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Potential frost only six weeks away along the lower Midwest

July 26–Aug. 1, 2010
The Dog Star hangs in the afternoons,
The air is still and the ragweed blooms,
But the tide of the sun has turned toward fall,
And the buck grows restless in his stall.

-The Goatherd’s Almanack, August 1923
Lunar phase and lore


The Lily Moon enters its final quarter on Aug. 2 at 11:59 p.m. Rising in the evening and setting in the morning, this waning moon will be overhead after midnight.

Fishing should be most productive several hours before dawn, especially as the barometer drops in advance of the cool fronts due on July 28 and Aug. 4.

Since the moon may exert less influence on ocean tides and on human and animal behavior when it comes into its second and fourth quarters, it might make more sense to transport your animals or perform routine maintenance on your livestock on or about Aug. 2 and 16.

Tidal and lunar influences have been shown to be greater at full moon and new moon times. You might expect more trouble with your flock, herd, spouse, parents or children, therefore, on or about Aug. 9 and 24.

Continue to plant turnips and beets for greens and for their fat roots as the moon wanes through its third quarter this week. The darkening moon will also favor livestock and pet maintenance, weeding and surgery.

Venus moves retrograde into Virgo this month, remaining the evening star in the far west after sundown, joining Saturn, which has stayed in Virgo throughout the year. Mars also moves back into Virgo, accompanying Venus and Saturn. Jupiter keeps its position in Pisces. By sunrise, Jupiter will be the brightest light in the western half of the sky.

The Milky Way brightens the late evening sky in August. Along its wide path, find Sagittarius in the south, the Summer Triangle of Deneb, Altair and Vega in the middle of the heavens, Cassiopeia to the east of the North Star and Perseus rising from the far northern horizon.

August weather patterns
Tornadoes, hurricanes, floods or prolonged periods of soggy pasture are most likely to occur between Aug. 8-13 and between Aug. 27-30. Frost is most likely, of course, as summer ends, and the Aug. 27-30 window often burns tender plants all along the northern border with Canada, as well as at higher elevations in the East and West.

New moon on Aug. 9 and full moon on Aug. 24 increase the likelihood of storms around those dates.

Daybook
July 26: After full moon, conditions improve for all livestock maintenance and transportation. And the closer the lunar fourth quarter comes (due Aug. 2), the easier it may be to treat animals for parasites, inspect ears, check for skin diseases, shear, trim feet, wean and clip hair.

July 27: Frost season is only three weeks away along the Canadian border, six weeks away in the lower Midwest and 10-20 weeks away in the South.

July 28: Average low temperatures drop 1 degree today for the first time since January, one of many statistical movements of the thermometer towards winter.

July 29: The moon is darkening throughout July’s final week, favorable for surgery (especially early in the period), woodcutting, weeding, pruning, roofing and cutting grain. Why? The weak fourth-quarter moon exerts less influence on the world than, for example, the full moon.

This means lower tides in the ocean, and it often translates into less moisture in wood, hay and garden crops. It also may mean less physical stress in the face of physical trauma such as dental work or some surgical procedures.

July 30: Drought, heat and age contribute to declining nutritional value in grasses by this time of the summer. Variety in browse offers chances for better nourishment to your flock and herd. When you see birds gathering along the high wires, then prepare for August planting of alfalfa, smooth brome grass, orchard grass, tall fescue, red clover and timothy.

July 31: Test soil now in your fall and winter garden as well as in the fields where you intend to sow wheat, rye, alfalfa, canola, clover and timothy.

Aug. 1: Sodding and seeding of the lawn is often done now before the cool growing time of fall.  Do that work as the moon waxes between Aug. 9-23. But be ready for allergic attacks: Ragweed time has begun.

Countdown to late summer
You can tell middle summer is coming to an end when ragweed heads up as honewort and wood nettle, mallow and tall meadow rue go to seed. Early cottonwoods are weathering. Patches of yellow appear on the weaker ash trees. Black walnut leaves start to fall.
Early pods of the touch-me-not burst at the slightest movement. Dogbane pods swing in the wind. Meadowlarks begin migration. Late-summer fogs appear at dawn. Grapes and pokeweed berries darken.

Living with the seasons
At the turn of summer’s tide, there can be quickening of the psychic pulse, panic that it’s now too late, that all the promises of June are still to be fulfilled, that there will never be sufficient time, never be time enough for all our plans and hopes.

That awareness now spurs a different chemistry in our brains, one that points to survival instead of fulfillment; we batten down our souls, make ready for the great test of the harvest and the challenges of autumn and the cold to come.

Almanac literature
A Mouse for Marty
By Pliny Fulkner
Happy Times Farm, Ill.

When I was a young boy, I thought I wanted to be a priest. Since the diocese had just built a new minor seminary (minor seminaries are for high-school kids), and since the local priests were beating the bushes to fill the place with students, I ended up being part of the first freshman class.

Our seminary days were spent in study and prayer, broken up by sports. I was slow to adapt to this kind of life, and gradually my natural inclination for causing trouble overcame my better tendencies.

One of my unpriestly habits was playing tricks on my fellow students, especially my friend Marty. And on a cold winter day, as all the seminarians were standing silently in line to enter the refectory for lunch, I noticed a dead, dry mouse lying on the floor beside me.

Immediately realizing the possibilities of this creature, I bent down, picked it up and put it in my suit jacket pocket. (We all had to wear a suit and tie throughout the day.) We entered the dining hall and sat down, said our prayers and a lector began to read to us from the Bible.

On the table was a big container of soup. The person at the head of the table began dishing out the soup and, while the rest of the students distracted Marty, I slipped the mouse into his bowl.
Everyone started eating, but before Marty could actually take a spoonful, I started pointing and whispering, “Wait, Marty, there’s a mouse in your soup!”

In spite of the spiritual reading taking place, we all burst out laughing, and when we told the prefect (who was supposed to be in charge of keeping order) that we had found a mouse in Marty’s soup, he was shocked, took away the soup and complained to the poor cooks, who were far more upset than Marty – thinking they had accidentally served a contaminated meal.

Neither Marty nor I (nor 95 percent of our classmates) ever reached the promised land of ordination. Of that, folks can be grateful.

7/21/2010