You got to speak out against the madness

Another week without snow! The scurs kept the Weather Eye dialed in again. Does Old Man Winter’s hiatus continue, or does he poke his head in the door? Starting Thursday, mostly sunny with a slight chance of rain. Highs in the mid-70’s with lows in the mid-50’s. Partly sunny Friday with a good chance of rain. Highs in the mid-70’s with lows in the low 30’s. Partly sunny on Saturday with a fair chance of rain and snow showers. Highs in the mid 40’s with lows in the low 30’s. Sunday, sunny with a slight chance of rain and snow showers. Highs in the upper 40’s with lows in the low 30’s. Mostly sunny Monday with highs in the upper 50’s and lows in the mid-40’s. Tuesday, mostly sunny with highs in the upper 60’s and lows in the upper 40’s. Mostly cloudy on Wednesday with a slight chance of rain. Highs in the mid-60’s with lows in the mid-40’s. We’ll see 13 hours and 30 minutes of daylight on April 16th. On the 17th, sunset will arrive at 8 p.m. CDT. The normal high for April 17th is 56 and the normal low is 35. The scurs will soon be heading to the nearest DQ in their collector automobile.

 

I’m happy to report that there is already knee-high corn. In Troy Texas, that is, according to one of my spies. Locally, more progress made with the odd report of someone planting, including a field of soybeans. Watching some of the webinars this winter, the actual benefit to the early planting of soybeans probably isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, gaining perhaps one-third of a bushel per day vs. planting say the last week in April. As we’ve discussed in years past, the odds of a May frost are not as great perhaps as one thinks, based on weather data at the SROC in Waseca. However, not all fields are created equal. When one of those spring frosts hits, the damage is frequently not evenly distributed across the field. This creates real headaches for anyone trying to evaluate it and determine what the best course of action is. Regardless, it behooves one to move expeditiously before real yield losses occur.

 

At the ranch, tending flowering plants and pruning fruit trees has been our main focus. Gardening can happen now the tree pruning is done. The spring bulb planting becomes prettier by the day as the temperatures warm and more flowers bloom. There were enough daffodils, so that even after cutting about two-thirds of them, the bed still looks respectable. More hyacinths are coming online, and with the warmer temps, their scent is attracting pollinators daily. All the fruit trees were pruned as of Friday. The aftermath of branches, limbs, suckers and water sprouts were cleaned up in Sunday’s wind. The temperature was fine, but the wind wore me out. After five hours’ worth of collecting and hauling, it was finished. The peonies and hostas are coming to life, so last year’s growth was removed. Earlier I’d taken the last of the bunny guards off the bunny candy. I’m on a roll, so I might live on the edge and take the chains off the tractor. Might even remove the driveway markers if I really want to tempt fate.

 

There have been several poorly written pieces of legislation proposed recently that have people like me up in arms. Thanks to the vague language, one appeared to restrict the use of collector automobiles to weekends and daylight hours. The author of the bill, rep. Meg Lugar-Nickolai, might’ve been wise to consult with car clubs before proposing this stinker. Car clubs often attend educational venues open only during the week. We visit care centers on weekdays when activity directors are present. Sometimes we come home in the dark. Our lights work. One thing that doesn’t work is a mechanic repairing our cars only on weekends. Fortunately, enough noise was made by individuals and folks like the MSRA that this “solution in search of a problem” never got a hearing. Another bill has been proposed to ban the use of recreational vehicles on township and county roads. Yet another bill on the federal level proposes to disallow the use of live animals for dog training. Time to speak out against the madness.

 

Wildlife is always part of life at the ranch. Rooster pheasants are numerous and can even be seen in the pasture while the sheep graze nearby. Apparently they don’t consider the ovines a threat. I’ve seen what appeared to be wood ducks flying around the ranch, but on Saturday there was no doubt. There was a drake sitting on the Haralson tree I’d recently pruned. Out of the corner of my eye, I spied three more ducks on top of the old granary. I trained my bird glasses on them and sure enough, there were two hens and another drake. Fortunately, there are two wood duck houses in the wetland area. Our building site is close enough though, so it might be interesting to put up a spare house outside the oval office for our viewing pleasure. Watching wood ducks beats playing on a cell phone any day.

 

Poppy has made the most of some of the cooler days between the smattering of warmer temps. Even the nice days have had their benefits. Cleaning up the yard really isn’t a good time to have Poppy outside if you want to get anything done. She tends to wander off outside the confines of the lawn at times. Her short stature makes her difficult to see. The way traffic moves on our road, a tragedy is something we’d rather avoid. However, when one returns inside and hasn’t eaten anything, something quick is in order. You guessed it, popcorn! That makes a small Corgi jump for joy while the microwave produces one of her favorite snacks to share. It’s really nice when she lets us eat some too.

 

See you next week…real good then.