Another column from Canada!

The scurs teamed with the Weather Eye to predict the first measurable precip of October. While it amounted to almost enough for a mosquito’s bath, at least it was damp. Did it prime the pump for November or is what you see what you get? Starting on Halloween Thursday, mostly cloudy with a fair chance of daytime showers. Highs in the upper 40’s with lows in the upper 20’s. Sunny on Friday with a slight chance of an evening shower. Highs in the mid-50’s with lows in the mid-30’s. Partly sunny on Saturday with increasing clouds and a good chance of evening showers. Highs in the mid-50’s and lows in the upper 30’s. Sunday, mostly cloudy with a good chance of evening showers. Highs in the mid-50’s and lows in the low 40’s. Partly sunny on Monday with highs in the mid-50’s and lows in the upper 30’s. Tuesday mostly sunny with a slight chance of showers. Highs in the upper 40’s with lows in the upper 20’s. Mostly sunny on Wednesday with highs in the upper 40’s and lows in the low 30’s. On November 3rd we’ll see our sun set at 5 p.m. The normal high for Halloween is 50 and the normal low is 31. The scurs will be busy shooing all the zombies, ghosts and goblins away from their Halloween stash.

 

Yep, it’s that time of year when we turn the clocks back to standard time once again. This year it’s early, November 3rd. I think a lot of people eagerly await the day when we can dispense with this dinosaur and go back to one time year-round. It was instituted with good intentions mind you, but like everything else it seems, it has outlived its usefulness. Given the multitude of methods of communication at our disposal, pretty sure most can figure out a change in hours at businesses and institutions if they desire to make the changes themselves, rather than having government sticking their nose in it. We have plenty of that the way it is. In the meantime, we’ll likely hear horror stories of people falling off chairs while changing their smoke detectors and setting their clocks back. Fun never stops.

 

Harvest has nearly reached its conclusion. It went quickly due to many factors, including a short crop and warm dry weather that dried the crop rapidly. Mother Nature still left some marks, however. There are still black holes that serve as reminders no crop grew there this past growing season. When soil sampling one could see a lot of corn on the ground. Some of it was due to shattering loss at the head when the ear butts hit the snapping rolls. Some of the partial ears found showed evidence they were placed low enough the snapping rolls grabbed them and broke the ears in pieces before the gathering chains could pull them in the combine. While this will provide a lot of food for wildlife of all kinds until it gets buried in the snow, it will mean more than usual volunteer corn to control in next year’s soybean crop. Oh, joy.

 

Writing this edition from Canada from an undisclosed location near Flanders. The weather has been cooler than home most of the trip and it rained some prior to our arrival. This lessened the fire danger, although with no rain, it will dry out quickly with all the leaves down. We managed to gather, split and stack some wood, although there hasn’t been much logging nearby. This means the slash piles we rely on to supply stove wood for the sauna and the cabin stove are a fair distance away. Felling trees on the property that should be cut runs the risk of landing on power lines, the phone line or the cabin itself, so they’re out. We were fortunate to find some by the public access that had been cut with someone removing the heavy duty parts of the tree. We made short work of that and had everything put away before dark on Sunday. At least we earned our keep.

 

When I get home it’ll be time to move into late fall mode at the ranch. There are lots of chores to get done before the snow flies. Putting on the mulching blades and attachments needs to happen, so the nightcrawlers can make the lawn rougher comes to mind. There are loads of bedding and hay that need to be procured. That’s usually a good way to avoid people or at least they run the other direction when you mention it. Bunny protection needs to be put in place or those shrubs we’ve worked so hard on will cease to exist. Barns need to be cleaned, although the weather needs to get uglier before resorting to that. The sheep will also have to come home from the kindly neighbors’ pasture. Right now it’s much more relaxing to stare through the birch clumps, white cedar and red pine across the lake and exhale. Serenity now.

Still it will be good to get home and get back in the routine again. It seems like a month since I’ve seen Poppy. There’s something to be said for someone whose whole existence revolves around playing ball, chasing cats, squirrels and the occasional wild turkey then napping in the dog hole. When I have to let her out at noon, we’ve become lunchtime pals, especially if there are small pieces of cheese that happen her way. Mrs. Cheviot will be off on her Louisville excursion soon, so Poppy and I will be left to our own devices, unsupervised. There will be plenty of time to bond. James Bond. Maybe with some popcorn some night. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

 

See you next week…real good then.