Tag Archives: weather

SOLSTICE 2024

Posted on December 22, 2024 by | 2 comments 

Last year’s fine hair,
dry and hollow-stemmed
screens renewed green

sheltered in rocks
that once were one
mind, one set of eyes

to record the wild cycle
of new roots from old
seeds of life — hope

and grace apart
from the rubble 
of mankind.


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Feeding

Posted on November 30, 2024 by | Leave a comment

 

It’s chilly in the morning (40s), foggy in the Valley after the 1.81” we received from the tail of the Bomb Cyclone earlier this week.  Normally, the ridge between Dry Creek and Antelope Valley keeps the fog out, allowing more sunshine for our fresh cotyledons. What a beautiful day, the sycamores are turning as winter knocks on the door.

 

We’ve been feeding lots of alfalfa trying to keep the cows with calves and replacement heifers in shape enough to cycle before breeding.  We’re in the process of getting the bulls out now.  With no forecast rains, we’ll begin branding soon.

 

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CLICHÉ

Posted on November 27, 2024 by | Leave a comment 

Among the old timers
I tried my hand at similes
after a good slow rain

when it was warm and wet enough
to start the grass, they'd say
“thick as hair on a dog’s back.”



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SLOW IN–SLOW OUT

Posted on November 26, 2024 by | Leave a comment 

1.

Honed peaks and ridges 
cut the clear blue sky 
and lagging cumulus rising 

between storms, 
as we await the tail 
of a Bomb Cyclone

predicted for our metal roof
with coffee before daylight—
or so we pray.


2.

Slow in—slow out.
Gray clouds clinging
to the hillsides,

four hundredths all day—
58 high,
52 low after 

an all-night soaker 
with little runoff
to start the grass.


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HYDROCLIMATE WHIPLASH

Posted on November 25, 2024 by | Leave a comment 

We trust the rain, 
the early stirring of colored leaves,
our synapses electrified

before it leaks from the gray—
storms absorbed, the darkening 
of settled dust as the wet thatch 

of old feed folds 
to hold the damp explosion 
of open-handed cotyledons—

renewed miracles of life,
iridescent greens become tall 
heads heavy with seed

to feed ourselves and others,
the wild and tame, crazed and sane 
denizens of this planet.

We trust in rain.
We pray for rain 
and wait.



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Weather Change

Posted on August 25, 2024 by | 1 comment

After a brutal summer, we are enjoying a major change in temperature: a high of 87 yesterday and 55 this morning as storms hit the northwest and Canada.

As I’ve posted before, my father’s model for predicting the weather was based on a 30-day cycle beginning with noticeable changes in the month of August. If these changes were confirmed in September, he would count on rain on those days in October and/or November. My brother and I still rely to some degree on his model, but with the volatility of the weather in recent years, it’s anyone’s guess.

We’ve begun feeding as we wait for our first calves to arrive. We’ve moved our calving date back two weeks, from the first to the fifteenth, in response to the trend of high temperatures in early September. Not only is the heat hard on calving cows, but often there’s always a couple of first-calf heifers that leave their newborns in a hundred degree sun.

September also brings the catalogs for bull sales in California that offer a wide array of Genomic Enhanced Expected Progeny Data as well as links to videos of the bulls. I still rely on my eye, but it’s a far cry from the old days when I was starting out.

As the days get shorter, we still expect the temperatures to return to the century mark, but for the moment it’s delightful.

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For the Record

Posted on August 15, 2024 by | 5 comments

Only one day since the Solstice has the temperature been below 100 degrees, 54 days with a high over 116. Tough on man and beast. With a slight weather change, yesterday was 99. We’ve been rising early to feed the bulls and heifers and try to be done with our chores before 11:00 a.m.

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HEAT WAVE

Posted on July 8, 2024 by | Leave a comment

 

All the thirsty hearts

have sucked the dog dish down

beyond the reach of the panting Titmouse,

 

nervous little bastard bobbing

empty-beaked at his favorite waterhole

below the nozzle, hose and bib

 

during this two-week heat wave

of highs in the teens, like every summer here

in the San Joaquin.

 

 

 

 

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SURPRISE RAIN

Posted on March 10, 2024 by | 3 comments 

Mud from head to toe
before the bus to school,
how could I know

I’d never bring it home—
never be the hero
of black and white westerns.

But a lifetime chasing rainbows
has been enough
without the pot of gold.



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WAITING ON A BLUE EVENING

Posted on February 19, 2024 by | 3 comments

 

Despite the advance of new scientific instruments utilized for weather modeling, this year’s  Atmospheric River phenomenon for Central California hasn’t followed predictions.  However, we have enjoyed beautiful weather and average rainfall standing currently at 10 inches with March and April yet to go.  Last summer seemed cooler, fall and winter warmer with yesterday’s high reaching 71 degrees.

 

Robbin snapped this photo about the time the deluge was forecast to arrive yesterday evening, but it didn’t start raining until 3:00 this morning. I love the rainy days, almost always smug when the experts are wrong.

 

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