Suckin’ on a chili dog outside the Tastee-Freez
Wed, 10/07/2026 - 11:00pm
The scurs had the Weather Eye programmed for sunshine and we received. Does our luck hold or do we see an about face? Starting Thursday, mostly sunny with highs in the mid-60's and lows in the mid-40's. Mostly sunny Friday with highs in the upper 60's and lows in the mid-50's. Sunny on Saturday with highs in the upper 70's and lows in the low 60's. Sunday, mostly sunny with a modest chance of evening showers. Highs in the mid-70's with lows in the low 50's. Mostly cloudy on Columbus Day with a fair chance of rain. Highs in the low 60's with lows in the low 40's. Tuesday, cloudy with highs in the upper 50's and lows in the mid-40's. Cloudy Wednesday with a good chance of rain. Highs in the low 60's and lows in the mid-40's. The normal high for October 12th is 61, and the normal low is 39. The scurs will take Columbus Day off. Then, of course, they take every Monday off.
Soybean combining commenced in earnest over the weekend. Not everyone went full bore, but by Monday afternoon it was game on. Moistures were acceptable after lunch once the dew came off. Reported yields in the 70 - 80 bu./acre range have proven soybeans the sleeper crop some thought it might be. Amazing what can happen when Mother Nature cooperates. When the wind blows, most can go well after dark and start earlier in the morning.
They're also running 35' - 40' soybean platforms as opposed to the 20 - 25 footers they grew up with. Some of us who are really old were combining with 6' pull type machines. Sitting on an open station 30 hp tractor eating dirt and dust all day, you could take two 36" or 38" rows. Three when you happened to catch the guess row. Good times.
After a September to remember (or forget), we were hoping the October weather would be more favorable. It couldn't have been much worse in this part of the world. Ellendale reported 12.58" while New Richland had 12.93" while making the national headlines with all the flooding. NOAA's upcoming Fall Weather forecast appears to offer up a kindlier, gentler October and beyond. That forecast released Sept 30th is showing better than even odds of above normal temperatures and better than even odds of below normal precipitation. The three month October - December forecast also appears to be reasonably favorable with better than even odds of above normal temperatures and even odds of above or below normal precipitation. That forecast was released on September 17th, so it is due to be updated in the not too distant future. Stay tuned.
Another fall car cruise has come and gone. The weather gods smiled upon us. Sunny with perfect temps. We wound our way through SW WI towards Black River Falls. An impromptu stop between there and the border to wet our whistle in Melrose at Fob's and we were good to go. Once in Black River Falls, my copilot and chief navigator suggested a stop at a couple antique stores, one of which had a beautiful mural outside of old cars and scenes from the past. It was all done with cans of spray paint, not unlike some of the art displayed on railroad cars. The owner came out to see our collector automobiles and visited for quite some time before deciding he'd probably better get back at it. The visit to the casino was relaxing as the women gambled and we boys visited, telling many stories, all of them true.
On our return run, we encountered the roundabout fiasco in Winona. Once the dizziness subsided we worked our way to Chatfield, MN and the small Dairy Queen, reminiscent of the Dairy Queens of my youth. A welcome stop. Of course, we couldn't eat at the Tastee-Freez in Chatfield anymore. It was located on the south end of Chatfield's main drag where U.S. Hwy 52 and MN Hwy 30 intersect across from the park. I can remember going there as a kid and having a sundae in our old '57 Buick. The building today houses a barber shop. How quaint to be driving a '59 Studebaker Silver Hawk past the location and dredging up old memories. Tastee-Freez likely pulled out of Chatfield in '63 or '64 after the company filed Chapter 11. Studebaker stopped making cars in March of 1966. A lot of things changed in that timeframe. Those were just two of them.
The hummingbirds were last seen at the ranch on October 2nd. They had another good, long run, first spotted in our backyard this year on May 8th. They hung around longer than most years. Usually by the end of September, they're on their way south to Central and South America. I'd cleaned out their feeders and evicted copious numbers of Asian ladybeetles from one of them, replacing it with a feeder they couldn't get into. I felt no remorse when washing them out of the feeder with scalding hot water. It never hurts to have the feeders clean and full of fresh sugar water as the migrating hummers make their way through. Ditto with the birdbath. If there are any stragglers we don't see, it's all good.
October 8th marks the date four years ago we made our way to Missouri to pick up a Pembroke Corgi puppy. Poppy almost didn't come to live with us. In late August we were sent several pictures from the breeder of potential puppies we might like. We decided on a little tri-colored female fur baby. She still had a tail however, so we requested that it be docked like most Pembroke Corgi's. Alas, the puppy was too old. We decided we'd wait for a tri-colored pup from a litter at a later date. We still had the picture. We felt some remorse about our decision. After all, what difference would the tail make other than appearance? Weeks went by and we were sure the puppy was likely spoken for. We received a call from the breeder asking if we'd reconsider as they still had the puppy. A day trip later and voila! Now you know the rest of the story.
See you next week...real good then.