A month ago a bunch of us neighbours were sitting around a barbeque and talking about the the rain we'd had so far this summer. We haven't been keeping track but some had and reported that it was at the seventeen inches mark as of July 4th, well past the average for this time of the year. Well, here we are a month later - and at least ten more inches - with storm warnings out again for this afternoon and evening. There were two days last week that didn't have these warnings, it felt kind of weird.
These aren't big low pressure systems coming and raining gently down on our fields. These are pressure cooker storms that suck the moisture up from our saturated fields, brew it up into a boiling pot of energy, and slams it back down at the end of the day with wind and hail and rain that comes in sideways. It gives us a fairly comfortable night temperature, but in the morning it starts all over again. There is nothing unusual about this as a typical prairie summer storm, what is not typical is to have them every night - and all the way from Edmonton to Winnipeg. I don't know how many times there have been golf ball to soft ball sized hail reported this summer. That's normally a rarity, not a weekly occurrence. Carlyle is a town 40 miles west of here and that's where the hail gods made their mark last night. Here's hoping that they're done with this area now. I imagine that the insurance companies are starting to sweat about the constant claims rolling in too. It's been quite the summer - and it's only half over so far.
My yard work has sure suffered. First of all, the whole place was under water for almost two weeks. My garden is an almost complete write off. No potatoes, no peas or beans. The spinach didn't make it, the corn is yellowed and slow in developing. This swiss chard did okay and the beets are coming, as are the carrots. I found the cucumbers in that weedy mess, but I don't know if either they, or the tomatoes will ever bear fruit
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR ...
I just re-read my last post and found that I was complaining about low soil moisture. You won't find anyone on the prairies feeling that way any more. I don't think we've had a full two days of sunshine in a row since then. Many fields remain unplanted - and are very likely to stay that way because it's too late in the season for many crop varieties now, even if it were to dry up tomorrow ... which the weatherman has already told us isn't going to happen. Between watching the oil disaster in the Gulf on the news, and then listening to the depressing forecast on the weather, a person just wants to fling the TV out the window. At least the Blackhawks (the ultimate underdogs) gave us something to cheer about last night. No matter how you feel about them as a team, ending a 41 year drought has to be cause for some kind of celebration.
I did get my garden planted in the middle of May, and aside from the potatoes being very slow coming up, it looks like 100% germination. If I can ever get in there to weed, I'm going to have a fantastic yield. At the moment it is way too wet to think about anything but walking along the edge and looking in. To step in would mean to sink in to my ankles. I'm afraid that the roots will soon start rotting from lack of oxygen too. What a mess!
I also would like to mow lawn, but with every rain more of the yard slips beneath the waves. Last night (when it actually wasn't raining for a change!) I went out to mow around my rock garden, but the minute I got down the hill the mower started to labour and while I stopped to try to see what was wrong with it, my shoes filled up with water. The grass is so long now that I couldn't even see I was out in two inches of water. It killed my mower's motor, and I needed rubber boots to continue. Needless to say, I did the top of the hill and quit. It's not like everyone's lawn doesn't look the same, anyway!
Glen has had very few days of work - again, because of the rain. His part in the establishment of an oil well is to come in before anyone else and prepare a perfectly flat work space for the rig and equipment needed to do the drilling - and build a berm to contain anything that might go wrong. The earth has to be the right consistency for this operation, and mud just doesn't cut it. When we think of all the rules and regulations that have to be adhered to for the drilling of a well on land, it's really hard to wrap your head around how lax things seem to be in deep sea drilling where such harm can come to so many things, and the fix - if they even have one - is almost impossible to implement. How dare the companies like BP and the government regulators charged with watching over them be so callous with wildlife, people's livelihoods, and people's lives, not to mention the Gulf of Mexico itself. They keep talking as if there is enough money to clean it all up. There is not enough money in the world to undo the damage that has been done. And the oil hasn't been stopped yet, either.
Well, enough of my rant - that's what bad weather can do to a person. If I could only be out on my lawn mower, making my yard pretty, you would have been saved from that.
I did get my garden planted in the middle of May, and aside from the potatoes being very slow coming up, it looks like 100% germination. If I can ever get in there to weed, I'm going to have a fantastic yield. At the moment it is way too wet to think about anything but walking along the edge and looking in. To step in would mean to sink in to my ankles. I'm afraid that the roots will soon start rotting from lack of oxygen too. What a mess!
I also would like to mow lawn, but with every rain more of the yard slips beneath the waves. Last night (when it actually wasn't raining for a change!) I went out to mow around my rock garden, but the minute I got down the hill the mower started to labour and while I stopped to try to see what was wrong with it, my shoes filled up with water. The grass is so long now that I couldn't even see I was out in two inches of water. It killed my mower's motor, and I needed rubber boots to continue. Needless to say, I did the top of the hill and quit. It's not like everyone's lawn doesn't look the same, anyway!
Glen has had very few days of work - again, because of the rain. His part in the establishment of an oil well is to come in before anyone else and prepare a perfectly flat work space for the rig and equipment needed to do the drilling - and build a berm to contain anything that might go wrong. The earth has to be the right consistency for this operation, and mud just doesn't cut it. When we think of all the rules and regulations that have to be adhered to for the drilling of a well on land, it's really hard to wrap your head around how lax things seem to be in deep sea drilling where such harm can come to so many things, and the fix - if they even have one - is almost impossible to implement. How dare the companies like BP and the government regulators charged with watching over them be so callous with wildlife, people's livelihoods, and people's lives, not to mention the Gulf of Mexico itself. They keep talking as if there is enough money to clean it all up. There is not enough money in the world to undo the damage that has been done. And the oil hasn't been stopped yet, either.
Well, enough of my rant - that's what bad weather can do to a person. If I could only be out on my lawn mower, making my yard pretty, you would have been saved from that.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
GROWING STUFF - NORTH AND SOUTH OF THE EQUATOR
I know it's been a long time - my apologies to everyone - but we arrived back from Australia on Wednesday evening and have been trying to get life back on an even keel ever since. Trust me; jet lag is a nasty thing by itself, and dealing with head colds is making the experience SO much more fun. I have to show up at work tomorrow morning and I just know I'm going to be expected to come up with some brain function - I'm not looking forward to it!
We left Canada in the middle of March when the snow was just beginning to melt and came back to no snow and full green grass. The trees are just beginning to leaf out, but that won't take long with the temperatures in the low 20's. Glen puttered around in the shop on Friday and got my lawn mowers and garden tiller ready for the season. He even went out and tilled the garden twice that afternoon. If I work up the energy today I'm going to put some potatoes and onions in, and hunt down what garden seeds I have left from last year to see what I need to buy for the rest. The ground is still fairly cool so there is no hurry, though. Our garden experience in Australia was enlightening - they plant garden veggies year round. The backs of the packages tell when is the most opportune time to plant the different types, so Wayne was planting a fall crop while we were there - the peas that he planted were a week from blooming when we left; they had been in the ground maybe 3 weeks.
Today Glen has gone out to harrow down the manure lumps on the hay ground left by the barn cleaners last fall. He spread some fertilizer yesterday too, I guess he's trying to get back into "farmer mode". It sounds like he will be being called back to oilfield work very shortly as spring break-up is over and the rigs are starting to roll again. This afternoon we are going to head into town for a spring auction sale - not that we have anything we want to buy (although there are always those surprise impulse buys that turn up) but it's always a great visiting day.
We left our bred cows under the care of Glen's niece and her husband and it sounds like everything went well for them. Our son, Mitchell, was in charge of the bulls and horses here at the yard, and that went fine too. The pastures are starting to green up and the duggouts are full, but there isn't a whole lot of ground moisture. We sure could use a couple of inches of rain to keep the grass growing.
Well, it's time to think about meal planning. I've been free from that chore for a long time and it appears that I could get used to that! Or maybe my apathy toward food at the moment is just because I can't smell anything and my energy level is at zero ...
We left Canada in the middle of March when the snow was just beginning to melt and came back to no snow and full green grass. The trees are just beginning to leaf out, but that won't take long with the temperatures in the low 20's. Glen puttered around in the shop on Friday and got my lawn mowers and garden tiller ready for the season. He even went out and tilled the garden twice that afternoon. If I work up the energy today I'm going to put some potatoes and onions in, and hunt down what garden seeds I have left from last year to see what I need to buy for the rest. The ground is still fairly cool so there is no hurry, though. Our garden experience in Australia was enlightening - they plant garden veggies year round. The backs of the packages tell when is the most opportune time to plant the different types, so Wayne was planting a fall crop while we were there - the peas that he planted were a week from blooming when we left; they had been in the ground maybe 3 weeks.
Today Glen has gone out to harrow down the manure lumps on the hay ground left by the barn cleaners last fall. He spread some fertilizer yesterday too, I guess he's trying to get back into "farmer mode". It sounds like he will be being called back to oilfield work very shortly as spring break-up is over and the rigs are starting to roll again. This afternoon we are going to head into town for a spring auction sale - not that we have anything we want to buy (although there are always those surprise impulse buys that turn up) but it's always a great visiting day.
We left our bred cows under the care of Glen's niece and her husband and it sounds like everything went well for them. Our son, Mitchell, was in charge of the bulls and horses here at the yard, and that went fine too. The pastures are starting to green up and the duggouts are full, but there isn't a whole lot of ground moisture. We sure could use a couple of inches of rain to keep the grass growing.
Well, it's time to think about meal planning. I've been free from that chore for a long time and it appears that I could get used to that! Or maybe my apathy toward food at the moment is just because I can't smell anything and my energy level is at zero ...
Monday, January 25, 2010
OKAY, SO MAYBE THIS WILL DO ...
Okay. Last night I was whining about being cheated out of a blizzard. This morning is a whole different story. We could hear the wind blowing all through the night, but the yard and the driveway wasn't filling up with snow so I wasn't too concerned about getting to work this morning. The problem is never the roads anyway, the problem is always just getting out of the yard where the trees have held the snow and let the banks build up.
But not this morning. This morning I had no problem pulling out onto the road. In fact, that's where my problem began. The road disappeared! I know what zero visibility is. I've been out in it before, and as of this morning I have even driven a mile in it. I probably shouldn't have even gone that far but I thought that once I turned west toward the highway I might be able to see better. I was wrong about that. Once I got to the corner a mile south of here I knew I was going to be lucky to get turned around and head for home. Meanwhile my part time girl who lives in town called me to say she would go and that I should stay home. She had just got a call from her boyfriend that he had hit the ditch on his way to work. I managed to get back home and will wait until it's full light before I try it again. The chances of the mail truck coming out from Weyburn today are very slim so it's not like there will be anything to do.
So, here I am, at home, and checking what the weather guys are saying today. This is the funniest part of all - some time during the middle of the night they called off the blizzard warning! Apparently it's all over now. Could have fooled me.
But not this morning. This morning I had no problem pulling out onto the road. In fact, that's where my problem began. The road disappeared! I know what zero visibility is. I've been out in it before, and as of this morning I have even driven a mile in it. I probably shouldn't have even gone that far but I thought that once I turned west toward the highway I might be able to see better. I was wrong about that. Once I got to the corner a mile south of here I knew I was going to be lucky to get turned around and head for home. Meanwhile my part time girl who lives in town called me to say she would go and that I should stay home. She had just got a call from her boyfriend that he had hit the ditch on his way to work. I managed to get back home and will wait until it's full light before I try it again. The chances of the mail truck coming out from Weyburn today are very slim so it's not like there will be anything to do.
So, here I am, at home, and checking what the weather guys are saying today. This is the funniest part of all - some time during the middle of the night they called off the blizzard warning! Apparently it's all over now. Could have fooled me.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
BRING THE BLIZZARD ON
You really know you're a prairie person when the weather forecasters predict a blizzard and you feel let down when it peters out before it gets here. Any sensible person would heave a sigh of relief, but I've been watching all day for signs of significant weather and ... there is no other way to describe my feelings except to say the word "disappointment". I realize that this is crazy behavior, but I know I'm not alone. We see ourselves as tough and resilient, and we revel in the chance to prove it.
It's not that we haven't gotten anything out of this storm system. Overnight Friday night a lot of heavy wet snow appeared in the yard. When I took some home made soup and her mail up to Glen's aunt on Saturday morning I chose not to drive into her yard for fear that I would get stuck. I had only just barely made it out of our yard and I knew that the dazzling whiteness gave no hint as to how deep the snow banks were. I warned her about the storm coming too - she probably thinks I was imagining things - and went home before things got any worse. They never did.
Next, I decided an impending blizzard called for a bunch of comfort foods. I spent the day making a huge pot of potato/bacon soup and a double batch of oatmeal/raisin cookies ... and checking the weather channel (which insisted we were really in for it) and the view out our picture window (which showed nothing of the sort).
Glen had gone to work early that morning for a rig move so I was on my own to do the chores. still believing what the TV was preaching I dressed for winter ... full one piece ski-doo suit, touque, gloves, Glen's heavy winter boots ... I near about died of heat stroke! By the time I had filled 16 pails of chop, carried them into the pen, fed the steers, and hauled the pails back to the bin to fill them again for the morning chores, I had my own little personal sauna going on inside my suit. I swear, when I undid the zipper on my way back to the house, steam rolled out!
Today wasn't much different, although the wind has picked up and we got a few more flakes of snow. Nothing from yesterday is blowing around because it came down warm enough that it was too wet and sticky to move. The Weather Channel still says that tonight will be the worst of it all for this area, but I still don't think that they should try to pretend it be called a blizzard. I guess I'll judge them on that as I drive to work tomorrow morning. Glen spent today cleaning out the yard; that's something that has to be kept up over the winter or a big dump of snow (should we ever actually get one) would paralyze every vehicle in the yard. We now have wonderful snow hills pushed up just waiting for little kids to come and dig tunnels in them ... pity our grandchildren all live in Australia!
But, that's the most exciting news of all to come out of last week! We have actually booked our flights to spent five weeks over there this spring. It's been talked about forever, but now it's actually down on paper ... mostly my VISA statement so far ... and we are really going. So, I guess I had better start getting my head around how hot the weather can get, not how cold, because they have a whole different idea on what it takes to tough out the weather over there.
It's not that we haven't gotten anything out of this storm system. Overnight Friday night a lot of heavy wet snow appeared in the yard. When I took some home made soup and her mail up to Glen's aunt on Saturday morning I chose not to drive into her yard for fear that I would get stuck. I had only just barely made it out of our yard and I knew that the dazzling whiteness gave no hint as to how deep the snow banks were. I warned her about the storm coming too - she probably thinks I was imagining things - and went home before things got any worse. They never did.
Next, I decided an impending blizzard called for a bunch of comfort foods. I spent the day making a huge pot of potato/bacon soup and a double batch of oatmeal/raisin cookies ... and checking the weather channel (which insisted we were really in for it) and the view out our picture window (which showed nothing of the sort).
Glen had gone to work early that morning for a rig move so I was on my own to do the chores. still believing what the TV was preaching I dressed for winter ... full one piece ski-doo suit, touque, gloves, Glen's heavy winter boots ... I near about died of heat stroke! By the time I had filled 16 pails of chop, carried them into the pen, fed the steers, and hauled the pails back to the bin to fill them again for the morning chores, I had my own little personal sauna going on inside my suit. I swear, when I undid the zipper on my way back to the house, steam rolled out!
Today wasn't much different, although the wind has picked up and we got a few more flakes of snow. Nothing from yesterday is blowing around because it came down warm enough that it was too wet and sticky to move. The Weather Channel still says that tonight will be the worst of it all for this area, but I still don't think that they should try to pretend it be called a blizzard. I guess I'll judge them on that as I drive to work tomorrow morning. Glen spent today cleaning out the yard; that's something that has to be kept up over the winter or a big dump of snow (should we ever actually get one) would paralyze every vehicle in the yard. We now have wonderful snow hills pushed up just waiting for little kids to come and dig tunnels in them ... pity our grandchildren all live in Australia!
But, that's the most exciting news of all to come out of last week! We have actually booked our flights to spent five weeks over there this spring. It's been talked about forever, but now it's actually down on paper ... mostly my VISA statement so far ... and we are really going. So, I guess I had better start getting my head around how hot the weather can get, not how cold, because they have a whole different idea on what it takes to tough out the weather over there.
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