Sept. 11-17, 2017

 

The obvious truth is that Summer is past. The season merges with Autumn. The winesap reddens on the bough. The cricket chirps in the corner. The equinox is only a confirmation.

-Hal Borland

Almanac horoscope

Moon time: The Cricket and Katydid Moon wanes throughout the week, entering its final quarter at 1:25 a.m. on Sept. 13, becoming the Corn Harvest Moon at 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 20. Lunar perigee, the point at which the moon is closest to Earth, occurs on Sept. 13.

Rising in the dark and setting in the daylight, the moon passes overhead in the morning.

Sun time: The sun’s apparent descent continues at the rate of approximately 1 degree every two days, reaching a declination of +2 degrees, 57 minutes on

Sept. 15. At equinox, the declination is 0.

Planet time: Saturn, following Jupiter with Ophiuchus, lies in the west after sunset.

Star time: The Big Dipper is as good a clock as any to tell the time of year.

These nights of autumn, the Dipper lies along the northern horizon. In the center of winter, it is located in the east. In the spring, the Big Dipper is overhead, and when it is in the west, it announces summer.

Weather time

The Sept. 15 front is accompanied by increased chances for much cooler afternoon high temperatures (highs sometimes just in the 50s in the northern states).

After Sept. 15, highs in the 70s are more likely to occur than highs in the 80s, and an afternoon in the 60s is four times as likely to be recorded as during the first week of the month. Weak lunar position between full and new moon, however, may encourage frost to stay away.

The equinox front often brings a likelihood of frost as it departs east, and new moon on Sept. 20 will increase the chances for colder-than-normal temperatures.

At average elevations along the 40th Parallel, the chances for a light freeze to have occurred are now about 30 percent, close to 50 percent across the northern states and at higher elevations. Hot days usually disappear in the central states after this front.

Zeitgebers: Field thistles and tall coneflowers continue to bloom in the fields. Leaves are falling onto the woodland trails, the cover overhead spotted with new color. Sycamores are turning golden green, some dogwoods yellowing. American mountain ash, its deep orange fruit, stands out wherever it grows.

Berries are red on the silver olives. Purple berries hang on all the pokeweed. Scarlet Virginia creeper outlines the tree trunks.

Wingstem is still holding in the woods, but it is mostly gone in the fields. Touchme-nots and jumpseed are fading.

Some white snakeroot has gray seeds, even green berries. More and more Queen Anne’s lace has turned to dark brown seeds. Hog peanuts are past their prime. Most burdock plants are dying back, yellow and brown. Acorns and hickory nuts are common on the paths.

Some rose hips are red. Sandhill cranes start to arrive in Midwest wetlands on their way to the Gulf coast. Doves usually stop calling in the morning until February. Young toads appear in cooler evenings. As lake and reservoir water temperatures drop into the lower 70s and 60s, bass and walleye become more active.

Field and garden time

Alfalfa stops growing after a severe frost, but late-autumn pastures should keep on developing until temperatures remain close to 30 degrees.

Wean summer lambs (and children) when the moon enters its weak fourth quarter (Sept. 11). Lambs weaned under a weak moon may protest far less than if you wait until new or full moon.

In northern counties, the planting of winter wheat begins. To the south, tobacco is about two-thirds cut.

Since the equinox cold front is a pivot point for the days to fall below 12 hours, you may want to turn on a low-wattage light bulb in the chicken house in order to counter the effects of the shortening days on egg production. Shorter days also contribute to hormonal fluctuations in many mammals and to estrus in sheep and goats.

Marketing time: Consider marketing male lambs and kids to the celebrants of Navaratri /Navadurgara (Sept. 21 -29): This Hindu feast honors the goddess Durga. Also, between Sept. 21-Oct. 19, Muslims celebrate Al Hijira, Islamic New Year. A rise in halal sales could be expected

during this period.

Mind and body time

As you track your body and mind’s reaction to the change of seasons, pay attention to circaseptans cycles – that is, seven-day patterns that roughly follow the moon’s seven-day phases.

Blood pressure and heart rate often take seven days to adjust to major schedule changes (like starting school). Colds often follow a seven-day period. After surgery, changes may occur most often after seven, 14 and 21 days.

Creature time (fishing, feeding, bird-watching): The moon will lie overhead in the early morning this week, making mornings the best lunar time to fish, hunt or watch for migrating birds. Butterflies, of course, favor the sun.

Almanac classics

Squawk Saved My New Coat

By Myrna Glass, St. Marys, Ohio

I have been called a workaholic. I’m afraid that I’ll have to admit “guilty as charged.” It was all the fault of my mother. She introduced work to me by making it fun.

When I was about 6, and my brothers 4 and 8, she gave us each one square yard of garden. We made the rows, hoed and weeded it. When it was ready, we harvested it. That satisfied the desire of every little kid to say, “I did it all by myself." How proud I was when my mother announced at the table, “Myrna furnished the radishes for dinner.”

At about 8, I advanced to the care of a pen full of ducks under the care of an old hen. When they were sold, I got all the money. When I became a teen, I advanced to the care of a brooder house full of halfgrown roosters. They ran free all day.

In the evening, I’d go down in the field, accompanied by our old collie, to close the coop. The coop had to be closed to keep the night varmints from having them for a midnight snack. I was promised that if I were successful, I would have money for a new winter coat when they were sold.

Since I was a normal teen, somehow the work didn’t seem as important as usual. My hormones kicked in, and that cute sophomore looked pretty good to me. It’s called “puppy love.” Is that because it often leads to a dog’s life? Mine didn’t, thank heaven!

Anyhow, I had a date on Sunday night. I had a good time, and got home before a big summer storm came. The next morning, I started the fire in the basement range to heat water to do the family laundry. Then, I remembered my chickens. I had forgotten to shut them in the night before.

As I neared the coop, my dream of a new coat became a nightmare. Oh, no! The coop was surrounded by dozens of my chickens, lying flat on the soggy ground.

I asked myself, How can I get rid of dozens of chickens? Maybe I could burn them in the range. So, I picked one up, wiped it off with old rags and took him to the basement.

I know, I thought, I’ll wrap him in newspaper to get him started. As I tried to stuff him into the stove, though, I heard a squawk! Oh, it really was not a squawk, just a feeble “peep,” but it was music to my ears.

In fact, I had overreacted. Not only was the squawking rooster alive, but also all of the other chickens were. And they all lived long enough to help pay for my new coat that was “saved by a squawk.”