Poor Will's Almanack by Bill Felker 

 

Feb. 16-22, 2015

The signs also enjoy power in their special season:

Summer comes with Gemini, Autumn with the Virgin,

Winter begins with Sagittarius, Spring with Pisces.

-Manilius

Lunar phase and lore

Under the auspices of the Flowering Moss Moon, new on Feb. 18 at 6:47 p.m. and reaching powerful perigee the following day, early spring fords the Ohio River and moves toward the Great Lakes. Passing its second quarter on Feb. 25 at 12:14 p.m., the waxing moon moves overhead in the afternoon and lies in the western sky in the evening.

Lunar position favors after-lunch fishing this week, especially as the cold fronts of Feb. 20, 24 and 28 approach. And the moon, passing from Pisces, then to Taurus and then Cancer all week, should give almost every seed its best lunar start.

Weather trends

After the benign days of February’s third week that often force snowdrops and aconites into bloom, the chilly Feb. 24 front almost always pushes Snowdrop Winter deep into the region.

Since this high often clashes strongly with the moist air of early spring, snowstorms, flooding and tornadoes are more likely to occur now than at any time since Feb. 15.

Feb. 26, or the day after this high pressure passes through, however, is dry and partly cloudy most of the time, and Feb. 27 is usually mild as low-pressure precedes the end-of-the-month high.

The natural calendar

Feb. 16: Measure the height of hyacinths, daffodils and tulips. Note the color and size of lilac and other buds. Count the number of pussy willows emerged. Look for new leaves on garlic mustard and poppies. Check for chickweed greening in the bushes.

Spring does not necessarily arrive with warm weather; it is the accumulation of individual events that finally overwhelm the winter.

Feb. 17: Tomorrow is new moon day; expect storms.

Feb. 18: This is winter’s Cross-Quarter Day, the first day of early spring. A relatively long season of 8-10 major fronts, early spring lasts from mid-February through the end of March in most locations near the 40th Parallel.

Feb. 19: Turkeys are flocking, socializing before April courting. Horned owlets hatch in the woods. Between the third week of February and the middle of March, sandhill cranes often pass through southwestern Ohio and southern Indiana on their way north to nesting sites, and grackles join the starlings at feeders across the lower Midwest.

Feb. 20: Although high pressure does sweep across the nation near this date, the low that precedes that front often brings some of the warmest temperatures of the month.

Feb. 21: Find Mars and Venus together in the west, shadowing the waxing moon.

Feb. 22: Along the back roads, flocks of red-winged blackbirds and robins are out in the fields. In town, mourning cloak butterflies appear, and chipmunks come out to play and mate in the dwindling woodpiles.

Almanac literature

Great American Story Contest entry

Extreme Makeover

By Larry Rader

Shiloh, Ohio

It did not take long for the new high school industrial arts teacher to establish where his loyalty for college football lay: THE Ohio State University Buckeyes. A dedicated follower, he attended not only games in the Horseshoe stadium but also traveled to the away contests.

He wore attractive Buckeye clothing and OSU accessories. And this Buckeye even painted the walls of his office the Buckeye colors: scarlet and grey.

As an alumnus of the University of Michigan and with a few followers from our high school staff who supported the Wolverine cause, I and the others received permission from the building principal to cover those scarlet and grey walls.

On an October evening after parent-teacher conferences, our little band of Wolverines masked off and applied blue and gold tile-clad paint to the walls of the industrial arts office. Our pride from sneaking into that office and changing the college colors was only surpassed by the smell of the fumes of fresh paint as we closed the door.

Being athletic director of the high school, I usually arrived to work at 6 a.m. I met the daytime custodian, who was unlocking the doors and turning on lights. With a little bit of arrogance I gave him a detailed account of our U of M painting party. We anxiously reached the industrial arts office to see the transformation.

But the walls were covered with fresh-smelling scarlet and grey paint! Mr. Buckeye had returned to the school about midnight, for some unknown reason, and restored the walls to THE Ohio State University colors.

Winners of the Great American Almanac Story Contest will not be announced until all selected entries appear in this column.

In field and garden

Feb. 16: Inspect preserved food for spoilage. Plant sweet peas and the first row of regular green peas directly in the garden.

Feb. 17: Make plans to sell kids and lambs to the Easter Market at the end of March and in early April.

Feb. 18: As thaws become more pronounced, the ground temperature moves above 35 degrees, the temperature at which earthworms become active in garden soil.

Feb. 19: Wild multiflora roses sprout their first leaves. Red knuckles of garden rhubarb and May peonies appear after a few days of  thawing.

Feb. 20: Pastures start to grow as soon as snow cover recedes.

Feb. 21: Mares show signs of estrus as the days grow longer.

Feb. 22: All tender vegetables and flowers can be set out 11 weeks from today.