home. Both of these are edible although usually by the time I find the puffballs, they’re past their prime and full of spores making them potentially dangerous to eat. Finding some pleurotus or oyster mushrooms would be the icing on the cake. Some types tend to like cottonwood stumps and there are several still living candidates for cottonwood stumps around the ranch.

Some have brought mushrooms they’ve found growing their yards into the office and about all I can say is if you don’t know what they are or if someone who may or may not know tells you better to be safe than sorry, it’s probably good advice. I have eaten several types of wild mushrooms, all legal of course, but I always make sure I’m absolutely positive before eating them. One of the most common mushrooms that is edible is the inky cap. These come up all over the place after a rain, in yards, manure piles, in the woods, pasture etc. One small problem though: By themselves, eaten early in their lifecycle they are not poisonous. However, if consuming alcohol within a few hours of consuming the inky caps, the interaction probably won’t kill you but may make you wish you were dead.

Ruby and Gus have been reveling in the recent nice fall weather. Cool mornings make them uncoil like a couple springs and sunny, dry days are ideal for them to be outside exercising. They’re become great playmates with Ruby’s youth having rejuvenated Gus. They take turns digging the same holes and seem to really enjoy bluffing and pretending to herd each other around the yard. Ruby is showing signs of being one intense little red and white Border Collie. Watching those eyes fixate on a tennis ball, you’d swear she could burn holes through plate steel or at very least bend spoons. Let’s just hope someday she can convince the sheep she’s capable of that.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Let’s change the mood from glad to sadness…

The scurs were apparently unaware that the thermometer went over 80 degrees in October. Does this mean that they don’t know it goes below – 30 in January? Let’s not go there just yet and instead focus on the weather at hand. Starting Wednesday, mostly clear. Highs of 60 – 65 and lows around 40. Thursday, mostly clear, high near 60 and overnight lows of 40 – 45. Friday and Saturday, clear. Highs around 70 and lows of 40 – 45. Becoming partly cloudy on Sunday, daytime high of 65 and low again of 40 – 45. Mostly cloudy on Monday with a chance of showers. High near 60 with lows of 35. Cloudy on Tuesday with a chance of rain. High of 50 and low of 35. The normal high for October 15th is 61 and the normal low is 37. The scurs are looking at donating some glasses to Major League Baseball for the umpires.

What a difference a year makes. Thanks to the phenomenal dry, warm weather since the flooding, harvest progress continues to rock on. Some corn is now coming out of the fields the 13 – 14% range, dry enough so it can just be dumped straight in the bin in many cases. Unheard of for the 2nd week in October in MN. Corn yields are coming in above expectations for many and with the markets doing what they did last week, that’s a bonus for area farmers. Soybean harvest has all but been wrapped up and the results were good although perhaps not as spectacular as initially hoped. Seed size turned out to be smaller than expected and that kept many from realizing those expectations. Fall phosphorus and potassium fertilizer is being applied however it is still too early and soil temperatures are still well above the 50 degree mark.

Still plenty of insect activity to go around as well as some tick activity if one wants to go looking for them. The insects we seem to like to call “no-see-ems” are essentially minute pirate bugs. The warm weather has made them very active and the lack of sources of food such as aphids has made them more than willing to taste test your flesh. Fruit flies are present in many houses including the one at the ranch. They generally like to reproduce inside of beverage containers that haven’t been rinsed out or on some decaying vegetable matter stuck deep in the bowels of a wastebasket someplace or in some instances, down behind it. Pretty simple solution for controlling them: Remove their food source and they eventually die off. Of course in the winter, it’s more entertaining to go out side when it’s below zero and open the garbage can and rap on the side just to see them attempt to fly off. They generally don’t get too far. Deer ticks were noted on a recent grouse hunting trip to suburban Zerkel with the Boy Entomologist. We probably picked 60 – 70 off his dog Curly and treated them to a dip in some Coleman lantern fluid. Better than wasting perfectly good alcohol on them.

Bird activity has been somewhat slower than anticipated so have been able to stretch the remaining black oil sunflower seed supply a while longer. Goldfinches are still absent although the slate colored juncos have reappeared. One interesting development was the hummingbird that showed up back on October 5th and 6th. Saw it first on the 5th so cleaned up the feeders and restocked them with fresh nectar. There were still some salvia blooming yet so it took advantage of them as well. After the 6th, they haven’t been spotted again so while anything is possible, it’s likely this may have been their curtain call referred to a few weeks ago.

It seems impossible after writing last week’s column to be writing what I’m about to write: We lost our Border Collie Gus last Friday after he’d had what was to be the last of the seizures that had plagued him portions of the last 4+ years of his life. Perhaps he was living on borrowed time, it’s hard to say. When he was a puppy he was diagnosed with a disorder of the soft palate, which didn’t allow him to swallow properly. We were asked at that time if we wanted to put him down or if we were willing to take the chance on what could be a rough road ahead should food be aspirated into his lungs. He had such personality already at that time we had no choice. We took the chance and while the problem was still evident, it never caused him to be ill. The seizures started when he was about 3 and while at first they were more frequent, they seemed to be becoming less violent and less frequent, completely gone for almost a year at one point so we opted not to put him on medication. Those events aren’t what we’ll remember this very special dog by however.

Gus always loved people and we often wondered if he could’ve been one of those therapy dogs to be taken anywhere someone needed to be cheered up because that’s what he always did for us. With that one-ear-up, one-ear-down and tongue hanging out appearance, he always looked just like something out of a Gary Larson cartoon. When one of us was sick, he’d come and lay beside us to keep us company. Gus loved to go for rides and was a frequent passenger on trips to the feed store, the office, or virtually any shopping trip. His coat was beautiful and he liked to share it, leaving lots of hair behind him wherever he went. That heavy coat was always nice when he’d “help” water the sheep, putting his front feet up on the panel and sidling up beside you while you filled buckets with the hose. If your hands were cold it was a treat to dig your fingers into that thick fur to warm them up. He loved it too, wagging his tail and panting his approval.

Like most Border Collies, Gus was very much a creature of habit. It’s difficult not to see him come trotting out from under the garage door anymore when it’s opened, waving his big feather duster tail back and forth. Once the vehicle was inside, Gus would put his paws on the running boards or rocker panels and wait to be petted while looking at you with those big, soulful eyes. It didn’t matter how rotten your day might’ve been, you couldn’t resist petting him and talking to him. Thing of it was, he probably understood more of what was said than some humans I know. Ruby of course is missing him too. This was the “big brother” figure whom she followed and worshipped from the very start. And he tolerated her “puppy-ness” to a point, putting her in her place with a minimum amount of force rather than tearing her apart. As I wrote last week they’d become great playmates and Ruby still waits for him to come out at choretime. The morning Gus fell ill, toenails clicking on the floor, he made his way to wake up Jo the way he’d done for years. Oh sure, we’ll all get over it and move on without Gus but we’ll never forget the wonderful 7 years he gave us.

See you next week…real good then.

[Randy Kaar]

Sorry to hear of your loss...

randy

[Dotch]

You can’t conceive of the pleasure in my smile…

The scurs came survived another week of severe clear and are trying to figure out how to bottle some of this nice weather for sometime in January, so far unsuccessfully. Meanwhile, the Wednesday weather looks like mostly clear skies with a high around 65 and a low of 35 - 40. More clear skies on Thursday, highs 55 - 60 and lows of 30 - 35. Clear and 55 - 60 again on Friday with a low around 40. Cloudy and slightly cooler on Saturday, high of 55 and low of 40 with a slight chance of rain overnight. Sunday, cloudy once again with a chance of rain. Highs around 55 and lows near 40. Partly cloudy Monday, highs of 55 and lows of 40 with a chance of showers. Tuesday, mostly cloudy with showers possible. Highs of 60 and lows of 35. The Full Moon this October occurs on the 22nd with the normal high being 57 and the normal low 34. These are the same temperatures we experience in mid-April, the difference being we are losing 3 minutes of daylight per day whereas in mid-April we are gaining about that same amount. As of the 16th we are below 11 hours of daylight and the sun is now rising after 7:30 a.m. CDT. With all that cheery news, the scurs may hibernate until the days become longer or at least until the Halloween candy shows up.

The Full Moon for the month will occur on the 22nd and is very aptly named the Full Hunters Moon. This was the time the pioneers and Indians alike used to build their meat supplies for the winter. With bison, deer, grouse, squirrels, etc., they had plenty of high protein, low fat food to pack away. That hunting tradition in October continues today. The Ojibwe knew this as the Falling Leaves Moon and the Sioux called it the Moon of Falling Leaves or the Changing Season Moon. Fortunately for them leaf blowers had not been invented yet or it may have cut into their hunting.

More excellent conditions for fieldwork this past week. Hard to believe the contrast between the months of September and October. As of this writing, we have not recorded any measureable precipitation at the ranch for the month and there have only been a couple days where a trace fell. Most corn is very dry and much of it is being dumped straight into the bin. The grain quality has been far better than anticipated and coupled with the low moisture, it’s been putting a smile on everyone’s face with the exception perhaps of the LP man. Lines at the elevator have been long at times however the speed at which the 10 man dryer is running appears to be keeping the wait to a minimum. With the weather continuing to hold, fall tillage has been running at a breakneck pace. It’s possible that many operations will be completely done with harvest, fertilization and tillage by Halloween, unheard of in MN.

At the ranch we continue to thunder along towards winter. Screenings need to be fetched from the kindly neighbors but first a trip to Crazy Boyd was necessary to get the wagon back in running order. Funny the damage the wind can do when tossing a wagon end over end. Found several tomatoes yet on the container plants by the barn so harvested them. For some odd reason they appear to be keeping instead of rotting this time. Some of the potatoes are not so fortunate. All the squash, pumpkins and gourds are piled outside yet it won’t long and they’ll need to be hauled in. The carrots and beets are about all that remain. Mice are moving in as an inspection of the bait boxes indicated. A sphinx moth was still flying around the lights in the barn the evening of the 18th and there are a few mosquitoes looking for one last meal before they cash it in. Bluebirds continue their migration and Sunday afternoon a host of cedar waxwings were in the yard sampling the crabapples. Leaf rust on bluegrass has been prevalent not only in our lawn but in many area lawns across the country, thanks in part to the heavy rains we had in September followed by the dry weather since that time.

Haven’t written much for awhile about the wetland as the mosquitoes were nearly impossible to deal with down there much of the summer. However, now that fall has arrived, they’ve mellowed out and it’s made it a fun place to visit once again. Was fortunate enough to be asked to host another waterfowl hunt for Outdoors on the Farm by Chip Flory only this time, he brought his daughter Emily and black Lab Remington along. We filmed a hunt on Saturday morning and the weather made it one of those typical bluebird fall days we’ve experienced much of October, complete with real bluebirds. A single young drake mallard Chip nicknamed Daffy showed up early on and was the only duck I’ve ever seen land in the grass behind the decoys down there. We kept an eye out for him and in the meantime visited as the time flew by.

As we got closer to the time to tape some interview material, Chip and Emily decided it was time to jump shoot the duck as he hadn’t reappeared. While they were on their way over to roust Daffy where he’d been seen last, a great blue heron glided in suddenly and landed in the shallows off to the side of the decoys. He must’ve been there nearly 10 minutes without seeing us which is odd as they generally are very wary. This is one reason sometimes waterfowlers will set a heron decoy in a small wetland as it can give ducks and geese a false sense of security. Who needs a decoy though when one can have the real thing? The heron finally decided this wasn’t his cup of tea and departed. Shortly afterwards the drake got up and Chip got a good shot off knocking him down. Remington sprang into action and after Daffy dove while performing evasive maneuvers, he managed to finally corner him in the reeds and brought him to Chip. Not bad for his first ever water retrieve. We were all pumped after that including the cameraman. It sure brought a smile to my face. Not only had it been a near perfect, relaxing morning in terms of enjoying the outdoors, seeing someone get a nice young duck was just icing on the cake.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Looks like we're in for nasty weather…

The scurs oversaw another week of great weather as well as the showers that occurred over the weekend and early week. What’s on tap for this go round? The scurs will tell all. Starting Wednesday, cloudy with a chance of showers during the daylight hours and a slight chance of snow overnight. High of 45 and low of 30. Partly cloudy Thursday with highs once again of 45 and lows around 30. Friday, partly cloudy and warmer. Highs of 50 – 55 and lows of 35. Warmer still on Saturday, partly cloudy, highs of 60 and lows around 40. For Halloween, partly cloudy, high of 55 cooling dropping down to 40 overnight. Monday, partly cloudy skies, a slight chance of a rain, highs of 50 - 55 and lows of 30. Cloudy with a chance of rain on Tuesday. Highs of 50 - 55 and lows of 30. The normal Halloween high is 51 and the normal low is 25 – 30. The scurs are taking no chances. They’ll be washing the Halloween chocolate off their fingers on Nov. 2nd before marking their ballots.

Who’d a thunk it? After the September 22nd – 24th rainfall event that caused major flooding across much of the area, harvest is winding to a close. There are still a few fields of corn standing and small areas where soybeans were in standing water when the rest of the field was harvested. With no measureable precip being recorded until the 23rd at the ranch, it has been one for the record books. Some anhydrous ammonia has already been applied but this was probably not an informed management decision. Remember those September rains mentioned at the top of the paragraph? Yes, the soil surface has dried remarkably but we’ve had little plant uptake since that time so the soil profile is still at or near capacity below the top 6”. Data from the SROC in Waseca indicated that soil temps have been running about 5 degrees above average until recently and the date at which our soil temps get to the magical 50 degree mark and stay there is October 29th. Plus, there is growing evidence that spring applied nitrogen out-yielded fall applications this past growing season. Not advocating putting all one’s N on in the spring, however waiting until the end of October or later would probably be in the best interest of individuals if they want to maximize profit and markedly reduce the risk of nitrogen loss.

On the bird watching front, the winter contingent continues to settle in. More cedar waxwings made their way through sampling more of the crabapples and remaining nannyberries. A large group of juncos has set up shop, taking a shine to the leftover plants in the small garden. This must be the overwintering hangout for the huge blue jays as they’re back in force once again. Some loyal house finches have been around for a week or so and the ever faithful nuthatches are defying gravity up and down the limbs of the ash trees. Even the goldfinches are starting to reappear again with one lone customer Sunday morning, followed by several more guests at the thistle feeders in the afternoon. The fox squirrels have been busy stuffing their faces too, no to mention burying kernels of corn around the yard they too like the crabapples, reminding me of the gray squirrels we used to watch out the window at college when we were supposed to be paying attention to a boring lecture. By this time of year the crabapples had fermented to the point that the alcohol content apparently was pretty high. The squirrels took a shine to them, managing to get a pretty good shine on, then fell out of the trees. This source of amusement made the time in class go much faster although it probably didn’t improve our test scores.

The warm temperatures have also brought about some rather unusual observations at the ranch. 4 o’clocks are still blooming, somehow having escaped the wrath of Jack Frost. Typically by this time they look like deflated partly balloons. Saturday’s showers held off long enough for me to dig the beet and carrot crop. After starting out cloudy, the sun burst through and warmed things up so clothing had to be peeled off. As an added bonus, another dozen or so tomatoes were discovered in the main garden that had been hidden under some of the dense foliage (and weeds). Coupled with the container tomatoes, there were enough to last us well into November. Usually when we give up on the tomatoes as we did this year the frost gets them long before late October. Earlier in the day, had spotted a small toad still out hopping around by the barn. As the day warmed, noted several more not only by the barn but in the garden areas as well. Something tells me that they’ll probably be burrowed into the moist soil soon so chances of seeing them in another month will be slim.

Growing up on the farm, waiting until the garden had frozen was one of the things we looked forward to. No more weeding or picking, just allowing those cucumbers, melons and tomatoes to reach the absolute peak of their mushiness for throwing at each other. Still recall staying at a friends place and “helping” him clean off the garden. We were maybe 11 or 12 at the time at the time and he happened to have a couple little shavers for neighbors, 6 or 7 years younger, who made excellent targets. They were also easily provoked, chasing us and firing decaying vegetables with reckless abandon. Parked in the neighbor’s garage was a then brand new, huge white 1970 Buick Electra 225 convertible with a black top. It was an absolute beast! The walk-in garage door was open, making an excellent place to duck into and escape their not so friendly fire. While racing through said garage, one of the rotten tomatoes found its mark, directly on the passenger side door of the big Buick. Kenny and I thought it was hilarious until we determined the stain wouldn’t come off. We quickly called a truce, slipped away next door and nothing more was said. Later the next summer during the Dairy Days parade, the Electra happened to be carrying one of the area’s young lovelies in the procession. You guessed it, the tomato stain was still there as the convertible made its way by us. Imagine that, I thought to myself. Jeff’s errant throw would not be soon forgotten, at least until the car was traded off.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

When all the leaves are brown
And the wind blows (so chill)

After surviving the wind and cool temperatures, the scurs settled in to enjoy the nice fall weather again. What’s in store this forecast period? The scurs will divulge the answer. Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy with highs of 50 - 55 and lows in the mid - 30’s. Thursday, partly cloudy. Highs around 40 and lows near 25. Clearing on Friday and cooler. Highs struggling to reach 40 and lows dropping to 25. Mostly sunny on Saturday and warmer, highs around 50 and lows of 30 - 35. Sunday and Monday, warmer, partly cloudy, highs 50 - 55 and lows of 35 - 40. Partly cloudy Tuesday with highs around 50 and lows near 35. Normal high for November 7th is 46 and the normal low is 27, much the same as we experience in late March. On the 4th, the sun will set at 5 p.m. CDT and on the 7th the sun will rise at 7:01 a.m. CST with our daylight hours shrinking back to below 10 hours. The scurs will be relishing that extra hour of sleep on Sunday after getting up at 2 a.m. to change their clocks back and hour, as dictated by the government.

What a difference a month makes! September brought with it record rainfall and up until the gale force winds and rain of last week, we saw no measurable precip until the 23rd. From the 23rd – 28th we tallied 1.38” of rain, with less than that falling in Bugtussle proper. The storm that ran from the 26th – 28th turned out to be quite the system however, breaking the previous low barometer reading at the ranch that had been set during the Halloween blizzard of ’91. Not that our barometer is on a par with the more precise instruments used by the National Weather Service but it read an incredibly low 28.10 this past October 26th. When first looking at it, suspected it was broken until those television blow combs began touting the low readings being tabulated across the state. Sustained winds of 30 – 40 mph were common, making leaf raking and removal of those political candidate signs unnecessary. It was already done for you! The scary thing: Afterwards, there was a little snow in the valley between rooflines on the north side of the house. Not a good sign.

It has been one of those autumns for the record books. If the weather holds, it give one time to get caught up on some of those jobs that were put off this summer simply because the weather or the mosquitoes were so awful you couldn’t get them done. That and harvest was hot on the heels of a warm summer. With harvest being completed so quickly it has allowed some time at the ranch to take care of more of the storm damage and think about working seriously on the Studebaker once again. Not that there haven’t been some baby steps made most of the summer off and on, parts ordered and the like, but hopefully we can have that little Stude flathead 6 up and running before year’s end. The nice weather also has made for a little time to work with Ruby on some rope training. Hopefully no one will attempt to persuade me that since I have a little free time on my hands and I’m not at work, I should be spending it on their pet project. I have added a new word to my vocabulary and that word is “No”.

On the bird watching front, it appears the northern ducks have started to make their way down. Big mallards have been spotted on the pond and elsewhere. Killdeers were still in the Little Jerusalem area as of November 1st. Took down the nectar feeders just in the nick of time ahead of last weeks storm. More goldfinches are appearing and the junco numbers are at an all time high. More of the little cedar waxwings too and with the nannyberry supply depleted, they’ve focused their full attention on the crabapples. There are still insects out and about even after the hard freezes last week. A Carolina grasshopper flew out of one of the planters at the Mall for Men Nov. 1st to go along with all the boxelder bugs sunning themselves on the south side of the building. Over the weekend the little pink native ladybugs, (Coleomegilla maculata) were busy swarming around the clumps of grass left at the base of the trees as I was mowing the lawn and grinding up the leaves. One more good reason not to get the weed eater out to finish the trimming.

Since it’s impossible to send a personal thank you to all those expressing their condolences on Gus’s passing, I’d like to thank you all here. It was a tough loss and as we said before, he will not soon be forgotten. Ruby has carried on well in his stead, having to grow up in a hurry. Oh sure there’s still a lot of puppy left in her as witnessed by seeing her carry her favorite tennis ball wherever she goes around the house. The other day while washing my hands, she happened by and after hearing a splash discovered she had deposited her ball in the toilet. Some people have toilet books and now Ruby has a toilet ball! Still there are days we see glimpses of the dog she may turn out to be, especially while rope training her. Some of that focus so evident when playing ball with her shows up when the light suddenly comes on and you can see she “gets it”. This is important not only for my own selfish reasons (the other end of the pasture gets farther away every year) but also for her own benefit. If one of these sessions keeps her from getting out in the road or to avoid other such catastrophes it will have been time well spent.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

How soft your fields so green, can whisper tales of gore…

With the scurs missing the highs by nearly 10 degrees for the early week, they’ll take that kind of error this time of year. Well rested after the time change, nothing but more deadly accuracy should be expected with this next forecast. Starting Wednesday, mostly cloudy in the morning becoming partly cloudy with a slight chance of showers. Highs of 55 – 60 and lows around 35. Thursday, partly cloudy, a high near 50, a low around 30 with a good chance of overnight rain and snow showers. Cloudy on Friday with a good chance of showers during the day with a slight chance of overnight snow showers. Highs of 45 and lows of 25. A slight chance of showers on Saturday with highs around 40 and lows near 25. Sunday and Monday, mostly cloudy with a slight chance of showers on Monday. Highs both days around 40 and lows of 20 – 25. Tuesday, partly cloudy, with a high of 40 and a low around 20. The normal high for Veterans Day is 44 and the normal low is 25. In other words, unlike the drama queens and blow combs of Twin Cities weather forecasting fame, the scurs are taking the cooler weather in stride.

Looking around the countryside it is amazing how quickly the fields have turned black. Given the opportunity we’ve had, this shouldn’t come as a great surprise. In contrast to last year, the Orange Army should have had easier going for last Saturday’s deer opener. They were out in force although most of the shooting near the ranch came early Saturday morning. Anhydrous ammonia continues to go on area fields as the season winds down. Some of these fields are very hard after some of the conditions encountered following the heavy rains toward the end of September. This too is no surprise. Rain falling as fast as that did can pack the once lush fields in a hurry and getting back out there when it’s still marginal doesn’t help matters. Interesting weather pattern we’ve been stuck in when looking at the rainfall data. When we look back on the months of July, August and October we see long periods without precipitation of an inch or more. In July at the ranch we went 3 weeks, in August 2 weeks and in October a little over 3 weeks.

At the feeders the regulars have set in for winter. A few more goldfinches each passing week, big fat blue jays, nuthatches, lots of juncos, downies, hairies and an occasional red-bellied woodpecker. The fox squirrels continue to gobble down corn which makes Ruby quiver and scratch at the sliding glass door. It really gets her excited when a rooster pheasant slinks across the backyard after cleaning up after the squirrels. North of the ranch, a large covey of Huns was spotted, a welcome sign that some of the corn stalks left un-worked for no-till soybeans may be having a positive effect locally.

The little fat buddies morning training sessions have reconvened once again and more of the world’s problems are solved each and every morning. Luckily, to maintain our stamina, there have been some bake sales such as the one as part of the benefit for RC last weekend at the Mayberry Community Center. With 6 or 7 tables covered with baked goods, Aunt Bee would’ve been proud.

Speaking of good things to eat was given some winter radishes courtesy of Shannon Schonrock’s uncle. Had never tried them although had seen them advertised in some of the seed catalogs over the years. These bulbs were the size of a large chicken or duck egg and light greenish-white on the outside. Slicing into them revealed a rose colored interior. Decided it was a good idea to slice them up like a kohlrabi and at first the flavor was somewhat reminiscent of that only perhaps a little sweeter. However a few seconds later, one knew they were indeed radishes with plenty of heat forcing me to look for that glass of milk, in a hurry. Most excellent!

Around the yard at the ranch, the cleanup continues thanks to the warm weather. An alfalfa butterfly was spotted on Nov. 7th and my guess is he won’t be flitting around the pasture on Dec. 7th. Hopefully I won’t be either. There are still copious amounts of brush to be piled although one can see light at the end of the tunnel. Fortunately the warm October has dried some of the piles to the point where they should burn fairly well even though the wood was only cut up in August and September. The sheep waste no time after the branches are removed to gobble up the long grass revealed underneath. Some wondered if I might be in the firewood business although the market is pretty well saturated following the tornadoes of this past June. And, people tend to wrinkle their noses if you tell them you have boxelder, pine and spruce when they can find plenty of nice oak instead.

Finally, more progress on the Studebaker front and a game plan has suddenly developed. More parts ordered and on the way. With the master of car restoration now looking at a potential spring timeline, it will soon be time to move the car inside at the ranch so some of the nit-picky, nickel & dime portions of the project can be worked on in what will be transformed into a man cave. There’s certainly plenty of piddly stuff to do. Fortunately, with a heated floor, a sectional couch from overstock at the Mall for Men and refrigerator nearby, it should help take some of the stress out of the undertaking. I love it when a plan comes together.

See you next week…real good then.
 

[Dotch]

That don't impress me much…


The scurs slight chance of snow last Friday turned out to be slightly higher. What’s on tap for the upcoming week? Read on. Starting Wednesday, partly cloudy, highs of 35 and lows near 15. Partly cloudy Thursday with highs struggling to get above freezing at 30 degrees and lows around 25. Warmer on Friday, partly cloudy with highs of 40 and lows around 25. Cloudy on Saturday, highs of 35 to 40 and lows of 25 – 30 with a slight chance of snow overnight. Sunday, mostly cloudy with a decent chance of rain and/or snow. Highs around 40 and lows about 25. Partly cloudy Monday and Tuesday with highs both days of 40 and lows of 20 – 25. The normal high for November 20th is 38 and the normal low is 21. We also slip below 9 hours and 30 minutes of daylight on the 20th. The scurs will be picking out their Thanksgiving turkey at Wagner’s and the trimmings at Lerbergs.

The Full Moon for the month of November occurs on the 21st. It is commonly known as the Full Beaver Moon as this was the time when animal pelts of all kinds, particularly the beaver were at their prime to keep them warm. This has also been known as the Full Frosty Moon. The Ojibwe knew this as the Freezing Moon and the Sioux as The Moon of the Falling leaves. Here at the ranch we know it as The Moon When Ice is Smashed out of Buckets.

After the cold snap, not much in the way of insect activity to report other than a few ladybugs in the house. On Saturday however there was a night crawler crawling on top of the snow by the garage, slowly I might add. The snowfall wasn’t completely unexpected although it took until the last minute to determine just exactly where it was going to fall. Power went off and on much of Saturday forenoon and feeling confident that it was back on for good, reset the various clocks. Less than 5 minutes after doing this, the power went off once more. Points west and north seemed to take the brunt of it while at the ranch it couldn’t decide if it was going to snow or rain so it did both. The resulting liquid equivalent precip amounted to 1.65” with roughly 5” – 6” of snow that fell with about 2.5” staying on the ground. And stay it has thus far. Hoping that it would melt off and allow us to live a little longer without it, was less than impressed to see the ground still white in the yard after some forecasts had predicted it would all melt.

Letting her out for potty time, Ruby was a little hesitant at first with the snow as it was likely her first experience. Being born in southern IL in April and not getting your eyes open until May, odds are she hadn’t seen snow before. After awhile she began to get the hang of it. Bounding across the yard, her feet kicking up mini-snowballs, you couldn’t help but laugh when she’d turn in midair and try to catch them.

One thing the storm was good for was bird activity. The goldfinch numbers continue to climb and at last count were in the teens. With 3 main feeder sites they don’t sit still very long so it’s hard to tell the exact number. The rooster pheasant has assumed the duties of cleaning up after the squirrels who are content to eat the germ out of the corn kernel and drop the leftovers on the ground. Ruby got her dander up when a large bird skipped by the window. At first glance out of the corner of my eye, just assumed it was one of the many oversized blue jays we’re feeding. Upon closer inspection though it turned out to be a pileated woodpecker. Not sure if it’s the same one as last year but this one is also female and seemed to be looking for the large ash tree that the August storm had demolished. Lots of other birds too including house finches, downies, hairies, nuthatches, and juncos although it’s still a thrill to see that pileated woodpecker looking for the suet feeder.

Hopefully this weather will begin to cooperate again soon as there are still barns to clean and things to winterize at the ranch. Need to put the heat houser on and put the winter weight oil in the skid loader and tractor. The sheep at the kindly neighbors pasture need to come home yet although they still go out and paw through the snow to get at the remaining grass. Still, it’s a lot easier to feed them all at one site as well as giving the kindly neighbor total control of his shed for the winter once again. Managed to get the peach tree partially under wraps after dreaming of sending the last bushel of mortgage lifting peaches down the road. The tree grew to an amazing 3’ after starting out as a 1 ½’ whip. Patched up some hay mangers although there are still a couple that became airborne in the storm in need of repair. And it would be nice if the weather would dry up for a bit. The numerous large brush piles are in need of torching. They’re a magnet for cottontails and while the bunnies might be fun to hunt, replacing all the trees and shrubs they’re apt to chew up isn’t my idea of a good time.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Takin’ care of business (every day)


While the scurs struggled a bit with their longer range forecast, they were dead on with the rest of it. How will they do this time around? We shall see. Starting Wednesday, cloudy with a good chance of snow. Highs of 30 – 35 and lows dipping down to 10. Thanksgiving Day, partly cloudy and cold with a slight chance of snow in the morning. High around 20 with a low of 5 - 10. Friday slightly warmer under clear skies. High of 20 – 25 and low of 15. Clear once again on Saturday with temperatures climbing above freezing once again. Highs of 35 and lows around 20. Sunday, partly cloudy with a high of 35 – 40 and lows of 25 – 30. Mostly sunny on Monday, highs of 35 and lows of 25. Cloudy Tuesday, highs 25 and lows around 10. The normal high for November 25th is 36 and the normal low is 18. The scurs will be munching on a leftover drumstick as they shop for bargains on Black Friday.

Winter appears to have set in for the duration or it sure feels like it. We dodged a bullet last weekend with the weather just being ugly to look at but not as nasty as what’s likely to come. Time to get the last of those things done on the checklist at the ranch. We’re getting about ready for barn cleaning after getting oil changes done, putting the heat houser on, and retrieving the ewes that have been guests at the kindly neighbors pasture since early May.

Plucked the duck decoys off the pond before it froze up last week and in doing so kicked up a half dozen rooster pheasants. The pond itself has more water in it than it has in many moons so hopefully this is the start of seeing it hold water year round for awhile. Also picked up several hundred feet of garden hose used to water the new tree planting that appears to have come through its first season with generally good results. Figured it’s better that the cottontails have only the trees to chew on without eating garden hose for dessert. There may be a few arborvitae in need of replacement but that’s not difficult to do. The pheasants have already been using the area to slink their way across to the backside of the established windbreak and into the yard where there’s good cover and an emergency food supply if they need it.

The birds have been restless at the feeders as of late, nervously chowing down ahead of inclement weather. Seed consumption can double the day or two ahead of a storm it seems. That’s OK. When we think about how much of their habitat we as humans have probably destroyed and not replaced in the name of progress, it doesn’t bother me to supplement their food supply and replace some of that habitat. To see new visitors to the yard occasionally as well as the regulars, it makes it all worth it.

At the Mall for Men, knowledge and wisdom is dispensed by the little fat buddies daily, with weekends off of course. The sound of those brain muscles flexing can be deafening or almost as loud as the nuclear powered pop machine. It is from such sessions as these we learn more about the world in which we live. For instance, do you know where those seagulls come from every fall when the fields are tilled? One of our sage observers noted they come from eggs. And along those lines, the same observer noted that when people die it’s because they quit breathing. Who can argue with logic like that?

Occasionally there are questions that baffle even the panel of experts. Sometimes we must consult outside sources for material. For instance, a panel member asked the group the other day if bats hibernate or migrate. Oddly enough in MN we have some bats that hibernate and some that may do a little of both. For instance in the karst region from which I hail, some of the little brown bats and big brown bats that commonly overwinter in an attic or other area of a house, may actually move from the house to a cave where they hang in clusters in the cool damp climate controlled environment for the winter months. On the flip side, we also have bats that are forest or tree dwellers such as the eastern red bat, the silver-haired bat and the hoary bat. These species all migrate south for the winter so the answer to the question is yes.

It was a fun weekend of Gopher hoops once again, harkening back to the days when the Gophers really didn’t win the Big Ten and really didn’t get to the Final Four. It was all a figment of our imagination. In part because of their rapid start and wins over quality opponents and partially because of the recent soap opera with the Vikings at Winter Park, Tubby Smith and the Gopher men's basketball team own the MN sporting scene. Oh sure, Tubby will have detractors and fans in Kentucky will attest to that. But after the Twins fell quickly to the hated Yankees, the Gopher football fortunes tanked early resulting in Breswter’s dismissal, and the Vikings following suit, this is what we as MN sports fans have been waiting for. And thus far, Tubby’s done it right. He apparently doesn’t take any guff and it’s paying off. It sure makes it worth hustling in from the cold after chores to watch my alma mater play competitively and so far to win.

See you next week…real good then.

[Dotch]

Money it's a hit…


Having finished the rest of the Thanksgiving leftovers, the scurs are focusing their attention on the matters at hand, namely trying to stay warm and forecasting the weather. Starting with Wednesday, partly cloudy, high of 20 and low around 15. Partly cloudy Thursday, highs near 25 and lows of 15 – 20. Things become more interesting with clouds moving in on Friday. Highs around 30 and lows near 20 with an increasing chance of snow into the evening and overnight hours. Cloudy becoming partly cloudy on Saturday with a slight chance of snow in the morning. Colder Sunday and Monday under partly cloudy skies. Highs of 15 – 20 and lows dropping to 5 – 10 above. Mostly cloudy on Tuesday with a chance of freezing rain. Highs near 20 and lows around 10. The normal high for December 3rd is 32 and the normal low is 14. The scurs are waxing up their toboggan and readying it for winter’s onslaught.

The Friday morning after Thanksgiving saw a wedge of about 80 Canada geese up high and flying south at full throttle. Apparently they’d seen enough and decided to get out while the getting was good. Can’t say as I blame them. Suspect the pheasants would do the same if they could. As it is they’re content to move from area to area as the rooster I glimpsed out of the corner of my eye Sunday about dusk. He was slinking along the trees on the north side of the buildings as they’ve done for years to get to the cover of my neighbors Mark’s CRP. In the yard, there appears to be a pair of red-bellied woodpeckers now as well as a pair of white-breasted nuthatches. Plenty of goldfinches, a few house finches and of course the blue jays on steroids.

A good time was had by all here at the ranch on Thanksgiving. Went and picked up Mom on Thanksgiving morning as the roads were atrocious Wednesday evening. The side roads were still pretty hairy but the interstates were in prime condition. Loaded up Fudgie and Mom and away we went. We were concerned about how Fudgie and Ruby would hit it off but it soon became apparent our fears were unfounded. Fudgie is Gus’s sister and for some reason, the two dogs were almost instant companions, playing and frolicking in the yard like they’d been doing it all along. With two red and white Border Collies tearing around, it was a little like having Thing 1 and Thing 2 on the loose.

The turkey on the grill was a hit but only a small part of the total feast that appeared on the table thanks to Mom and Mrs. Cheviot’s hard work. While the turkey cooked, yours truly performed an annual ritual at the ranch, tossing part of the frozen pumpkins over the fence to see if we could coax the sheep out on the hillside to sample them for our viewing pleasure. They did come out briefly to check them out but the since the pumpkins were hard as a rock, the ewes decided there would be better days. And they were right. Within a couple days it warmed substantially and at last check, they had devoured 20 or more of the large orange cucurbits.

Another annual ritual is underway at the ranch and that is one of barn cleaning. All the equipment readied for the assault, a large dent was made in the natural fertilizer supply. Sheep pack manure is unique in that it comes out in large sheet-like hunks especially when loaded with a skid loader. These newer spreaders seem to handle it much better than the spreaders of my youth. This one even handled the 4’ long frozen chunks that came from on the outside edge of the pack. Speaking from personal experience, it’s advisable when dumping large “poopsicles” in the spreader to do it during daylight hours. Otherwise, if something breaks it can be a struggle to pitch them off in the dark and can result in an expanded vocabulary. Without a heated shop, it has to be unloaded too because if you don’t, frozen down apron chains the next morning can spell disaster, and additional vocabulary.

As it was, the warm day on Sunday provided plenty of entertainment. As the temperatures rose, the field became greasier making the strategy of staying off the road and spreading on the flat high ground look like a good one. Spreading down the hill might’ve been OK but climbing back up the slope would have been tricky. That and keeping the mud to myself and off the road seemed appropriate. Some frozen ground now to finish the job would be welcome.

Another fall ritual came to pass over the weekend when the natural-colored Cheviot ram we’d loaned to our friend in Chatfield returned. Gary brought him back in the little homemade trailer pulled by the little Suzuki 4 x 4. This ram had made quite an impression right off the bat with his ability to jump as well as deal out punishment once caught. It was his ability to jump though that caught Gary’s attention when he let him out of the trailer. Once free, the ram bolted and jumped up on the chicken coop roof. Worst of all, Gary couldn’t get him to come down! The ram eventually came down when he was hungry but not until several photographs were taken. I might not have believed it myself except for the fact he showed me the photos. Before he left, Gary gave us a beautiful scarf he’d spun and knitted from their own Cheviot wool. It contained both natural colored (dark) and white wool in alternating strips. When he was fishing around the vehicle for a pen to write out a check for use of the ram, I told him to forget it. He’s made several items for us over the years and this one in particular was priceless. Along with the story about the ram turned ‘Chicken Hawk”, it seemed only fair.

See you next week…real good then.

[deadeye]

Dotch,
I rember well the ground driven spreaders.  You are correct, you do NOT want to break down in the dark and risk freezing the load.  Trying to keep the beaters clean so the wouldn't become a solid roller was quite a task.  But then again, that was better than the alternative.  When the snow became too deep, we had to haul it out behind the barn in a wheel barrel.  Now that was not fun. 

[Bobby Bass]

Always good to read about "Down South"