Dec. 11-17, 2017

If we are to live in the present, being truly alive, then everything recedes except these simple things that we observe, these particular movements that we make, a walk in the garden, the watching of birds.

-Robert Orwell

Almanac horoscope

Moon time: On Dec. 18, the Bedding Plant Moon is new at 1:30 a.m. and at apogee (when it is farthest from Earth). Rising in the early morning and setting in the evening, this moon travels overhead in late morning to midday.

Sun time: Between Dec. 19-25, the day’s length remains steady at about 9 hours, 20 minutes for most of the region – the shortest span of the year.

Planet time: Mars and Jupiter continue to be the morning stars. Venus and Saturn are not visible.

Star time: If you go outside an hour or so before sunrise, look up to find the Big Dipper high overhead, its winter position before dawn. Like the hands of a great clock, the Dipper’s motion around the North Star tells the time of year. When it lies in the west before sunrise, daffodils bloom.

With the Dipper deep along the southern horizon in the early morning dark, lilies and roses are flowering. And when the Dipper has moved to the eastern sky, the first leaves are starting to turn for autumn.

Shooting star time: The Ursid Meteors fall after midnight at the rate of about 5-10 per hour on Dec. 21-22. The young moon will favor your search for these shooting stars.

Weather time

The coldest December days – those with better than a 35 percent chance for temperatures in the 20s or below – all come within several days of the Dec. 15 front. The most bitter day in the month’s weather history is Dec. 19, with a 30 percent chance for highs only in the teens.

Zeitgebers: Instead of hundreds of wildflowers changing the landscape weekly, winter brings the gift of constancy. The black centers of the empty milkweed pods face the sun, free from change, hiding nothing. Basal leaves of thistle and garlic mustard lie flat, close to the ground; they remain passive and unmoving until March.

Sleek heads of ironweed, dry and soft, wait for sparrows week after week. Only one flower blossoms in the warmest years: The skunk cabbage in the swamp. It often stays in bloom all winter, long enough for almost anyone to find it.

Farm and garden time

Be on the lookout for small whiteflies that may have come indoors on the house plants you kept outside during the summer. Whiteflies seem harmless enough in early winter, but they can get out of hand by February and destroy otherwise healthy plants.

Also, look for the tiny spider mites with a magnifying glass when leaves begin to become discolored or diseased. Scale insects (looking a little like elongated bumps on plant leaves and stems) may have taken over your spider plants during the late summer. If you see them on one plant, they may be on others.

Marketing time: The Christmas tree harvest is almost over, but the peak of tree sales begins this week. Crafts, Christmas cookies, fruitcake, wreaths and dried flower bouquets are still popular at the farmers’ markets and roadside stands.

Mind and body time: When the barometer falls in advance of the Christmas cold front and the New Year’s cold front, your emotions could also take a tumble. And arthritis, sinusitis and old surgical sites may also cause you problems until those weather systems pass through.

Creature time (for fishing, hunting, feeding, bird-watching): As the barometer falls in advance of the Dec. 20 and 25 cold fronts, fishing and hunting should improve, especially during the late-morning hours when the moon is overhead.

Increase the amount of seed and suet available for birds as the weather worsens. The birds not only provide entertainment and company, they often stay throughout the year, eating insects. Some people put out decorative seed wreaths for the holidays. Squirrels, partial to dried Indian corn, enjoy playing on spinning devices that make them work for their treats.

Almanac literature

A Scary Halloween

By Ibbie Ledford

Willard, Ohio

Just last week, I attended the funeral of my cousin and best friend, Nellie, whose mind Alzheimer’s disease had destroyed. Growing up, Nellie and I had been as close as sisters, and vivid memories of things we did together came flooding back, especially one Halloween when my sisters played a scary prank on us.

Nellie was spending the night with me, as she often did. We wanted to go trick-or-treating but we had no costumes. So Mama gave us each a flour sack, a scissors and crayons to make our own.

The sacks fit perfectly over our heads. Places needed for eyes and mouths were carefully marked, cut out and painted as scary as we could make them. We put them on and began to pester Mama to let us walk down to my brother Chock’s house, about a quarter of a mile away, to peek in the windows and scare him and his wife.

Mama warned us it was dark and we might be afraid, but we assured her we wouldn’t. After all, we weren’t babies; we were 10 years old.

As we walked down the road, we didn’t feel a bit afraid. We watched the moon peek out every so often from behind a cloud to light our way. As we approached Chock’s house, we crept to the window, quickly showed our masks, then ducked down, trying to muffle our giggles.

Chock, suspecting the goblins were Nellie and I, slipped up behind us, and as we lifted our heads to peek in the window again, he grabbed us and yelled, “Boo!” It scared the daylights out of us, as he picked us up, one under each arm, and carried us into the house where his wife, Mae, had teacakes and milk waiting.

After we ate our fill, Chock offered to walk us back home, but we declined. We were giggling and talking, when we suddenly heard rustling in the bushes right beside us. Then two white figures, looking like what we had been told ghosts looked like, lunged at us from the roadside.

We ran toward home, screaming and crying, My body tried to outrun my legs, and I fell face-down, sliding in the gravel. The next thing I knew, the “ghosts” had me cradled in their arms – only they looked a lot like my sisters, Margaret and Irene, with sheets draped over their heads. They had meant to scare us but never dreamed it would be so traumatic.