NEWS FLASH: Drought ends at Ponderosa

Hope everything goes good for you M. R.-

rained pretty good here from 9:00am till 6:00pm yesterday- then turned to sleet- sideways- around 9:00pm started snowing- snow was light I thought- blowing sideways and cold was coming in arround the bottom of the big window- wife got up this morning- looked at the drift as high as our fence and 8' on each side of the gate- crawled back in bed-

6:30 am I got up and let the Britts outside- yikes- 3 of them were standing and could have walked right over the fence- didn't though

hey hey- lets load up the Escape and go see how bad the roads are-
made it 3 miles towards town- course I had warm clothes on but didn't think about a shovel- will tell the full story in a post I'm going to make- 4 vehicles got stuck in a mile section- all 4 wheel drive

"what a time after the blizzard"

anyway- we have 8" more or less, with drifts 2-6'- all the way across this 1/2 mile burr field- so fresh snow we have to go hit it- but that will be just a wee bit later
 
Shadow,

We had that period of freezing rain, sleet, ice here for about two hours. I was sure hoping that the temp dropped and we went through that phase as quickly as possible. Sure glad my tractor has two doors as the one side was a solid piece of ice and the steps a sheet of ice. Parked it the other direction so hopefully a little solar heat can thaw it out. Really not much snow at the Byrd Ranch, only drifts of maybe two foot at the most.

You be careful.
 
thanks- dang street tires- and thought I had my chains in the Escape- rain and the roads just graded made it a mess under the snow- roads were frozen where there wasn't any snow- E & W seems big drifts where the north side had a bit of a rise- 1st real snow I've seen out here in 3 years-

it sure is different out here than on the eastern side- crazy winds- blows sand, snow, and about everything everywhere-

sure is nice to see this snow- it's covered the ground nicely everywhere except where the ground was bare- the birds and animals seem to enjoy it and get under it-

funnyist thing when I went to load the Britt's up early- they took a run around the barn- didn't come back- walked over there- 7 pheasants came out of the snow drift- Britt's I couldn't see till the last pheasant flew- 4 rabbits came out of the same area and were scooting around the barn- did a bit of hollering- Britt's didn't chase and went to the Escape

weird how you missed the real snow- maybe you'll get the next batch
 
no need to let this thread die.......how much rain did you get at the Ponderosa? looks like big snow coming might complicate calving?
 
hunter94 said:
no need to let this thread die.......how much rain did you get at the Ponderosa? looks like big snow coming might complicate calving?
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So far 0.65" rain. This afternoon it was putting out pea sized hail off and on. No calves yet, but some cows pretty close. One older cow a little under the weather today, so she got 500ml calcium to give her a boost.
 
Maynard, I checked the gauge at 5 and it said 3.93. It's drizzling now with periods of light rain. This should do wonders for things around here! Hope you catch up with me in the night! Good luck with the calving!!! Stressful times. Give me about 63 days and I'll be stressing over puppy whelping if my luck is good. Hopefully, it won't be snowing then.
 
Glad to see this thread back up! It got to be like an old friend! Hope you are getting plenty of the wet stuff now.
 
Remember the song from the movie, The Wizard of Oz, "Ding dong the witch is dead". Well ding dong the horrible strong La Nina is quickly dying or rapidly weakening. The 2011 spring and summer La Nina caused the worst drought in Texas history and parched W. Oklahoma and S. W. Kansas.

The SOI (Southern Oscillation Index) that measures the daily barometric pressure in both Tahiti and Darwin near the equator. What does this SOI mean to S. W. Kansas, W. Oklahoma and W. Texas dry land wheat crop and pheasant and quail hatch, a great deal.

The negative SOI signals the warming of tropical waters near the equator. Once the water near the equator warms up it quickly sends tons of tropical moisture into the subtropical jet into the southwest. Look at todays radar out of the Gulf of Mexico and Baja California full of moisture. The negative SOI is already sending moisture northward.

See the SOI value below and look at the daily values for the last 16 days of Feb. 2012 moving towards negative:

http://www.longpaddock.qld.gov.au/seasonalclimateoutlook/southernoscillationindex/30daysoivalues/

If the SOI continues to turn negative for the rest of winter and spring we may move back into a weak El Nino, that will bring timely rain showers all summer.
 
I have no idea what you said, Prestion....but I like the part about timely rain! :D

Since I was raised a good 'ole redneck, I'll put another way,

"I piss on a spark plug if I thought it'd help!"

Here's to timely rains beginning very soon :cheers:

Point!
 
Mr. Byrd, how are things looking out your way? any green up? how does winter wheat look? how does subsoil moisture measure up? just curious how much drought recovery you are seeing.....thanks, hope you and yours are doing well.
 
Thanks for the well wishes.

The Ponderosa had just a little snow this winter and has had a few showers, but nothing major. With the temps getting into the mid 80's the winter annuals(winter wheat, cheat grass, downy brome, henbit and mustard) are breaking dormancy. It will be some time before the buffalo grass breaks out and I hope it will this year. Last year it never greened up once.

In an effort to help the lesser prairie chicken I have applied to participate in the Lesser Prairie Chicken Initiative(LPCI). As a part of that program an assessment of current rangeland status was done and the recommendation is that no grazing be done this year.

With the green up of the wheat fields there is optimism that all will be well this year, but I know that the sub soil moisture is so depleted that it will take some very timely and generous rains to bring this crop along to fruition.

I seem to have a lot on my plate this spring, it is more work than usual coupled with a man that can't do what I once did. Ten thousand trees/shrubs to plant, a couple miles of water line to lay, a couple miles of fence to build, expiring CRP to bid, new CRP to bid and a new water well or two. Would love to harvest my first Ponderosa gobbler this spring.

Green pastures and a long beard over my shoulder, now that is something to ponder.
 
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Maynard,

Mark your calendar. On March 20th the Ponderosa will get lots of rain. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: I wish you luck as well as the rest of the folks that desperately need the moisture.
 
that is an ambitious agenda, remember, life is a marathon not a sprint, just keep chipping away at your projects, you will get there, slow and steady always wins the race......keep us posted on all your progress, hoping you get a slow 3 " soaker soon.....:thumbsup:
 
M. R. Byrd said:
Thanks for the well wishes.

The Ponderosa had just a little snow this winter and has had a few showers, but nothing major. With the temps getting into the mid 80's the winter annuals(winter wheat, cheat grass, downy brome, henbit and mustard) are breaking dormancy. It will be some time before the buffalo grass breaks out and I hope it will this year. Last year it never greened up once.

In an effort to help the lesser prairie chicken I have applied to participate in the Lesser Prairie Chicken Initiative(LPCI). As a part of that program an assessment of current rangeland status was done and the recommendation is that no grazing be done this year.

With the green up of the wheat fields there is optimism that all will be well this year, but I know that the sub soil moisture is so depleted that it will take some very timely and generous rains to bring this crop along to fruition.

I seem to have a lot on my plate this spring, it is more work than usual coupled with a man that can't do what I once did. Ten thousand trees/shrubs to plant, a couple miles of water line to lay, a couple miles of fence to build, expiring CRP to bid, new CRP to bid and a new water well or two. Would love to harvest my first Ponderosa gobbler this spring.

Green pastures and a long beard over my shoulder, now that is something to ponder.
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Maynard, you make me tired just reading about all the chores you need to do so I think I will take an over 35 "Senior Nap". Good luck and I hope for some good moisture out your way.
 
Bilbo Baggins said:
Good luck and I hope for some good moisture out your way.
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The moisture is really needed. My oldest son and I buried pipeline yesterday. It was hard digging for the trencher and the hard facing on the teeth really wore in a short time. The backhoe was pulling up rock hard boulders from two feet down. Not good, but it will get better in time.
 
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