Tomorrow may rain, so I'll follow the sun

With the holiday season coming to a close, the scurs and the Weather Eye maintain a vigil for Old Man Winter. Will their wait be a long one or is he lurking just outside waiting to pounce? Starting Thursday, mostly cloudy with a modest chance of snow. Highs in the mid-30's with lows in the upper 20's. Mostly cloudy Friday with a fair chance of evening snow. Highs in the mid-30's with lows in the low 20's. Mostly cloudy on Saturday with a modest chance of forenoon snow. Highs in the mid-20's with lows around 10 above. Sunday, sunny with highs in the upper 20's and lows in the low 20's. Sunny Monday with highs in the mid-30's and lows in the mid-20's. Tuesday, mostly sunny with highs in the low 30's and lows in the low teens. Cloudy on Wednesday with a decent chance of snow.

 

Highs in the upper 20's with lows around 10 above. On the 12th we see our daylight increasing at just over a minute and a half per day. Sunset will occur at just past 5 p.m. CST on the 14th. The normal high for January 12th is 21 and the normal low is 5. After all this cloudy weather, the scurs will follow the sun.

 

The holiday season has come to a close. Well, sort of. With Christmas and New Year's Day falling during the week and sandwiching a day in before the weekend, I'm sure I'm not alone when it comes to waking up and wondering what day of the week it was. Christmas decorations are starting to come down. There are still those Christmas clearance items in stores, although their ranks are dwindling. And of course there are always more celebrations to come, seems like scattered over the month of January with work and other organizational Christmas parties. It's not that I don't enjoy them, being the social butterfly I am. Eventually, they'll be over too, but it always seems to take most of the month. The next thing you know, it's Valentine's Day.

 

Had a discussion recently about the status of our winter thus far and where it compares to normal. It started out with a bang after Thanksgiving and a snowstorm that wouldn't quit. Add to that the generous December amounts and we're tracking very near normal in our part of the world. It's a little deceiving, since much of the November and early December snowfall melted. The refresher we got as measured on the 29th is largely what we can see at this point. In town, our November through December snowfall total stands at 18.4" and at the ranch, our total is 19.7".

 

The most recent 30 yr. normal for the SROC is 17.7", so we're right on track. The normal winter snowfall for the SROC is 52.3, "so we're definitely on a pace to make that a possibility. January has been relatively dry so far, but that can change in a hurry, keeping in mind that January ranks as our 3rd snowiest month, behind December and February.

 

My BTTSO's copilot and I were reminiscing about snow removal equipment of the past. Back in the 60's, very few operations had snowblowers for their tractors. There was usually only one tractor with a bucket and frequently it was a trip bucket. The hydraulics were often one-way as well, meaning that the cylinder controlling the bucket arms relied on the weight of the bucket to lower it for the next pass. In our case, the tractor (Co-Op E4) was also a narrow front with a bucket narrower than the rear wheels were set. Speed became an important factor to blast through the snowbanks. Rear tire chains were also a must. Front wheel assist was unheard of. There were few cabs, but there was usually a heathouser. They kept one surprisingly warm as long as the wind wasn't howling. Except for an emergency, you typically weren't out there until after the storm and wind had passed anyway. Good times.

 

The late December blizzard put a damper on the barn cleaning progress, at least temporarily. A large snowdrift blocking access to the field appeared in the road ditch making it questionable whether blasting a pathway through it would be worth it. Once in the field, it would be equally questionable whether one would make it back, especially since there was more snow there the day before the blizzard hit than one expected. It could be hauled up the road, but the chains would have to be removed. Once that's done, running into too much snow in the field makes getting stuck a real possibility. With the chains on, at least there's a fighting chance. It's looking more and more like the pack will need to be stockpiled. Where and when are the next questions to be answered.

 

After the holiday season there have been more "dog days" spent with Poppy. Several of those days have featured inclement weather or cold keeping us indoors. The indoor time has been hallmarked by hours of ball playing which helps Poppy work off those holiday treats. It helps us in that department too as frequently there's a ball or any of several other favorite toys that become lost under a bookcase, wedged under the recliner or stuck in any number of places. I will give her credit. In stark contrast to her Border Collie predecessors, she hasn't ruined many of her chew toys, in particular her favorite, a squeaky Chuckit ball. She's wrecked only one in her three-plus years. That was because she'd ripped enough of the rubber loose, so the squeaker could be dislodged. Poppy can make enough noises all by herself without swallowing one of those.

 

See you next week...real good then.