The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down

The scurs were led astray by the Weather Eye’s lack of rainfall in the forecast. Did refilling the windshield washer fluid help or are we left high and dry? Starting Thursday, mostly cloudy with highs in the low 50’s and lows in the upper 30’s. Partly sunny Friday with highs in the upper 40’s and lows in the upper 20’s. Partly sunny on Saturday with a good chance of forenoon snow and rain showers, turning to all rain by afternoon. Highs in the mid-40’s with lows in the low 20’s. Sunday, mostly sunny with highs in the mid-30’s and lows in the low 20’s. Partly sunny on Monday with highs in the upper 30’s with lows in the upper teens. Veterans Day, mostly cloudy with highs in the low 40’s and lows in the upper 20’s. Sunny on Wednesday with highs in the upper 40’s and lows in the low 30’s. On the 6th, we’ll see 10 hours of daylight. On the 9th, the sun will rise at 7:01, the same as did back on September 22nd under DST. More on that later. The normal high for November 9th is 45 and the normal low is 27. The scurs will be wearing their long winter gatkes while flying Old Glory on the 11th.

 

Dabs of rain this past week slowed progress towards the finish line for those still toiling in the fields. It wasn’t as though the ground was becoming saturated, but the surface became greasy, and cornstalks became wet enough to make things miserable for picking. The dust is still settling from this past year’s crop, and we’ll cover what happened in more detail in the upcoming fall special ag issue. Suffice it to say that there were numerous factors involved, not the least of which was the rainfall that served as a catalyst for a lot of it. The more yield results we’re hearing, the more sense it makes. In the meantime, by the time this reaches print, we should’ve had a decent week to wrap up remaining fieldwork and put another cropping season to bed for good.

 

It was a watershed week at the ranch. We’d considered moving our pressure tank into the basement for quite some time. When the opportunity presented itself recently, we gave the go ahead. New water lines were bored to the house and barn using incredible lateral boring technology. What was equally fascinating was the concrete work found during the archeological dig. With the excavator, the crew found the old milkhouse foundation including water tank to cool the milk cans down after milking. The angle iron remnants of the windmill were discovered nearby. The one-foot thick 4’ x 4’ piece of concrete covering the well pit could’ve been used as part of a bomb shelter. Obviously concrete wasn’t as expensive then. Those issues slowed the process down, but by chore time, everything was operational once again. There is still plenty of debris to contend with before the ground freezes. Just knowing it’ll be a relief to look out the window when it’s twenty below, however, will make it all worth it.  

 

Garden produce continues to be consumed daily at the ranch. Having picked the remaining tomatoes before the hard frosts, there have been numerous BLT’s consumed. Likewise with stuffed peppers and muskmelons that have kept on ripening even though they were picked green. The cukes have largely run their course unfortunately, but one knows that when they’re planted, so having cukes into November is a treat. Late planting probably didn’t hurt, nor did the record setting amount of GDU’s accumulated during this growing season. Vine crops in general at the ranch, late planted as they were, produced very well. There were plenty of pumpkins, gourds and squash, not only to decorate, but to share. Lots of carrots still need to be dug. A garden is never truly appreciated until it is shared.  

 

The Edmund Fitzgerald sank 50 years ago on November 10th, 1975. I remember the day it happened. The weather had changed dramatically from what it had been earlier that fall. I’d baled hay on Halloween as it stayed warm and dry enough to make hay. I used the neighbor’s thrower baler and racks while Mom and Dad unloaded and stacked the hay in the barn. The dew stayed off, so we finished after dark. Conditions deteriorated shortly afterwards. By November 10th, it was cloudy, gray, cold, damp and very windy, part of the Bomb Cyclone that was passing through upper Midwest. It ultimately generated the gale force winds that fateful day on Lake Superior, leading to the deaths of the 29 sailors aboard the Edmund Fitzgerald. I could only imagine based on the conditions we were experiencing what might’ve transpired on the big lake. Of course, it later inspired Gordon Lightfoot to write “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”. Released in 1976, the ballad captured the haunting events and aftermath from that day perfectly.     

 

Poppy & I took down the last of the nectar feeders, replacing them with the suet feeders. Bird activity varies by the day. The red-breasted nuthatch keeps hanging around, focusing on the small sunflower feeder on the east side of the house. It kept a relay going with the white-breasted nuthatches between the feeder & the spruce tree most of Saturday. Usually a few house finches appear there as well. Blue jays & red-bellies are daily visitors on the ear corn while the downies prefer the round suet feeder put out earlier. Conspicuously absent are the chickadees. Not sure where they ran off to. Have been seeing large groups of cedar waxwings frequently passing through. They like the crabapples, chokeberries (aronia) and nannyberries. They were also picking at something in the spruce trees recently. Windy days tend to limit bird activity to staying out of the wind. Mine too.

 

Poppy's recovered from her people overload last week. Between the well guys, the electrician, plus all the kids that stopped for Halloween, she did a lot of zoomies. One always wonders when you have a herding dog like a Corgi as a pet if those instincts are intact. Monday morning before chores, there was a yearling ewe that had hopped over a panel overnight. I could see it milling around inside the barn as I walked towards it and thought to myself, oh (expletive deleted). Typical start to a Monday morning. Cheviot yearling ewes are typically nuts and can go just about anywhere except where you want them to. When I got down there, I opened up the gate on the end of the alley. About that time Poppy arrived and drove the ewe up the alley and through the gate. She followed right on her heels just like she'd been doing it all her life. The yearling was back where it belonged and all I had to do was shut the gate. One of those "Hmmmm" moments. Apparently Poppy’s herding instincts are alive and well.

 

See you next week…real good then.