Let 'em roll

The scurs noted Jack Frost's continued his appearances last week as indicated by the Weather Eye's data. Are we out of the woods yet or does Jack Frost still have one more trick up his sleeve? Starting Thursday, mostly sunny with a good chance of evening rain. Highs in the mid-70's with lows in the mid-50's. Mostly sunny Friday with a slight chance of rain. Highs in the low 80's with lows in the mid-50's. Sunny on Saturday with a fair chance of evening rain.

 

Highs in the low 80's with lows in the mid-50's. Sunday, partly sunny with a good chance of rain. Highs in the low 80's with lows in the low 50's. Cloudy Monday with morning showers possible. Highs in the low 70's with lows in the upper 40's. Tuesday, mostly cloudy with highs in the low 70's and lows in the mid-50's. Partly sunny on Wednesday with highs in the mid-70's and lows in the mid-50's. On May 20" our daily gain in daylight slows to just under two minutes per day. The normal high for May 20* is 70 and the normal low is 50. The scurs will be arranging the patio furniture around the cement pond. Let the good times roll!

 

We continued to struggle to accumulate GDU's last week. From May 1st through the 10th, we generated about 60 GDU's or roughly 6 per day. As a result, emergence was slow. With the recent warmer temps, stands while not perfect, appear very adequate. Luckily the cool conditions also slowed weed growth, buying some time before post emerge control measures are indicated. We also saw some impact from the numerous frost events that occurred in low lying areas, particularly on soybeans where individual plants had emerged early. So far, not reminiscent of the frost debacle in 2016 when soybeans froze around May 14th. More crop was up that year as we had warmer conditions after planting. Large fields and portions of fields required replanting. Not a lot of soybeans were in as early as they were 10 years ago. Lesson learned.

 

You know it's been cold when you see people mowing their lawns with Carhartt's on. Lawn growth at the ranch has been influenced somewhat by temperature, but also by moisture and fertility. The road ditch has grown more quickly than most of the yard. Since it receives runoff from our sheep lot and tile water from the neighboring field, there's ample fertility and moisture. It dried out quickly over the weekend, so time to strike while the iron was hot. It's just easier to get on top of it and stay on top of it. Other places, the lawn is struggling to green up, particularly where the snow was scraped off apparently at the wrong time. The result is spot mowing. Other areas are growing relatively normally and need mowing weekly, or it looks rough. Sometimes it's advantageous to have dandelions, so at least you can see where you've been

 

No major activity in the garden at the ranch, although we're getting closer. Sunday I was able to grind up the residue with the mower after picking up the tomato cages and pulling the bunny fence. That will likely need to be in place again as a small bunny was seen scampering through it. I also picked up all the gourds strewn about the garden.

 

Grinding those up with the mower serves as a magnet for striped gophers. As dry as it is, it shouldn't take long to whip the seedbed into shape. It's still early enough to plant things like greens, peas, radishes and onions. There's no hurry to plant vine crops just yet. Just covering some of the tender vegetation on nights where frost was forecast has been a workout. Just when we thought it was over, we covered the peonies and the bleeding heart again multiple nights in a row. They're none the worse for wear fortunately.

 

More birds arrived last week about as expected. On My 5th at the ranch we saw our first Baltimore orioles of the season. Also seen that day was a black and white warbler. Their black and white striping makes them look like miniature referees crawling around the tree trunks in search of insects. The first hummingbird appeared on the 8th, the same day as the orchard oriole. On Monday the 11th, our first catbird was at the jelly feeder. Of course we continue to see a red-headed woodpecker and our wood ducks make periodic visits to the yard. The woodpecker has staked a claim to the decayed trunk on one of the elms while the wood duck likes to preen in the Haralson tree.

 

Probably hoping there will be pie.

 

We think we're done lambing, again. One of the show yearlings decided to lamb after hiding it since December.

 

Yearlings don't play by the rules. It's been imperative with the dry weather to monitor the electric fence to make sure it's charging. Even then, occasionally there's an animal that wants to test our patience. When it's as dry as it is, they can reach between the wires and not get a shock. Dry, clean wool is not a conductor. In fact, in the early days of electricity, wool was used to insulate the wires. It's a non-conductor, stands heat well and doesn't burn easily. One small buck lamb decided the electric fence wasn't for him. After numerous attempts to get him to see the big picture, we captured him and tossed him in a pen with another lamb. He was old enough to be weaned anyway. Problem solved for now.

 

Poppy managed to get more people time last week, so her behavior improved accordingly. She's no different than any dog we've had in the behavior department. They've all had their moments and similarities. Gus for instance liked biting sheep's ears, but was awful about taking pills just like Poppy. We finally had to resort to a topical treatment for heartworm. Fudgie and her mother Lucy were good about meds of all kinds. Ruby usually was too, although we used a topical treatment for fleas as I recall. She also was good about getting her toenails trimmed, the polar opposite of Poppy, who incidentally is up for another pedicure. If you're one of the pedicurists reading this, consider yourself warned. It's amazing that a small Corgi can be such a handful about something essential to her squirrel chasing habits.

 

See you next week...real good then.