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 ISSUE DATE
 May 16, 2013

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Wet Days Add Chill

 Everything is running later this year. Mushroom season, it seemed, defied the common April 15 opening season and are this week still filling bread sacks (still a favorite gathering and measuring bag in this age of plastic bag multiplicity). Of course the delayed planting season is causing the grain markets to have fits. With less than 10 percent of grain planted, the Dept. of Agriculture this week went ahead and predicted record-level national and world crop productions and low prices. If the monsoon climate ends to allow planting before July 4th! (Even June 4th defies top crops)

And just to keep us honest – when conditions finally looked like we should plant those beautiful flowers on sale everywhere you look – there came a frost scare!

Both Sunday and Monday mornings brought clear, calm atmosphere and temperatures under 40 degrees. There was a report or two of white frosty roof tops. But annual flowers seem to have escaped. Just in case, weather watcher covered tomato plants (which are still in pots!). It takes a freeze to bother fruit trees, which were also in bloom.

There is reason for hope that the monsoon season is waning. Last week’s rain of 1.23 inches again flooded village streets and kept Kaskaskia River at flood stage, closing some roads. Nevertheless, it was less than most recent weeks and was followed by at least five drying days. Farm equipment got into some fields where that storm merely brushed and other fields looked dry on top. Super saturation takes longer than a few days to mellow. This week brings a forecast of two storm systems broken by only one or two days. Cooler than normal temperatures are also to blame. The average daytime high last week was 69.4 degrees; six degrees off the norm. The average mean temperature for May is 63.8 degrees. Our average last week was below 59. We are looking for a couple of hot days at mid-week to shake off this chill!

Some seasons are on time. It is time for maple seeds (helicopters as we know them) to fill the air and house gutters. Humming birds are begging where they previously found nectar feeders. The home brew for hummers is 1 part real sugar to 4 parts water.