Those fallen leaves lie undisturbed now

The scurs kept the Weather Eye dialed in for more sunshine and warm temps. Are we heading back into fall or do we get another free pass? Starting Thursday, mostly cloudy with a good chance of rain. Highs in the low 60's with lows in the low 40's. Mostly sunny Friday with highs in the mid-50's and lows in the low 30's. A frost! Sunny on Saturday with highs in the upper 50's and lows in the low 40's. Sunday, mostly highs in the mid-60's and lows in the low 40's. Mostly cloudy on Monday with highs in the upper 60's with lows in the upper 40's. Tuesday, partly sunny with highs in the upper 60's and lows in the low 50's. Mostly cloudy Wednesday with a good chance of rain.

 

Highs in the upper 60's with lows in the low 50's. On the 15"", the sun will set at 6:30 p.m. CDT. On the 16" we slide below 11 hours of daylight. On the 17 the sun will rise after 7:30 a.m. CDT. The normal high for the 17h is 58, and the normal low is 36. After this cooldown, the scurs will be ready for a hot cup of soup.

 

Soybean harvest is largely in the books for most growers, and it appears to be a record crop locally. Many farm averages in the 70+ bu./acre range with some over 80. Even though the soybeans got too dry, the waiting lines slowed harvest for some. Earlier maturing soybeans did very well and combined very easily while some of the group 2 varieties combined harder and didn't produce yields any better than some of the 1.6 maturity varieties. The harvestability might've been enhanced if we'd had a frost to dry those stems down on the later beans. One of these years our frost will return to a more normal date. It may have the desired effect of spreading the harvest and allow operators to harvest more beans at 12% - 13%.

 

Corn is coming off. While yields have reputedly been good, many fields harvested have been earlier maturing hybrids. Reported moistures have been in the low 20% range. Odds are as we move into later maturing corn we'll know what this corn crop is really made of. So far it has withstood the wind. There were signs of stalk rot here and there earlier this fall prior to maturity. Stalk rot doesn't go away and frequently gets worse. The effect of stalk rot is compounded by strong wind events, something that wasn't a potential issue until recently. Couple that with a slow, soaking rain and things can come unraveled in a hurry. On paper, corn should come out quickly. Reality may temper those expectations however, especially if this crop is what many think it is when/if storage becomes an issue.

 

The garden at the ranch is close to coming to a close. I'm still hoarding the last of the cucumbers and thinking there may be a tomato or two left with my name on it. All the pumpkins, gourds and squash are piled in front of the house, awaiting their distribution around the yard. The trouble has been that so many of the summer flowers in the pots and planters continue to bloom and look like they have since July. The heat and wind from this last week necessitated a decision to yank them out or water them and keep them another week. We chose the latter. There have been lots of pollinators still feeding on the nectar and pollen, so why not? There will be lots of months without flowers outside soon enough.

 

As it turns out, it's probably a good thing we left the flowers out for another week. I'd also left some sugar water in the feeders in case a straggler hummingbird might be passing through. Sure enough on Sunday the 11th, Mrs. Cheviot spied a hummingbird working over the blue and purple salvia on the north side of the house. I didn't see it but was pretty sure she wasn't kidding. After my Studebaker mechanic and I had unloaded hay, we were gabbing while getting ready to hook up the hay rack to his pickup. I glanced at the cannas and sure enough, a hummingbird was feeding on them! It spotted us and quickly retreated to one of the apple trees. Not the first time at the ranch.

 

Back in the early 90's we had one show up on October 8th or 9th. It happens.

 

The fall color has been somewhat unique also. Some trees in the yard at the ranch have had some color earlier than usual and are dropping their leaves while others are still as green as grass, with little sign they're even thinking about turning. I was amazed how many leaves I ground up during the latest mowing. With the recent windy days, that probably shouldn't be so surprising. The nice thing about that is between all the leaves and pine needles that were recently cast, it really cleans the mower deck up nicely underneath.