By WILLIAM FELKER
Poor Will's Almanack Dec. 7-13, 2015 One need not see in winter a kind of devastating darkness, but instead a time when we can wrap ourselves in the security of our heat, when we can celebrate the ways in which we have staved off our vulnerabilities. -Susan Felch Lunar phase and lore
The Second Spring Moon wanes throughout the period, becoming the new Sparrow Flocking Moon at 5:29 a.m. on Dec. 11. Rising in the early morning and setting in the evening, this moon should pass overhead near midday. Hunt and fish, therefore, at lunchtime. And take off work prior to the arrival of the second front of early winter around Dec. 15 for the best results of all. After the passage of that cold wave, game and fish will tend to be less active for 12-36 hours. Then, as the barometer begins to fall in advance of the Dec. 20 high-pressure system, activity should pick up again. Dieters might consider having a light morning snack this week in order to head off inordinate lunchtime feeding. The moon’s position in Capricorn from Dec. 12-14 and in Pisces on Dec. 16-18 is expected to create the best lunar climate for December planting of spring bedding plants. Weather trends By the middle of December, a subtle change has begun to occur in weather statistics. Although in northern counties of Ohio and Indiana the average temperatures continue to drop at the rate of 3 degrees every seven days, in southern counties, the rate has started to slow to 2 degrees every week. Within a month, averages will show no variation at all anywhere in the Midwest – a sign that soon they will be rising again! The natural calendar Dec. 7: December dawn is April in the evening sky: Orion setting, Leo overhead, Pupppis and Pyxis in the southwest, Hercules rising in the east, Cygnus in the northeast, Libra in the southeast, the Milky Way along the northern horizon, Centaurus, Corvus, Crater and Sextans along the southern tree line. Dec. 8: Outside on the fences and high wires, sparrow hawks appear, watching for prey below. Dec. 9: The night lengthens by only 3 minutes in the next seven days, the first time the day has shortened so slowly since the middle of July. Dec. 10: All the orange winterberries have emerged from their white hulls, adding one more marker for the arrival of early winter. Dec. 11: When the yellow leaves of the New England aster fall, the pear leaves and the beech leaves (the last holdouts of the canopy) will soon be falling, too. Dec. 12: When you hear high-pitched honking above you in the night, get up and search the dark sky for sandhill cranes moving south. When sandhill cranes fly over the Midwest, brown pelicans are nesting along the Gulf of Mexico and larch trees are turning color in Maine. Dec. 13: December’s shooting stars are the Geminids, appearing at the rate of about 40-50 per hour on Dec. 13-14. Find them following behind Orion in Gemini. In field and garden Dec. 7: In the dark afternoons in December, orchids are in their prime. Under lights, in a greenhouse or in a south window, most varieties bloom before Christmas. Dec. 8: The corn and soybean harvests are usually complete all around the country by the beginning of early winter, and growth of winter wheat slows in the cold. 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. 9: Keep up weight and daily milking records for your herd and flock. An unexpected decline in either weight or milk production is often related to problems with feed or health. Since winter generally brings the highest prices for goat’s milk, there is extra incentive to watch your production records. If you don’t have goats, a daily weight record for you and your family is an excellent reminder to be moderate during the holidays ahead. Dec. 10: In the dark of the moon, prune fruit-bearing bushes. Dec. 11: The moon is new today, favoring the seeding of bedding plants under lights. Dec. 12: Order legume seed for pastures. Schedule your frost seeding for January and February. Dec. 13: When beech leaves have all come down in the lower Midwest, mangoes are in full bloom throughout southern Florida, and Florida grapefruit will soon be ripe. Almanac literature A Quick Closing! By Mrs. Doris DeHart Middletown, Ohio In the early 1940s and ’50s, snake handling was popular with many religious groups. Even though it was against the law, one Sunday evening this particular kind of service was being held on the river bank. When the police got word that snakes were being handled, they lost no time getting there and arresting two men, taking them and their snakes to jail. One man, however, got away with two big copperheads and a rattlesnake. The man took his snakes home and placed them in their usual place behind the pot-bellied heating stove in his living room. One day the rattlesnake got loose and was partly under the floor when the man caught it. During the scuffle, the man was bitten and died right away. Now the man’s wife hated the snakes and thought she would get even for all the punishment her husband had caused her. She said he liked the snakes better than he did her, so she might as well have them buried with him. After the funeral was over, she had the snakes brought and requested of the funeral director to open the casket lid enough for the live snakes to slither down on the dead man’s body. You can be sure that was the quickest casket closing ever done by that funeral director! After the wife’s children were grown and found out what she had done to their father, they left town and swore they never wanted to see her again. Last week’s Scrambler In order to estimate your Scrambler IQ, award yourself 15 points for each word unscrambled, adding a 50-point bonus for getting all of them correct. If you find a typo, add another 15 points to your IQ. SAMTISCHR – CHRISTMAS AECTRSS – ACTRESS SALAT – ATLAS XISOUNA – ANXIOUS SIGAE – AEGIS SELSAGE – AGELESS UAGNS – ANGUS MARSELS – ARMLESS NTPASES – APTNESS MOSA – AMOS This week’s Scrambler IWEN BILYNE CNNAIE GNSSAI NIMEBRO EEEIBLN HESLOTCLENI ENLSBEIA ENILRAI NOCNFIE
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