That describes me this afternoon. Our weather is always extreme, but this winter(and I still feel it is winter as it is 44F outside with snow forecast for tomorrow morning) has been unrelenting in its length. It has not been unusually cold so far as extreme temps go, but it has been unusually cold in that it got nasty the end of November and has stayed cold without letup. In addition, it has been quite wet, we have received enough rain this winter to easily grow a good summer crop if we could have deferred some to July and August. Our pathetic wheat stays pathetic because it can't get a hitch of warm weather to grow. Our pastures, which are 90% warm season grasses, need nights above 50F in order to grow, so while the magic date of April 15th when many pasture contracts start is fast approaching, there is nothing of value for the cattle to eat. I wallowed around in my pit silo today and managed to get a load of feed, one more hour of wallowing at the end and I will be out of silage, at least I can put the feedwagon away I guess. The seedcorn is still in the sack, I guess that is good as it would not fare all that well in this cold wet dirt, but I can't help but be jumpy now as it is time to plant corn, I really like to have at least part of it in by the 15th of April.
I've talked about cold and wet, now how about the wind. The bloody wind as you would say, we here would refer to it as the G--da-ned wind(I self censored, how could Isabel ask for more??). Kansas is known for being windy, this last week has been no exception. With about 1000 acres left to burn I need days where I have a hope of controlling the fire, and those have been few and far between. Of course, since the grass won't grow because of the cold, I guess it doesn't matter that the pastures have not been burned, other than it will mean I have to burn, plant corn, and move cattle all at once. Our National Weather Service, which I tend to brag about, let us down big time yesterday afternoon. A big storm blew in that toppled some buildings and destroyed a few others, and we didn't even get a warning. A shed roof was blown onto the highway and a few of the firemen and one of my friends with a tractor and loader helped the deputy remove it. 5 buildings were damaged at the Emporia cattle auction, a couple I guess beyond repair, and according to the radio, somewhere near here an entire row of Porta Potties were blown over....that is newsworthy. The fact we got this storm isn't unusual, the fact it hit us without warning from the NWS is. Well, I feel better now, hope things are bright and sunny in the UK!!