Sun, 24 Dec 2006

Bitchin' bout the Weather ...

is every farmer's favorite pastime, and I guess I'm no different. Although I daresay that we've had some mighty strange weather this last year - and for a few years running, in point of fact.

Here's a link to the Weather Underground's data page for West Lafayette for the past year. Records are pretty irrelevant for this, so I've left them off on the chart, but look at the averages (in blue) and last years data (in red). Temperatures seem to hover around normal, but then look at the rain and snow. No snow to be seen - but the rainfall has made up for it! We're so soggy it's almost beyond belief. Drainage system are overloaded, the ground is completely saturated, and while there's no rain on the immediate horizon, I'd bet almost anything that we're in for more before the turning of the year.

My rain gage (at 5 inches) has overflowed this past week. Cattle are having a hard time navigating the pasture, and the sheep are just hopping from semi-dry spot to semi-dry spot. The horse, the goats and the llama will hardly venture out of the barn, for fear of sinking, I'd wager.

The back half of my neighbor's winter wheat field looks like a rice paddy. The creek's out of it's banks and over the flood gates, and has been since Wednesday. If this keeps up, I think I'm going to have to evolve webbed feet and gills.

Egg production has plummeted, of course, despite some moderate temperatures, and nearly every egg gathered now has to go through the washer, as they're completely filthy. Moss is starting to grow on the barn walls, which may be normal in the Pacific Northwest rain forest, but is very weird around here, despite our rap for high humidity.

So there: weather rap over! Back to wrapping presents.

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