Dec. 6-12, 2010
O Winter, ruler of the inverted year ...
I crown thee King of intimate delights,
Fireside enjoyments, homeborn happiness.
-William Cowper

Lunar phase and lore

The Orchid Moon waxes throughout the week ahead, entering its second quarter at 8:59 a.m. Dec. 13. Coming into Capricorn on Dec. 6, it reaches Aquarius on Dec. 9, Pisces on Dec. 11 and Aries on Dec. 14. Rising in the middle of the day and setting close to midnight, the moon will move overhead at dusk.

This week continues to be an excellent lunar period for seeding bedding plants for spring (Pisces is best for the flowers), and in the warmest Decembers, bulbs and July garlic can still be placed in the ground (Capricorn is best for root crops). Throughout the month, spread fertilizer and compost so that it will break down and be absorbed over the next several months.

Cold fronts due to arrive on Dec. 8 and 15 will influence the activity of humans, livestock, fish and game. Expect hunger and movement to increase as the barometer falls in advance of these weather systems.

Watch the reverse to occur for a day or so after the fronts come through. And since the moon will be overhead around sundown, plan hunting and fishing – and feeding – for the end of the day or the second-best lunar time, near dawn.

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, you might find it easier to transport animals or perform routine maintenance for your livestock on or about Dec. 13 and 27. Surgery on people and animals is also often recommended near these dates.

Venus begins the last month of 2010 in the constellation Libra, rising before sunup as the morning star. Coming out of the east an hour or so before Venus, Saturn becomes visible along the eastern horizon in Virgo well before dawn.

Mars in Sagittarius is lost in the sun throughout December days, but Jupiter shines in the west after sundown as the evening star.
The Geminid meteor shower occurs in the early morning of Dec. 13-14. Find them following behind Orion in Gemini.

Weather patterns

Early winter, a three-week season that puts a definite end to the floral year, typically starts this week and lasts until even colder conditions move in around New Year’s Day. Early winter is the time during which the last of the deciduous trees lose their leaves and the last of the wildflowers either die back or become dormant.

Daybook

Dec. 6: If you have a pile of this fall’s leaves in the yard or garden, measure the height of the pile now. Then, check its height every few weeks. It will settle throughout the winter months, and by March it will be flat and dense, full of night crawlers, ready to chop and dig under.

Dec. 7: The wave of high pressure that arrives near this date is typically the first severe system of early winter, and a secondary front often reinforces the chill between Dec. 11-13. This high-pressure bank initiates the 16-week period during which most snow falls in this region.

Dec. 8: Thistles are bedraggled and sagging. Angelica is hollow and broken. Wingstem is leaning, its leaves twisted, tight around its stalks. Asters and ironweed tufts are coming undone.
Dec. 9: The growth of winter wheat usually slows in the cold by the second week of December.  New garlic shoots are firm and green, but they remain at their middle autumn height for at least two more months.

The Christmas tree harvest ends, and the last poinsettias come north. Deep snow sometimes covers the land from the Ohio Valley to the Canadian border.

Dec. 10: Listen for sandhill cranes flying over your house this week. They left their breeding grounds in Wisconsin and Michigan in front of the first front of early winter, and they should be reaching the lower Midwest soon.

Dec. 11: Almost all the hulls of the bittersweet berries have usually fallen by today, another marker for the progress of early winter.
Dec. 12: If you or your children are faced with final exams this week, remember that between 9-11 a.m. have been shown to be some of the best times for studying and learning.

Then, if you can take your tests in the early to mid-afternoon, that period will provide you with some of your best long-term memory for answering questions.

Countdown to deep winter

The steps from early to deep winter can be measured with the gauge of average temperatures. On Dec. 8, the normal high temperature in the lower Midwest approaches 40 degrees, while the typical low is around 25.

By the arrival of deep winter on Jan. 1, normal highs have fallen two degrees a week to the middle 30s, and lows have come down at the same rate to the lower 20s.

The early sunset time will be starting your melatonin flow as the sky darkens. If you schedule a balanced snack between 3-4 p.m. and then do some form of exercise before or after dinner, you may be able to reset your physical and mental clocks, and get a second wind for evening work or study. The snack is especially important if you are working second shift.

Almanac literature
“Ready, Aim … No Fire”
By Myrna Glass
St. Marys, Ohio
I was reared in the country. My father was a plasterer and mason. Mother and us kids ran a small farm. We did well during the terrible Depression of the 1930s. We raised our own food and dried or canned it, so we were better off than many.

Now in those days, cats and dogs were valuable on the farm to help kill the varmints that threatened the lives of our animals and often ate some of our garden plants. Sometimes, however, those cats and dogs multiplied too much. We would give some away and sometimes had to kill some.

Once, Mother said to my brothers, “Old Pesky, (our cat) is pregnant again. We just can’t feed any more cats. You will have to kill her.”
The boys grabbed their guns about dusk one evening and chased Pesky. She knew that they were after her, and ran under the brooder house. I took a long stick and poked it under the brooder house to drive her out.

My teenaged brothers stood, one on each side of the brooder house with guns, to do their “Ready, aim, fire.” However instead of Pesky, a skunk ran out into the weeds.

In the split second that it took for the skunk to run, the boys missed their chance at the cat. The shock of seeing the sunk resulted in “Ready, aim … no fire.” Pesky was safe … for the moment.