A Little Blue Today

Not me but the sky. Filled with blue smoke from Northern forest fires that has found it's way down to East central Sask.

 Thick enough that it actually burns the throat after being out most of the morning. I baled up the last three hay bales that were near home.
The hot and dry conditions yesterday caused the baler to regurgitate the hay as fast as the pickup tried to push it in. Resulted in plugging up with fine chopped and dusty hay that was no fun to clean out *(By hand, twice!). I tried again after dark and there was enough moisture to promote good feeding and the hay rolled up into bales just the way it was intended to.
I was planning to head for the hundred acre woods and cut more hay today but  rain showers are in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow. We do need the rain. This cloudy and smokey morning is giving the crops a break from the relentless blazing heat of the sun we had yesterday. Long term forecast is not looking good at all. Hot and dry. Some of the folks on Agriville have pretty much given up on their crops. We are not that bad here yet.

From Mud To Dust

Today , had a good heavy shower about 3:30 which was welcome . 3 maybe 4 tenths which will buy our crops a little time. 8 miles West it looks like there was hardly any measureable rain. We sure needed it as the temp hit 90 before noon with a dry south wind blowing. Great for drying the hay I cut a few days ago but I missed the chance to bale it this afternoon before the sudden thunder shower came up. . Not complaining, we needed the rain more. Part of my garden is well soaked as I forgot and left the sprinkler running all last night.
Stressful morning rounding up cattle but a great relief to see most of the illegal aliens leave the yard in a trailer. Only 4 left that I could not trap in the enclosure this morning but hopefully they will be back tomorrow or the next day so I can get the last of them trucked out as well. I should have enough pasture for my 8 head, but not 21 extra of the neighbour's that broke in here on Monday. Those yearlings can sure eat. And jump 2 wire fences with a single leap.
Got to make time to  haul home the new flax buncher I got at the auction sale this week. (New to me but it is far from a new machine). Hopefully it will make raking up flax straw a lot more easy and efficient after harvest. Providing we grow any this dry summer.

Cutting hay in comfort yesterday while it was sweltering hot outside.

Blue flax buncher.

Clouds Without Rain

As seen in this photo from Sunday evening.........

The Western sky really built up for something but at the end of the day there was not enough rain to measure. Total for the weekend here was maybe a quarter inch which only laid the dust for a few hours. A few miles away it could be different. The ground was still damp from a shower earlier that day so I did not get the old black Ford all dusty driving the long driveway.
We are not suffering yet but if the predicted heat later in the week comes to pass I think the crops will start to go downhill.
I did my part. Washed my truck, hitched onto the hay conditioner and cut a bit of hay. That should bring on the rain.
Took this shot of the convex mirror of the water truck this morning as I was heading to the slough to fill up for the last bit of crop spraying. Had to change a spark plug to get the old truck running on all six. Found a good used plug in the "inventory". This is why I hardly ever throw anything away.

If I don't get that field done within the next few days it might be too late. I could have done it today but other complications with cattle kind of broke up the day....
Clouds and chance of thunder showers tonight. Maybe this time????

What A Difference

A year makes. This time last year I was complaining about the endless downpours of rain that were destroying our crops and flooding roads. Now I am lucky to have saved some of that subsoil moisture to keep the crop going since we have had no significant rain since the snow left except for one half inch shower. Big clouds build up and blow by with maybe a light shower (or nothing at all). A few miles one way or the other can make quite a difference though.
Even a month ago I was complaining about the muddy fields, still wet from last year's excess rainfall.

 Hay crops will be short to cut and I need to get busy on that now. We are still lucky here compared to some further West who are already past the point of recovery on their crops even if it did rain much now.
It is pretty ironic that though we need rain for the crops now there are still roads and farm yards under water from the effects of last year's cloudbursts . Like this one I shot earlier this week.

 Water is kind of like money. There is enough out there for everybody but it is just not evenly distributed.

I Made It Rain

Yesterday. Just not enough and not in the right place. After hours watching the weather forecasts, wind, chance of rain, etc. I headed out with a tank full of expensive weed herbicide to spray a field of flax 8 miles away. Although a little windier than I liked, it went well right up to the point when big drops of rain started to fall. Not enough to do the crop any good but maybe enough to reduce the efficiency of the herbicide I just sprayed. I stopped and waited for the sun and wind to dry the crop enough that I could finish the field. Just enough rain to prevent the great clouds of dust that had been following me. Yes, it is getting a little dry here since we have not had a significant rain this spring. Some of the folks on agriville. are about ready to give up on the crop.
The irony, as I headed nearly ten miles east to spray out the last 200 gallons of herbicide, the road kept getting darker and wetter. Not a good sign.

By the time I got to the target field, it was bordering on too wet but I finished off the tank as the sun went down anyway.

Time will tell if it worked on the weeds. It is not a good idea to leave mixed herbicide in the tank for too long.
Heading home I could see the road getting drier and eventually there was dust behind the tractor wheels. Sure enough, my garden sits as dry and dusty as the sahara desert. Looks like the rain missed me (literally) by a mile. .

Under The Rainbow

Rumbling skies yesterday afternoon even though I worked in sunshine most of the time. (Note to self, next time I need to haul five loads of rocks, use the front end loader , not my hands).

Dark skies rolling in just before sundown and brought us a small downpour that only amounted to a tenth but gave us this fantastic rainbow. I don't often see a full arc from North to South so this one was worth a picture . The Gopro with it's wide angle lens setting was able to pull in the whole rainbow. Standing under the elm trees trying not to get raindrops on the lens.

Feeding The Deer

The deer seem to enjoy this fusarium infested wheat. The bin door had leaked a fair bit out on the ground this spring before I noticed it. The deer soon noticed it and have been eating it up like theres no tomorrow. I guess if I can't sell it I can just let the deer eat it.