Oct. 30-Nov. 5, 2017

Seasons pursuing each other,

the plougher ploughs, the mower mows,

and the winter grain falls in the ground.

-Walt Whitman

Almanac horoscope

Moon time: The Apple Cider Moon waxes until it becomes completely full on Nov. 4 at 12:23 a.m. It reaches perigee, its position closest to Earth, on Nov. 6. Rising in the late afternoon and setting in the morning, this moon moves overhead in the middle of the night.

Sun time: Daylight Saving Time ends at 2 a.m. on Nov. 5. Set clocks back one hour. The end of Daylight Saving Time is often associated with automobile accidents due to changes in commuting times in morning and evening.

Planet time: Now in Libra, Venus reaches conjunction with Jupiter on Nov. 13, the best Venus-Jupiter display of the year. Venus hugs the eastern horizon before sunrise until the middle of the month when its brilliance is overcome by the sun.

Star time: Late autumn brings back Orion as an easy marker of sky time. By 11 p.m., he has emerged from the east, following a cluster of seven stars, the Pleiades and the red eye of Taurus, Aldebaran. A few hours before dawn, all those stars have moved to fill up the southern sky.

Obscured by the full moon, the Taurid shower brings only a handful of meteors per hour on Nov. 4-5.

Weather time

The Nov. 2 front is ordinarily one of the gentler systems of the month, but this year’s full moon on Nov. 4 is likely to put a quick end to nice weather. Lunar perigee on Nov. 6 doubles the chances for cold – and even snow.

The Nov. 6 front typically sharpens the divide between middle and late autumn, bringing much harsher conditions. As the percentage of cloud cover increases, winds gradually reach their winter levels, and full moon on Nov. 4 and lunar perigee on Nov. 6 will chill those winds.

Zeitgebers: Late fall, a three- to four-week transition period of chilly temperatures, gray skies and killing frosts, usually arrives this week. Witch hazels bloom, marking the shift of the season.

Forsythia sometimes blooms again. Fall raspberries usually decline. White mulberry trees often turn yellow overnight. Chances for a thunderstorm virtually disappear until February. Red fruits stand out on the flowering crabs and the hawthorns. Bright coralberry shines through the fading undergrowth.

Indoors, mature aloe plants send up flower spikes. Christmas cacti are budding.

Farm and garden time

The upcoming full moon, lunar perigee, the end of Daylight Saving Time, erratic behavior from deer in estrus and the likely arrival of the first cold fronts of the month create “perfect storm” conditions for bad weather and problems on the road and the farm.

Prepare mulch for November protection of sensitive vegetables, perennials and shrubs. Wrap new trees with burlap to help them ward off winter winds. Complete fall field and garden tillage before the November rains. Transplant perennials, shrubs and trees.

Cut your wood, fit storm windows and gather wildflowers for winter bouquets. Gardeners should put in spring bulbs and dormant roses, and mulch perennials.

Test the soil, and mow the lawn for the last time. Dig manure into the garden. Plant next year's sweet peas and spinach. Set garlic cloves for spring. Seed the last winter wheat.

Fertilize trees and shrubs when their foliage is down; leaf drop should be complete on most plantings except late oaks, silver maples, forsythia and Osage orange. Start paperwhites and amaryllis bulbs for holiday blossoms (and selling).

Marketing time: Consider making Thanksgiving cards by hand. Include them in your farmers’ market displays. Woodburn designs on your dry gourds. Shine your gourds that have not dried to make them more appealing for holiday decorations. Then, move your Indian corn to market for Thanksgiving sales.

Mind and body time

Some studies suggest that November is the worst month of the year for depression. The radical change in leaf cover, the increased cold and cloud cover and the approach of the holidays can bring on severe bouts of Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D).

As you begin to feel a little down, take action right away: exercise, eat moderately, go outside more often and be especially nice to everyone.

Creature time (for fishing, hunting, feeding, bird-watching): Fish when the moon is beneath the Earth at midday this week. The days prior to the Nov. 2 and 6 cold fronts should produce the most strikes. Leaf fall continues throughout the woods, improving the likelihood that hunters will find game.

Full moon on Nov. 4 and lunar perigee on Nov. 6 will increase activity of deer and small animals. Most migratory birds have left the region by this point in the year, but you may spot a Mourning Warbler, a Myrtle Warbler, a Bonaparte’s Gull, a Forster’s Tern and an American Woodcock heading south.

Almanac literature

Lost in a Stormy Night in June

By Lou Beard

Shelby, Ohio

It was one of those terrible hail and rain storms when the temperatures drop 10 degrees or more in minutes. It was so scary that we would check out the window every five minutes to see if there was a funnel cloud or a wall cloud.

We have three rescued Basset hounds that lovingly share our home. One of them is named Jasmine Irene, and she is the matriarch over the young one, Mary Frances. We also have an older handsome gentleman Basset named Todd. He plays the role of boss and settles them down when they get too playful. He has also been known to salute the American flag.

On this particular dark, stormy might with pouring-down rain and thunder pounding in the distance, the matriarch, Jasmine Irene, was acting so strange that I thought she was ill. She would not come to my husband or me. She would pace back and forth from the sunroom to the living room and would not stop.

She was talking to me with her undertone little voice and her quivering mouth. It was so scary to watch her. We thought something terrible was going to happen, maybe a tornado or something that was going to rip our home apart, and all of us with it.

We headed for the basement for protection. But Jasmine Irene would not go. By that time we knew something was very wrong. We started counting dogs; one was missing. Oh my God, Little Mary Frances was gone!

We looked in every room and the garage, but no Mary Frances. Then all of a sudden Jasmine started barking and running toward the outside door like a frantic mother that had lost her child.

We still don’t know how Mary Frances got out, but she did and was on the other side of the fence by the creek in the storm, trembling from the ice-cold rain and hail that was beating down on her. We could not hear her, but Jasmine Irene could.

We rescued our poor little mud-covered, soaking wet, terrified Basset pup from the storm. Since then, no escape routes are in her future.