Turning Japanese, I really think so

Alas, our late summer weather faded, and the scurs need to fine tune the Weather Eye once again. Has Mother Nature decided to keep the pedal to the metal or downshift for a week? Starting Thursday, mostly sunny with a good chance of evening rain. Highs in the upper 80's and lows in the low 70's. Mostly sunny Friday with a good chance of an evening rain shower. Highs in the mid-80's with lows in the low 70's. Partly sunny on Independence Day with a good chance of rain. Highs in the mid-80's with lows in the upper 60's. Sunday, mostly sunny with a slight chance of rain. Highs in the low 80's with lows in the low 60's. Sunny on Monday with a slight chance of tain. Highs in the low 80's and lows in the mid-60's. Tuesday, mostly sunny with a good chance of evening showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the mid-80's and lows in the mid-60's. Mostly sunny on Wednesday with a slight chance of thundershowers. Highs in the mid-80's with lows in the mid-60's. On July 2nd, the sun will set before 9 p.m. for the 1st time since the summer solstice. We start losing daylight at just over one minute per day on July 6th. The normal high for July 4th is 82 and the normal low is 62. The scurs will be waving Old Glory.

 

The recent cooldown is history for the time being. It wasn't all bad as we had racked up enough GDU's earlier so that we're still running ahead of normal. As of last Wednesday at the SROC, we were in a dead heat with last year's pace, roughly 10% ahead of normal. This week should move things along faster and the forecast shows vary seasonal temps for a while as well. That said, we're still on track to see some tassels on early planted, early maturing corn perhaps by the 10th. Regardless, we continue ahead of schedule, and it appears we'll continue to receive moisture near term if the forecasts are correct. Soybeans have moved into R2 in many cases and have made a growth spurt of their own, closing the rows in the 15" - 22" rows and becoming tall enough in the 30" rows, so that riding in them without extra clearance can easily cause some damage. Time to get that last pass of postemerge herbicide on soon.

 

I was reminiscing of my days living in North Central ND near the Canadian border the other day. I knew we were still outside diddling around at nearly 11 at night because the sun set so late. I couldn't remember how late it set, so I looked it up. Sure enough, it set at around 9:45 p.m. at its latest point. The daylight hours were 16:09 vs. the 15:28 for Bugtussle on the summer solstice. The building site I lived on was in what they called the Finnish Reservation and came complete with a rustic old sauna, something many of the old Finnish farmsteads had. Monday's weather here reminded me of that, especially when water was dumped on the field rock covering the top of the wood burning sauna stove. Even better was using ice on it in the winter for a slow, even release of heat and humidity. Good times.

 

Here and now we have plenty of wood to fuel a sauna with. Sadly, at the ranch a couple of big half dead ash trees needed to come down. I haven't counted the growth rings, but they were over 60 years old based on the dates from old photos we have. These two probably weren't suffering from emerald ash borer yet, although there are plenty of ash trees in the area that have. During the earlier heatwave I was riding a field, checking the weed control. I pulled up to some ash trees in a fence line to get out of the sun to make a phone call. When I got there, there was no shade.

 

The trees were all dead, gone in just a year's time. Fortunately, at the ranch we had replacements already planted.

 

Taking down those ash trees left a gap-toothed smile in the grove approaching from the south, but there are hackberries, oak and spruce trees ready to take their place.

 

I keep getting reports from people about false Japanese beetles. I hadn't seen the beetles personally this year until last week while talking to someone by a field. This has been a banner year for them. They generally like lighter textured ground to reproduce and this was nearby. They do fly however and even though their flight is rather bumbling in nature, they get into places they shouldn't. Of course the true Japanese beetles do as well. I encountered those in college when we were harvesting strawberry plots at Becker, MN. They'd get in the coolers full of berries we hauled back to campus. Had to fish them out before eating. Finding a Japanese beetle in your satrawberries and ice cream was icky. Years later, on Crop Tour Japanese beetles were thick in OH and IN. I didn't think much of it until I got back home to MN to find a couple of stowaways in the dirty clothes in my suitcase. More good times.

 

The birds at the ranch are enjoying another stellar summer. We're seeing a lot of the fledglings showing up at feeders and with their parents who are showing them the ropes. Probably the cutest are the young downy woodpeckers that call until their parents fly to the feeder to bring them back a sunflower seed. There are always the young orioles that come to the jelly feeder sounding like they're totally lost. We haven't noticed any young yet, but we've had rose-breasted grosbeaks that hung around this summer. That doesn't always happen, but they are always welcome visitors. They add color and voices to the chorus that starts around 4:30 a.m.

 

Poppy has been busy ridding the backyard of unwanted visitors. The latest was a crow that happened by. It wasn't long and it was on the wing again. Tuesday morning saw a return of the wild turkey. Poppy became extremely agitated and, once I looked out the window, it became apparent why. Open the sliding glass door and one mad Corgi meaning business headed straight for the turkey. Over the fence it flew. When Poppy's not busy with that, she "helps" in the garden. She likes to taste test things. The oddest one I've seen was the radishes I'd pulled and put in a small pile on the edge of the garden. When I'd finished weeding for the night I went to pick them up. There was one half eaten radish and another one left up in the yard. Guess who?

 

See you next week...real good then.