The day are getting longer. I am up at 5:30 this morning and the sky is already starting to lighten. Sunrise is at 6:12, sunset at 9:07 bringing us to a today of 14 hours and 55 minutes of daylight. Our days don’t start to shorten until June 22 when we lose a a few seconds of daylight per day. June 21st is the summer solstice.
My new lawn tractor is coming sometime this morning – I bought a John Deere x100. I looked at a lot of tractors over the past couple weeks and the Deere seemed to be the best made of the bunch in my price range. The grass needs cutting after all the rain and the weed and feed I have been putting down. I can really see the difference in color compared to the neighbors lawns – and of course the fertilizer makes the grass grown faster so I will be mowing twice a week if the rain stays consistent.
The mud puddles have retreated and I see some of the farmers are getting their fields plowed. I can remember back when I had my hobby farm many years ago I would start putting in the field corn in late April and I only lost it once to frost over a ten year period. It seems the planting weather has moved to late May over the past three decades.
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has declared today to be an Action Day for elevated levels
of ozone. This is for Muskegon…Ottawa…Kent…Allegan and Van Buren Counties.
If you are taking the family to lake Michigan this weekend keep in mind that the lake temperatures are in the upper 40s to low 50s. Roughly 20% of those who fall into cold water will go into shock after the first minute.
Temperature will be in the mid 80s today (approaching 90 in some locations) – it will be cooler near Lake Michigan. We will be in the 80s for quite a few days all the way through next week – we may hit the low 90s on Memorial Day. There are small chances of rain and storms through the weekend (in the 20% chance range). So if you like it hot and sunny this will be the perfect weekend for you. Humidity indexes will be on the rise also.
Proud of all the vets. Thanks for all you have done.
Make the most of this “temporary thaw”. Proud of our Veterans.
Mike have fun with your new mower. When we had our huge lot we had one too. It was the only way to get it done. You are right about the planting season. I have noticed that around here.
Just a heads up. There are some indications that after a hot end of May we could see some cooler (then average) temperatures for the start of June. we shall see.
Slim
June 1 – June 7
http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/predictions/814day/814temp.new.gif
The ECMWF and to a lesser extent the CFSc2 are trending cooler in June
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/people/mchen/CFSv2FCST/weekly/images/wk3.wk4_latest.NAsfcT.gif
slim
This will be a nice break. I don’t mind warm weather at all but hot & humid I do. My ac is on. It seems like we had a very short Spring.
I am still using a push power mower but I have a smaller yard but even then I am thinking of getting a self-propelled mower and giving my old one to my youngest son.
Slim
That sounds like a great idea!!
The heat is on! Clean Air Action Day – probably the first of many over the next 10 days. The air quality in West Michigan is awful.
Seven West Michigan counties earned an “F” grade for the number of unhealthy ozone days they experienced last year. Among them were Allegan, Berrien, Cass, Kalamazoo, Kent, Muskegon and Ottawa counties.
It looks like we will have a nice and very warm to hot Memorial Day weekend this year. With highs in the upper 80’s to maybe low 90’s on Sunday and Monday. The record high for Sunday May 28th is 92° set in 1911. The record high for Monday is also 92° set in 1978 and 1977 with several years having a high of 91 with the last one being 2012. The current record for Memorial Day is also 92° in 1919 with 91° coming in 1978 and 2006 so this year has a good chance of being one of the warmest Memorial Days in Grand Rapids history.
Slim
“Nothing runs like a Deere” I have a diesel Kubota that keeps my arms in shape due to the lack of power steering and almost 2 acres to mow at work….LOL! Happy Memorial Weekend, everyone!
We finally got our lawn mowed this week. We have an Iris that is straight and about 42 inches tall. It is crazy!
We helped put flags out at the Plainwell Cemetery a few days ago. I found a stone from the Mexican war, since the name faces East it hasn’t taken the beating that the others have. We met a WWII vet that was placing flags. He said thank you for helping and we told him it was our honor to help out. A lady was at the cemetery and rolled down her window to say thank you to us.
Thanks to all the Vets who served and their families. Thank you to those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom.
👍🇺🇸
Most of the WWII vets are know are really getting up there in age or passed on. They are always so interesting to talk too.
Nice mower, MV. I have an old MTD with a 20hp Kohler. It’s a beater but the motor is great. I keep it maintained and it still does a fine job. I’m having to mow every three days lately.
It’s going to be HOT this weekend. We’re heading down to the Fort Custer national cemetery tomorrow morning for their service. My stepdad is buried there and I think I may be too someday.
I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable weekend.