Poppy’s very perceptive especially if food is involved

The scurs and Weather Eye received accolades for knocking it out of the park last week. Does Old Man Winter return or did he leave a forwarding address? Starting Thursday, mostly sunny with highs in the low 20’s and lows around 5 above. Mostly cloudy on Friday with an increasing chance of snow by evening. Highs in the upper 20’s with lows in the upper teens. Mostly cloudy Saturday with a good chance of snow. Highs in the low 30’s with lows in the upper single digits. Sunday, mostly sunny with a slight chance of snow showers. Highs in the low 20’s with lows in the upper single digits. Partly sunny on Monday with a slight chance of light snow. Highs in the upper teens with lows around zero. Tuesday, partly sunny with highs in the mid-teens and lows around 5 above. Mostly cloudy on Lincoln’s Birthday with a fair chance of snow. Highs in the upper teens with lows in the upper single digits. The normal high for Lincoln’s Birthday is 25 and the normal low is 7. The ground hog didn’t see his shadow here although we’ll still see six more weeks of winter. At least Punxsutawney Phil didn’t bite his handlers, something he’s done occasionally over the years. The scurs can’t say as they blame him. A winter’s nap is hard to come by.

Lincoln’s Birthday coincides with the Full Moon for the month. It goes primarily by the Full Snow Moon, so named as this is one of the snowiest months of the year across may parts of the country. Here it ranks fractionally ahead of January and trails only December in terms of amount. In Europe, it is known as the Ice Moon. While some point out there isn’t a lot of animal activity in February, some of the Native Americans might beg to differ. The Ojibwe called this the Sucker Moon after the suckers that ran in area streams this time of year. The Sioux called it the Raccoon Moon as the raccoons were awakening and beginning to forage as the days grew longer and temperatures began to warm. At the ranch, it is The Full Lamb Moon as we are busy daily tending to newborn lambs, much to one small Corgi’s chagrin.

February 12th is reputedly the same date that Studebaker sold its first electric vehicle in 1902 to F.W. Blees in Macoun MO. Studebaker was a pioneer in manufacturing electric vehicles and in fact started in the automobile business selling only electric vehicles. John Mohler Studebaker championed electrics as they were quiet and clean to operate. As some point out, sticking with electric vehicles as long as they did was probably part of Studebaker’s downfall. It meant spending valuable time catching up to the rest of the auto industry, still in its infancy but expanding rapidly thanks to gasoline powered engines. While gasoline engines were harder to start, noisier and dirtier, at the time they were also lighter, faster, less time consuming to refuel, and capable of traveling farther between refueling than electrics. In 1912, Studebaker ceased the manufacture of electric vehicles and focused on gasoline powered automobiles.  

Last week had people beginning to think about spring with some high temps reaching into the 50’s in late January. It was something to behold after some of the subzero days prior. It didn’t make for much activity in area fields yet although reports from points south indicated that some dry bulk fertilizer was being spread, likely phosphorus and potassium. Locally there were signs of pack manure being spread in areas. An absolutely beautiful stretch for doing that as the dry soil surface meant no mud tracked on the road and no ruts left in the fields. It was a unique January. At the SROC in Waseca, the average temperature for the month was right at normal, with a wide range of highs and lows. The precipitation was of course far below normal. The normal snowfall for January at the SROC is 10.7”. This year it measured .8”, or nearly 10” below normal. The frost depth remains at 23” as of February 3rd. 

So what will we see as we move further into February? I recently had an email exchange with Pete Boulay, assistant state climatologist concerning frost depth. I’d mentioned that the door on my barn won’t close once frost depth reaches 19” at the SROC. He thought this might’ve been the quickest it had reached that depth since 2019. Being a weather nerd I looked it up. In 2019, the frost reached 19” on February 1st. This year it reached 20” on January 16th. What was the 2019 winter like? We had about 16” of snow from October through December although most of it had melted in early January. Starting in mid-January, winter returned. We had about 17” of snow by the end of the month. We had roughly 36” in February and it broke the all-time snowfall record for February at the SROC. Are we headed for a repeat performance? Not necessarily although some are indicating an uptick in precip. It would be hard to receive much less than we’ve had, that much is for certain. 

The warmth this last week allowed many to get at some of the chores that had been waiting with the colder weather earlier in the month. It allowed us to get the main barn cleaned after many setbacks, including a self-inflicted flat tire on the spreader once it was loaded. After getting the tire repaired and back on just before dark, I decided to leave the load on the spreader and haul it the following afternoon. The forecast was favorable. This would’ve been sacrilege in January when I grew up. If a chain snapped or a pin was sheared, that manure had to come off the spreader ASAP, lest it become a glacier. After lunch the next day, I took the load out, turned on the pto and started making my way west. When I looked back momentarily, I was startled by what I saw. It looked like there was a cloud of smoke coming off the beaters! Looking again, it was steam. With introduction of oxygen and 24 hours of time, the pack manure started some serious composting. The steam cloud kept coming off the beaters throughout the load. Anyone passing by had to be wondering what in blazes was going on. Lucky no one called the fire department.

Poppy continues to spend a lot of her winter indoors but is outside a fair amount with us when the weather is like this past Sunday. She was on hand as I raked up all the sticks her squirrels left in the backyard. These mentally handicapped tree rodents still haven’t figured out how to construct a respectable nest. They opt to build them from 12” – 18” ash twigs, chewed off when the leaves are still green. Then they attempt to accumulate them in the crotch of a tree. Not only do the ash leaves disintegrate quickly, the vast majority of the sticks fall out of the trees, making a mess to clean up. Once we head inside after tasks such as this, Poppy’s on the lookout for crumbs, another word she mastered quickly. Monday night is column writing night and that means frozen pizza for supper. When she hears me rattle the wrapper and in particular the word “crumbs”, she comes on a dead run, spinning and hopping frantically when she reaches the kitchen. She’s certain there will be pieces of grated cheese hitting the floor. She’s usually right. Unlike her tree dwelling little buddies, Poppy’s very perceptive especially if food is involved.

See you next week…real good then.