Let It Snow

Yesterday, I shared a few photos from Royce, who is at home on the farm while I'm traveling in the Dakotas for work. Here in the Dakotas, it snowed most of the day yesterday, and today it was snowing off and on with a good gusty wind blowing it around. It definitely was not my ideal weather. Back home in Texas yesterday, it was just abnormally cold, but today, it started snowing there too, which is great!

Why the change in attitude between snow at different locations? Because in Texas, we really need the moisture! Whether it comes in rain, ice or snow, we'll take it! When it warms up again (as it is bound to do because it's Texas), the snow will melt, releasing a steady amount of moisture for the soil to soak up. Along with the moisture, snow also contains more nutrients than rain. For instance, nitrogen: a very important nutrient for our winter wheat. Now the nitrogen from the snow doesn't add up to a whole lot, but we'll take whatever we can get, especially when it is coming from nature.

Having a blanket of snow is also helpful for providing insulation to our winter wheat. We've been frigidly cold in Texas, especially for this early in the season. We rarely see single digit weather in the Panhandle during the winter, much less in the first half of November. That hasn't been good for our wheat, and we are concerned about the possibilities of winterkill, or damage from getting too cold. Winterkill is more prone to happen when the ground is dry and without a cover of snow. Previous to this snow, it had been a couple of weeks since we had gotten any rain so our wheat was a little thirsty. We are hopeful the snow came soon enough to keep us from much damage, but we will have to wait to find out. I'll keep you updated.

With that, I'll leave you with a few photos Royce sent me today.

Looking out our front porch. Obviously, Royce did not want to venture out into the "blizzard."

Ranger (and Rori's butt). This was Ranger's first snow, and I'm pretty sure he's thinking, "Uh, Dad, what's this white stuff? Am I OK to go out in it?" 

Ranger (and Royce) helped Granddad feed the cows this morning because the cattle need to eat, especially when it is snowing.

This is the 16th day of my 30 Days of Texas Panhandle Agriculture series. To read more, please visit this introduction post. If you have questions or ideas you'd like me to write about concerning Texas Panhandle agriculture, I'd love to hear from you!

Red Dogs Do Harvest Photography

Anyone who knows me knows I've got a weird love/obsession for two fur children (also known as dogs). I talked about Rori when I first moved down to Texas so if you'd like some background on the original "Red Dog," read about Rori, the Tractor Copilot.

As for the other Red Dog, Ranger is a half-sibling to Rori and came to live with Royce in February. He is (most days) Royce's dog, and much like Royce, he's a happy-go-lucky puppy who loves to play in poop, cool off in stock tanks, chase sprinklers and cuddle with me. Ok, I'm not sure Royce loves playing in poop, but he does it fairly often. The rest are accurate to both individuals. Ranger is the epitome of "Farm Dog," except for being scared of cows. Apparently he never got the memo that Australian Shepherds are supposed to be herding dogs. Due to his farm-dog ways, Ranger is frequently getting baths, of which he is not fond. Despite his dirt, stink and habit of stealing things, we love this guy to death. And it isn't even just Royce and I (you know that whole "being required to love him because he's yours" thing). The entire clan loves him, so he must be pretty special.

The Red Dogs are obsessed with "going," whether it is to work with Royce, to the barn with me, or anything else. They don't mind the method of "going" either, but I think they prefer the ATVs. Just a hunch I have. So when I was heading out to photograph harvest, they obviously wanted to go too. They were even happier when we made the transfer from my pickup to the Polaris Ranger. (Yeah, I know. Ranger rides the Ranger. It's confusing. Blame Royce.) Because I'm a good dog mother, I ended up with almost as many photos of them as I did of the actual harvest. Go figure. Here are some of my favorites.

Ranger: "Uhhh, Mom, those cows are awfully close. Can we maybe move on now? Please?"

Rori: "Get away, you fat cows. Don't make me come out there." 

Ranger (sitting shotgun) and Rori in their wheels of choice, the Polaris Ranger

Angry Ranger.

Rori has definitely reached the point in her life where she doesn't see the need to pose pretty for photos. I am now required to use buzzwords, like "hungry" and "wanna go" to even get one ear halfway forward.

Ranger hasn't figured out the camera thing yet. "Look cute? Of course Mom!"

Remember my mention of the entire clan loving Ranger? Well, here's proof. Granddad lets Ranger ride on his Gator and smiles about it!

Do you have a dog that loves to go? What is their favorite place to visit, or is it really just the journey?