Nov. 9-15, 2009
There can never be enough scientists or humanists to gather the simple, quotidian facts of every existing thing, even though accurately understanding the world demands no less.
-William Least Heat-Moon

The astronomical outlook

The Buzzard Migration Moon wanes throughout the period, becoming the Sandhill Crane Migration Moon on Nov. 16 at 2:14 p.m. After the buzzards leave the North, the Sandhill Cranes follow, flying higher, harder and more purposefully than the vultures, and leaving behind their haunting cries.

At about 9 p.m., summer’s Hercules and Aquila are setting. Cassiopeia is moving east around Polaris, and the great Dog Star, Sirius, is visible at the tree line, its magnitude of -1.4 making it the brightest light in the night sky. The pointers of the Big Dipper point northeast-southwest.

The weather

In the northern counties of Indiana and Ohio, normal highs sink below 50 degrees for the first time since March 27, and average lows drop beneath the freezing mark.

Even though averages keep declining at the rate of 3 degrees per week, temperatures are better in the south toward the Ohio River, with typical highs in the mid to lower 50s, and lows ending up 2-3 degrees above frost level.

The cold front of Nov. 15, however, sometimes brings highs only in the teens or even 20s as far south as Kentucky, in the days following the arrival of that high-pressure system.

Almanac daybook

Nov. 9: The average wind speed increases to its winter level throughout the year’s 11th month, and it will remain relatively high until early May. Chances for a thunderstorm virtually disappear until February in the northern half of the nation.

Nov. 10: Mulch strawberries with straw. Fertilize trees after their leaves have fallen.

Nov. 11: In the upper Northeast snowshoe hares change color about this time, and today is the average date for the first snow in the Mid-Atlantic states. Throughout the Ohio Valley, bats hibernate when insects have been killed by frost.

Nov. 12: Half of accidents involving automobiles and deer happen between 6 p.m. and midnight – and almost all of them occur when weather conditions are mild and clear.

Nov. 13: After your morning chores, calculate taxable income for the first three quarters of the year and plan your expenditures and sales for the remaining weeks of 2009.

Nov. 14: Under the late autumn sky, the sugar beet harvest is almost always done by now. Climbing bittersweet opens in the woods. Hardy forsythia leaves are giving way to the cold and rain and snow.

Nov. 15: Silver maples, burned by frost, gradually drop their foliage. Almost every junco has arrived for winter.

Indoors, your Christmas cactus should be budding (or even blooming) as the sun reaches three-quarters of the way to winter solstice.

Mind and body clock

The day is close to its shortest length of the year, but cloud cover and the weather still have not reached winter levels. That means that the S.A.D. Index (which measures seasonal stress on a scale of 1-75) will hover in the middle 50s throughout the period.
New moon on Nov. 16, however, is expected to bring a sharp spike in seasonal affective disorders.

Fish, game, livestock and diet

The moon will be overhead near the middle of the day this week, making late morning to early afternoon the best time to eat and feed, hunt and fish.

Low-pressure systems in advance of cold fronts arriving on Nov. 16 and 20 are expected to make feeding activity more intense.

Almanac classics
A Learning Experience
By John Zachrich
Cloverdale, Ohio

When one is bow hunting in an early morning tree stand, one should always watch out for flying objects – no, not the UFO kind, although this sample might actually qualify.

I was perched in an ancient oak tree that was overlooking a well-used deer trail. As I was waiting for the first golden rays of dawn, the woods around me were waking up with the sounds of morning birds.

I was enjoying the otherwise tranquil setting, when all of a sudden a great horned owl decided to swoop my head (my loving wife always told me that I acted a little squirrelly, and now this bird must have thought so, too).

At any rate, the big bird came so close that its wing tip knocked off my camouflage hunting hat and startled me so badly that I accidentally dropped my bow, and that isn’t all I accidentally done!
Needless to say, that the bow smashing on the ground ruined the morning’s hunt.

But you know, maybe I’ve been a little hard on Murphy (Murphy’s Law: If anything can go wrong, it will). I mean after all, that same afternoon he did place a wide-racked eight-pointer just 10 yards from my lofty perch.

To let Old Murphy know how grateful I was, I showed him some of my expert bowmanship – and perfectly placed a 2116 XX75 shaft right dead center in the two-inch sapling in front of the broad side of the buck’s chest.

The Almanack will pay $3 for any original, unusual animal or family story. Send your tale to: Poor Will, P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, OH 45387.

Poor Will’s Almanack for 2010 is now available. Send $16 (includes shipping and handling) for each copy to: Poor Will, P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, OH 45387. For more information and to see a sample of this year’s format (or to order with a credit card), visit http://poorwillsalmanack.com