July 19–25, 2010
The days and months are long,
the world is vast
and idleness is happiness
-Kuan Han-ch’ing (c.1250 A.D.)

Lunar phase and lore

The Lily Moon waxes gibbous throughout the period, becoming completely full on July 25 at 8:37 p.m. Rising in the evening and setting before dawn, this moon is overhead in the middle of the night.

July 24 is full moon day, and since this weekend is full-moon weekend, plan to be good to yourself throughout the period, driving more slowly, shrugging off problems and insults and allowing stress to wait until the end of the month, when the moon is weak again.
If you are on the police force or rescue squad, expect activity to pick up on Saturday and Sunday. Nurses and ER doctors can look forward to more challenges, too. Veterinarians can expect more calls.

Should you propose marriage, buy a car, sell your boat, purchase a wilderness homestead or decide to run away under the full moon? It might be best to reconsider until the moon’s fourth quarter starts, just a week or so from now.

If you are showing livestock during full moon week (this week), spend a little extra time with your animals, and expect erratic behavior from your more high-strung creatures. Full moon plus heat produce stress and bring out the worst in most creatures. Full moon plus heat plus stress can also reduce milk output in does, cows and ewes.

Fishing should be most productive with the moon overhead near midnight, especially as the barometer drops in advance of the cool fronts due on July 21 and 24. Dieters should beware of midnight snack fever.

The waxing moon should help make the fruits and vegetables harvested this week the juiciest of the month – unless, of course, your land has not received enough rain.

The end of July brings the Delta Aquarid meteors after 12 a.m. in Aquarius and the Capricornid meteors in Capricorn.

Weather patterns

Average temperatures in the lower Midwest reach their peak this week with highs at 85 and lows at 65. Averages remain at that level through July 28, after which they begin their autumn descent.
The coldest averages of the year remain steady for a similar period, reaching a normal high of 34 and a normal low of 18 on Jan. 16, and starting their rise to summer on Jan. 29.

Daybook

July 19: Since full moon does not occur until July 25, you should have plenty of time for worming, shearing, foot trimming, vaccinations, grooming and clipping wattles. Lunar conditions for transportation of animals to the fair or to other show locations are favorable.

Look for potato leafhoppers to be causing serious damage to your potatoes when velvetleaf blooms in the cornfields and bean fields.
July 20: An increased risk of tornadoes, hurricanes or floods occurs in the East and South between today and July 23. Harvest is generally advised as the moon wanes after July 25.

July 21: Only a few varieties of wildflowers bloom now under the dense canopy: leafcup, tall bellflower, wood nettle, touch-me-nots.
July 22: Late July, when the day’s length has lost an average of 30-45 minutes from its longest span, is the typical time for does to show first signs of estrus cycling in much of the country. Check records now to estimate the cycle date for each of your does; those dates are often similar from year to year.

Then, prepare your enclosures for mating season. For rambunctious bucks, you may need to run hot wires across the top and bottom of your fences.

July 23: The fields and fencerows are full of middle summer color. Look for the flowers of bouncing bets, St. John’s wort, teasel, milkweed, gray-headed coneflowers, white vervain, wild lettuce, oxeye, germander, skullcap, great Indian plantain, blue vervain, wingstem, bull thistle, black-eyed Susans and small-flowered agrimony.

July 24: Harvest vegetables, detassel corn, cut hay, pull weeds and do midsummer pruning in the upcoming days of the moon’s third and fourth quarters. Dig potatoes and dry onions, cut cabbage for kraut, pickle the cucumbers and bring in oats, wheat and alfalfa. Pick the late blueberries and summer apples.

July 25: Autumn turnip planting and tobacco topping are often begun today, guided by the first purple blossoms of tall ironweed (and the waning moon).

Countdown to late summer
Birds and insects measure the progress of middle summer. At the end of early summer (the last week of June), robins, doves and cardinals still sing before sunrise.

Then as bark falls more heavily from the sycamore trees and blackberries start to darken, the robin chorus ends, cardinals only call a few times in the morning and doves sleep late. Finally, the crickets and katydids start to chant in the evenings, a sure sign of August’s approach.

The approach of late summer is one of the best times to make plans to stop smoking, give up other drugs, look for a new job or career or start a serious diet. A number of forces contribute to success in these and other new endeavors: the subliminal message of the season is to get ready – the body is preparing for the challenges of fall and winter; this sense of expectation is related to a feeling that it is time to get busy; the vague idea that summer can never end is no longer realistic.

The horizon is no longer infinite. The mind/body can see the end of the year. It is time to get moving. This vague sense of urgency can be put to use in helping you achieve your goals.

Almanac literature
The Odd Cockerel
By Myrna Glass
St. Marys, Ohio

My father was a plasterer and mason. Mom and the kids managed a small farm. We raised our own food. We kids were taught to work.

I helped with the chickens. I found them interesting. I did enjoy cuddling the baby chicks, called “biddies.” I got pecked by a few setting hens while gathering eggs.

Then there were the roosters. There were some of them that liked to peck on my bare legs as I ran to the outhouse. Of course, they fought each other, too.

There was one rather small rooster who was the fightingest one in the whole barnyard. He would take on the bigger ones and sometimes win. However, he formed a bad habit that finally caused his demise. He decided to fight the cars on the road!

He would stand on the road then, at the last minute, would jump out of the way. I have no idea how he managed to keep that up for a month before the time came that he was killed.

When a car hit him, I went out to pick him up to see if there was enough left of his lifeless body for food. There was, and we scalded and picked off his feathers. Then Mother started to clean him. Suddenly, she said, “Oh, look here!”

She had found two eggs ready to be laid. We had a good laugh about our odd cockerel.

Poor Will pays $3 for any original, unusual animal or family story published in this column. Submit your stories to: Poor Will, P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, OH 45387.