Filed under: cold, Farm, Ice, Minnesota, rain, seasons, snow, spring, weather, wind | Tags: Corn, farm, Minnesota, Planting, rain, snow, spring, wind
The weather here in southwestern Minnesota has been a bit chilly lately. That has been good news for those who live along rivers and streams that have gone over their banks, but bad news for farm folks anticipating planting season.
Ditch and field snow
The snow has not completely left the open areas of the fields yet. Road ditches and protected areas hold still more. Very little snow has melted in the last weeks.
Area rivers have crested for now and seem to be receding. Some low areas still have water in them although the water level has gone down. Ducks and geese are still making good use of the added landing spots.
snow banks still as tall as a truck
In some protected areas the snow can still be found to be very deep. These areas must melt before we can even consider field work.
snow melt damage
The earlier snow melt has damaged some back country roads. It is hoped that there is not similar damage in the fields.
snow in the tree line
The largest amount of snow is to be found in the tree lines. This will create wet areas on field edges for some time yet.
water level still high
The area I dug out for my pond is still nearly full of water. I’ll have a challenge getting the liner in it until that dries up.
So for now spring is on hold. With daytime temperatures only a bit above freezing and most nights below freezing, it is hard to get rid of much moisture. Now the forecast is for some more snow just when we need sunshine and warm winds.
I usually try to get started planting corn about April 23. Some area farmers have pushed planting well before that in drier years, but this may not be one of them. Hopefully we can get corn planting done this year by May 10. We’ll see if the weather lets us.
Michael
Filed under: history, Minnesota, weather, weather wisdom | Tags: history, Minnesota, moon, weather, weather forecast, weather wisdom
Some of you have heard the discussion of the moon being closer than it has been for 18 years and what this may mean for us. My dad and I were discussing my previous post and the forecast for the summer. He mentioned that 18 years ago we had a cool wet summer, and that it had also been cold and wet 38 years ago when the moon was at its closest. Does the moon affect our weather?
We know that the tides of the ocean respond to the gravitational pull of the sun and moon. Higher tides are found as the moon gets closer, or when it lines up with the sun. Is it too much of a stretch to think that the water vapor in our air may also respond to the moon?
Our weather across the world is affected by the movement of our oceans waters. The well documented El Nino and La Nina changes in the Pacific show this to be true. How much are these affected by the moon?
Ancient people who did not have all of our science claimed the effect of the sun and moon on many things. One of the things that they may have been right on could be the weather. I’ve seen the wisdom of older people to be true too often to discount it. Either way, it makes for an interesting discussion.
Filed under: Fall, Minnesota, seasons, spring, summer, weather, weather wisdom, wind, winter | Tags: fall, farm, Minnesota, spring, summer, weather, weather forecast, winter
Leo, our local weather forecaster has called in his prediction for the years weather, and it’s going to be interesting. He’s usually pretty accurate, so I always listen. He’s vague enough to be able to hedge his bets, but always better than the Old Farmer’s Almanac.
Leo has two methods he uses to predict the weather.
The onions.
On New Years Eve Leo cuts onions in half, hollows them out, adds a teaspoon of salt to each and puts them near a basement window. On New Years Day he reads the rainfall prediction by the amount of water in each onion. For this year he is projecting average rainfall for all months except May, August and December. These months will have below average rainfall.
Ember Days.
Ember days start on the first full day of spring. Leo keeps track of the weather for the first four full days of spring and uses those days to predict the areas weather. He claims the system has been used since before the Europeans came here. Here’s the forecast:
- Spring will have below normal temperatures. Leo expects a cool damp spring.
- Summer will also have below normal temperatures with early summer storms. It’s going to be windy so a few storms could mix in. This was the day that Iowa had lots of tornados and areas north of us were buried in snow, so we could get a little of crazy weather around us. Leo expects this to be a year that you should have crop insurance.
- Fall will be cold with some early snow. Later in the fall we could see some rain, but expect some wind, not a lot, all season long.
- Winter should be the best of all the seasons. Leo expects little snow and not much wind. We could have a decent winter ahead.
These forecasts are very place specific. If your area weather was different from ours, you can expect to have different weather. If he is right or not, it’s still fun to listen. My past experience is that it’s alway worth listening to Leo’s weather forecast for the year.
Filed under: birds, Farm, frost, Minnesota, rain, snow, spring, weather, Wildlife, wind | Tags: cold, farm, geese, Minnesota, rain, snow, spring, weather, wildlife, wind
With the cold of the last few days the ducks and geese have paused their northward migration to take advantage of flooded fields in our area. Although the rivers are open, many lakes are still ice covered so going further north is not going to work too well. Gleaning spilled grain from farm fields will help them get some energy to complete their flight.
Our local geese have claimed their nesting spots, although there is still ice around them in the ponds and lakes, and rivers are at forcing the geese further away from normal riverbanks. Two days ago when the winds were so gusty out of the north some of the geese were having a tough time holding their spots on the ice as they were pushed down wind.
All rivers are well out of their banks, although the cold has allowed for a slowdown in the surge. Some were predicting historically high water levels, but the lack of frost in farm fields this year means that most water is sinking in rather than running off. A few bridges have reappeared, but that could change when the warm weather returns. Mother Nature is still in control.
Filed under: house, Minnesota, seasons, spring, winter | Tags: basement, melt, Minnesota, repairs, snow, spring, sump pump, water, weather
The rising temperatures have caused the rapid melting of the mountains of snow we have around here. This has also caused the rivers to rise over their banks, and some water to creep into basements.
The basement of my old house will, in the wettest periods, have water in it. I added another sump pump to help with this problem, but putting in the pump is only the beginning. I installed a tile line to an old problem spot, only to discover more places that water comes in.
Normally I discover the water when it covers the basement floor. This year I have been making frequent trips downstairs and have been looking for each place the water creeps in. It is helping me to understand my basement. It has also caused me to be amazed at the persistence of water. It seems that over time water will creep through the smallest of cracks, some I cannot even see.
Most of my basement walls are poured concrete rather than concrete block. When it was poured, they poured the footings and the wall in one piece. This made the wall able to hold out most water so that water will actually come through the floor in many places before it comes through the walls. It does find ways to weep through the walls in some places.
Now I’m off to break up more of my basement floor in hopes of keeping the basement dry. This year I know that a dry basement is hopeless. Perhaps in the future I can keep the water out.
Michael
Filed under: Ag education, Ag promotion, Biofuels, cars, Corn, ethanol, history, Minnesota, Politics, seasons, travel | Tags: Agriculture education, biofuels, car, cars, Corn, farm, history, Minnesota, politics, travel
I am frequently amazed at the vehemence of some people who want to have the ethanol mandate removed. They seem to feel that anything that the government requires them to do is bad for them. They don’t realize that the mandated use of ethanol in gasoline is for their health.
Too often in the battle for market share between oil companies and ethanol supporters we emphasize the economic factors, and patriotic reasons for using a home grown fuel. Science and history are firmly behind the use of fuels that you do not have to import. Our health is the strongest reason to use ethanol.
About twenty years ago cities across the U.S. were announcing their smog index. Many cities were left in a fog of partly burned gasoline fumes. Cities such as Minneapolis and St. Paul required that your car have an exhaust system check before you could renew the tabs on your car’s license plate. Then tests showed that the addition of ethanol to gasoline reduced the amount of unburned hydrocarbons, the smog index in Minneapolis and St. Paul became a thing of the past, and the modern ethanol industry was born. The American Lung Association and America’s farmers couldn’t have been more happy.
Few realize that the internal combustion engine was designed to be fueled by ethanol. Henry Ford was one of the biggest boosters of the ethanol industry. Then the oil industry was born and cheap fuel spawned our love affair with the automobile.
For the last 90 years our government has supported the oil industry. There have been tax breaks and incentives to keep or fuel inexpensive here. All the time the smog of gasoline exhaust was filling our lungs and ruining our health. If our government can help support the oil industry for 90 years, it’s only right that they support a healthy fuel choice for the same amount of time.
The next time you hear someone putting down the ethanol industry remind them that we all breath better because of ethanol, the clean air choice.
Michael
Filed under: Ag education, Ag promotion, Farm, Farm Bureau, food, food safety, Minnesota, Politicians, Politics | Tags: Ag. Education, Agriculture education, farm, Farm Bureau, Food, Minnesota, politicians, politics
Yesterday was National Ag Day, and I celebrated it by making a trip to S. Paul with other farm folks to remind our legislators of who we are.
Farm Bureau encourages its members to be in contact with lawmakers. If you are going to send then a letter, e-mail or make a phone call it is nice if they can put a face on the contact. This was that contact.
Our day started out at the MN Department of Agriculture where we were briefed on the issues. Right now the budget is the big issue. We accept that Agriculture is going to have to get trimmed a bit, we just don’t want to be completely bald when the job is done. We requested that we receive no more of a cut than anyone else.
After the briefing we had appointments with Senator Magnus and Representative Hamilton who are from our district, as well as Senator Hall and Representative Thissen whom we have adopted. We adopt senators and representatives from urban districts so that they can have someone they know to call when rural issues come up. If they can put a name on a face from rural Minnesota, and associate a story with that name, they will at least be better informed. We do not expect them to vote with us all of the time, but at least if they listen we will have done something. It also helps our Farm Bureau staff and officers when they testify about a bill to have a personal relationship with members of your group.
With the importance of the food industry in our lives, we are proud to be the face that government sees and thinks about when agricultural issues are talked about. Have you done your part to represent agriculture in a good way this year?
Michael
Filed under: Politicians, Politics | Tags: elections, politicians, politics, truth
There is a line in the movie, “A Few Good Men” where the colonel sneers “You can’t handle the truth.” I think our politicians feel the same way about us, but they do it for a good reason. If they told us the truth we would not reelect them. Here are some political truths for you. Some of which you may not want to hear.
Our country does not collect enough money in taxes to pay for all of the things the people want the government to provide for it. The IRS collects enough money to cover Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the interest on the national debt. For all other things the government provides it must borrow money.
Neither Democrats nor Republicans have it all right. The people will elect the candidate they think the country needs at that time, but usually they elect the right person too late.
No action of the congress, nor of the president, will affect the economy of our country overnight. It usually takes years for any political action to affect our nations economy. A case in point, the current housing crisis is usually blamed on the administration of George H. Bush, but the laws that caused the crisis were passed in the administration of Jimmy Carter. Because the congress did not fund the program, it took until the Clinton administration for funding for the housing boom to start, and the Bush administration for the bust. If you want to fix something in the U.S. economy, you need to pass the bill about twelve years ago.
Just because congress passed the bill, it does not mean that it will actually come to pass. No law will actually do anything if it is not funded and enforced. Congress passes the laws, the president signs them, but until the courts determine it to be constitutional, and some department of the government actually administers and enforces the law, it does not happen.
You cannot tax only the rich to pay for all that the people want their government to provide. First off, there are not enough of them. Secondly, the rich have enough money to go elsewhere to live if they feel hard pressed by a government. That’s why states, and countries, that have no income tax have a larger number of rich people.
When you tax business you tax everyone, even the poor. Business must have profit to stay in business. If business cannot pay it’s bills and its taxes, prices must either be raised or the business will fail. Either of these events will affect the poor who depend on the jobs provided by business more than the rich.
Oh, I know there are some other political truths I could add to this, but these are enough for now.
Filed under: cars, history, Politics, time | Tags: car, cars, fuel, gas, gas prices, history, machines
One advantage of getting older is we get to remember just the things we want to, and pretend the rest did not happen. That may be what is happening as people consider gas prices today. We are all upset because they are going up, we remember how good we had it yesterday, but forget how it was 50 years ago.
Truth be told, the low gas price we were used to are only a product of the last twenty years. I’m not talking about the dollars per gallon, I’m talking about the percent of our income that goes to pay for fuel.
I’m old enough to remember gas prices at 19 to 25 cents per gallon, that was a long time ago. I was not driving in those days. My driving started more in the dollar plus per gallon era. Back then filling your tank was a big deal. People were paying out up to 30% of their income for transportation fuel when my dad was born, and more like 15% of their income by the time I started driving. For the last 20 years we’ve been paying about 3% of our annual average income for transportation. No wonder Americans have fallen in love with the automobile.
When compared to the last 50 years we are only at an average cost for fuel as a percent of average income. We’ll need to go much higher to get back to the price levels of the 60′s. Remember those glory years of the auto? Those big, high powered cars were expensive to keep on the road compared to today.
So go ahead, moan and groan about the high price of fuel at the pump. Some of us are going to remember that we have seen worse and survived it. The price of transportation fuels is going to get worse before it gets better. That is something you can depend on.
Filed under: cars, Politics, science, travel | Tags: biofuels, car, cars, diesel, ethanol, gas, hydrogen, machines, propane
There is an old adage in the commodities markets, that “the best cure for high prices is high prices.” When prices of a commodity get high enough the market either finds a cheaper product to substitute for it, or consumers just do without, thus rationing demand.
That is what’s happening with gas prices.
There are always a few consumers who will have to use fuel to make deliveries no matter what the price. When gas, diesel and oil prices get high enough they will pass on the price increases to consumers of whatever is being hauled. You can expect higher prices for everything because of rising fuel prices.
There are others that had trouble paying for fuel at the old lower prices. They must immediately find an alternative. It could be changing to public transport, or riding a bicycle, they will do without.
Those in the middle will either make fewer trips or buy more efficient vehicles so that they don’t have to use as much fuel. The market will push consumers until they stop using so much fuel before it stops going up.
We in America have become addicted to cheap transportation fuels. Public policy has favored cars over public transport. Much of the rest of the world has for many years placed a higher tax on transportation fuels than here in the U.S. so that those who use cars, use more efficient, usually smaller or diesel powered, vehicles. We in America still drive huge vehicles compared to the rest of the world.
Our world is telling us to change. Since transportation fuels have been inexpensive here, we have used great quantities to move large vehicles, many times with only one rider. We are going to have to join the rest of the world and drive smaller, more efficient vehicles. Those in cities are going to have to use more public transportation, more car pools. People living in the suburbs are going to be moving closer to work.
Higher fuel prices will hasten the day when alternative fuels are cost efficient. The market will look for alternatives. Biofuels and other alternatives will now look doable. Propane, hydrogen and fuel cells now look better economically.
Until we change, fuel prices will remain high. High priced transportation fuels will reduce our usage. Our way of life will change. We have no choice.
