Archive for the ‘Weather’ Category
April 12, 2012 – Cold Weather Finally Returns
After getting May weather in March, so far April has been more like March. We’ve had three nights in a row with frost, down to about 25 on our unofficial outdoor thermometer.
Some of the trees handled it better than others. This walnut got nipped – all the mulberries turned crispy. Many of the cherry and peach trees have already blossomed, so I’m hopeful the newly fertilized fruit bodies can withstand frost better than the anthers and stamens in a flowering bud, but time will tell how the fruit trees fared. It would be a bummer to have a season without apples, peaches, cherries,a nd pears!
March 30, 2012 – Procrastination Pays!
The storm last night saved me about $300. Back behind the chicken coop is a basswood tree that had three large limbs broken off in last July’s storm. Although they were still mostly upright last week, I had meant to call the tree service over the past few months because it seemed dangerous to have so many unstable limbs high up in the air.
We had a big thunderstorm wind gust last night and it put all three limbs on the ground. Now, it’s a self-service job - all I have to do is drag them to the ground with the chain and tractor and then cut them up. It must have been after we were asleep as we didn’t notice – it also blew over the gas grill on the patio.
February 24, 2012 – Snow!
The biggest storm of the year (all three inches of it) at least stuck to everything to make a fanciful landscape.
Doggy in the snow!
Snow fence.
Raspberry bushes.
Clear, blue skies and snow. A look of winter.
The chief engineer didn’t design for three inches of wet, heavy snow on the cold frame. While it didn’t open up to the outside, some of the support wires did collapse.
But of course, under the snow, the water droplets on the plastic remain fluid.
February 6, 2012 – Where’s the Snow?
Here’s an unusual sight – the white pines near the barn covered in hoarfrost without any snow on the ground!
Once the sun comes out, the hoarfrost isn’t long for the world, so I rushed out.
The needle-like frost looks nasty on this white pine. Evidently the northern edge of Des Moines had the first real snowfall of the year, about 9 inches – here only a dusting that melted quickly away.
December 31, 2011 – Endless Late October
It has indeed been an endless late October this so-called winter. Here we are at New Year’s Eve.
This afternoon, for example, it was in the upper 50′s a far cry from the common sub-zero usually on this day.
Heck, we were even able to get laundry out on the line!
November 8, 2011 – Early November Snow
Winter peeked its head in a bit early this winter. Thought it try to intrude on late fall a bit.
Although it was a good try, by afternoon, most of the snow was melted.
August 31, 2011 – Finally, a Bit of Rain
Although it’s not enough to replenish any soil moisture, it at least knocked the dust off everything and kept the plants going for a few more days
About 7/10 of an inch. A start?
August 29, 2011 – Parched August
The weather service has officially put our county in the “drought-stricken” category, up from “abnormally dry.” We’ve received less than .3 inches of rain in August and are at about 60 percent of the normal rainfall to date.
Cracks in the soil, ready for rain.
Of course, I don’t need this fancy NOAA map showing the rainfall deficit/surplus over the past three months. Looks like over the past three months we’re short 6-8 inches of rainfall from normal.
one year ago…”About those Eggs…”
July 19, 2011 – Cleanup Begins
OK, so this isn’t my greatest moment, but ‘ll share anyways.
These massive ruts are from getting the tractor unstuck. I was hauling branches out to the burn pile and was turning around with an empty wagon, on a part of the field not usually soft. You can see that I was in no manner near the bottom wet part of the pasture (and you can see my original unstuck path coming in on the upper right of the picture). At any rate, The JD 2510 broke through the sod and that was about it.
Descending into a realm of quagmire and muck. Once the initial rut started, the only way out was straight back, towards the low spot. It was the first time I’ve been on the farm that I buried the tractor. It’s a bit of a helpless feeling. Thankfully a neighbor stopped with his Bobcat by to see how we were doing as he was taking a break from cleaning up at his place. By a combination of using the loader bucket to push the tractor back a few feet at a time, we eventually got it close enough to solid ground that we could hook a chain up to it and pull it out.
I hadn’t realized that some branches the thickness of a man’s thigh had found their way into the adjacent field.
Unloading branches on one of the many bonfire piles.
July 18, 2011 – Damage in the Neighborhood
Now that we’ve had a chance to get our feet back under ourselves, we’ve toured the damage to our neighbors.
This is the barn, or what’s left of it, of a farm pretty much due west of us.
Another view.
This is the barn at the farm directly north of us, about 1/4 mile.
These are a couple of the brand new 300,000 bushel grain bins at the elevator in Haverhill, about 4 miles east of us.
Here are some of the old bins from the same place. I’m feeling very fortunate that due to the vagaries of the wind and landscape, all of our buildings survived. I’m also feeling good that all the new roofs I put on the outbuildings remain intact, at least for winds from the NW.
one year ago…”At the Waterfall”
July 11, 2011 – Maizy’s Storm Report
Oh boy, will my owners be surprised when they return from vacation in about a week!
First, they’ll have a hard time even getting in the driveway.
They’ll know from a mile or two away that the profile of their farm has changed – at least six of the white pines and spruces along the road had their tops snapped off and tossed into the gardens.
Another big spruce down by the propane tank.
Another top of a tree up by the propane tank.
The first few tops blown into the bottom garden and crushing a bean trellis.
More tops tossed in the middle garden.
Some more in the top garden.
Some more in the perennial flower garden.
I was afraid my doghouse would blow away, so I sought shelter under this car. My chain got caught under the tire, but in a panic, I was able to slip out of my collar and run away!
The place for relaxing on the patio is not so much now.
This stock tank received another top of a tree – guess it might be a used as a raised bed container now!
Wasn’t I cool to get my own picture in this one! I don’t think this tree understands that windbreak doesn’t mean to break in the wind!
The turbine was spared, just the top of this tree on some guy wires.
The area in the chicken yard is a mangled mess.
Two peach trees down here.
A big apple tree down here. I can’t count very well, but counted three peach trees, an apple, a cherry, and a plum tree down. They won’t be very happy about this. Only five days until they come home!
one year ago…”End of the Road”
June 7, 2011 – Hot Enough for Ya?
Although it doesn’t seem as bad as August and 96 degrees, three straight days in early June with 95+ is just a little too much, too early. Now, we could use some rain for the latest round of transplanting and seed sowing – and some south-facing grass is beginning to turn brown.
April 22, 2010 – Spring in Suspended Animation
Despite a couple of 85 degree plus Sundays in April, the rest of the month is just short of miserable. We should be in the mid-60′s by now, but it seems many days it struggles to reach 50.
Most everything seems to be in suspended animation. This asparagus is purple because of the cold and hasn’t shown appreciable growth in a week since it poked out.
Fruit tree buds, like these plums, are likewise, just holding steady and not advancing like they usually do. Last year the plum trees were in full bloom on April 14 – looks like this year could be two weeks or more behind last year’s blooming time.
Despite being the 8th warmest March on record on a global scale, we did not contribute to that warmth. There’s blue dots over us. April will likely be even much colder from average than March.
one year ago…”Thingamajig Thursday #205″
April 3, 2011 – 82 Degrees
Today was the first time in a long while that the thermometer passed 80 degrees.
Our bodies weren’t ready for it – the sultry, warm air made us feel like not doing much at all. We went for a walk around a small lake to enjoy the day. No getting used to it, however, – tomorrow it’s back to a high of 48.
one year ago…”Syruping Season Ends”
