May 7-13, 2018

The vale shall laugh in flowers, the woods

Grow misty green with leafing buds,

And violets and wind-flowers sway

Against the throbbing heart of May.

-John Greenleaf Whittier

Almanac horoscope

The Swarming Termite Moon, entering its last quarter at 9:08 p.m. on May 7, wanes throughout the period, becoming the Daddy Longlegs Moon at 6:47 a.m. on May 15 and reaching perigee (its position closest to Earth) on May 17 at 4:05 p.m. Rising after midnight and setting in the afternoon, this darkening moon travels overhead in the middle of the day.

By May 15, the Sun reaches about 85 percent of the way to solstice.

Venus is the evening star in Taurus, traveling retrograde toward Cancer and setting into the far west after sundown. After dark, look for the tail of Scorpio along the southwestern tree line. Then look for the parallelogram of Libra right next to it.

The Eta Aquarid meteor shower continues throughout the month. Look for those shooting stars in Aquarius, low in the southeast before first light. The dark moon will favor your vigil.

Late spring continues to offer you a fine horoscope, changing your winter patterns: You may have an easier time waking up, have more energy, be able to pass up carbs more easily, lose weight more easily, have an easier time concentrating, feel more sociable and generally feel more optimistic.

Weather trends

The cold front that arrives this week is one of the last frost-bearing fronts to move across the nation. Although gardens in the North are not immune to a freeze throughout the entire month of May, the greatest danger of loss from low temperatures recedes quickly as this high moves out over the Atlantic.

Typical highs usually reach above 60 degrees after the May 10, and they rise to 70 or above at least 60 percent of the afternoons. May 11 is the day with the warmest weather history of the month – a full 50 percent of May 11s bring temperatures in the 80s.

However, the danger of frost continues as the moon reaches perigee this afternoon, strengthening the meteorological and psychological effects of new moon and the cool front of May 15.

Field and garden

When the first day lily opens, you should have all your corn in the ground, and it should have sprouted. If you don't have day lilies, the first thistles bloom around the same time. Winter wheat is at least a foot high across the lower Midwest and will soon be pale golden green below the Mason-Dixon Line.

The natural calendar: When azaleas lose their petals, daisies and clematis and the first cinquefoil open all the way, the first strawberry ripens and the first swallowtail butterflies visit the star of Bethlehem and bleeding hearts. The last quince flowers fall, and lilacs decay. The yellow heads of meadow goat’s beard appear along the roadsides next to the sweet clover foliage spreading out for June.

The pink and violet of sweet rockets replace the purple wild phlox in the woods and pastures. Horseradish and comfrey are budding. The shy lesser stitchwort blooms in the alleys. All of the buttercups blossom and, by the end of the week, the first pyrethrums parallel the poppies.

When your animals move out into the fresh green pastures, make dry hay available to them beforehand in order to prevent bloat. Spring rains and humidity can increase the risk of internal parasites.

Marketing notes: Memorial Day is May 28, the last best spring day for marketing bedding plants, as well as a fine time for selling tomatoes, peppers and greens in flats.

Fish, game, insects, livestock and birds: Throughout the fields, alfalfa weevils, corn borers and cutworms attack the crops. In the garden, slugs come out in force, and bean-leaf beetles and aphids stalk the fresh garden plantings.

As the moon passes overhead in the morning, be fishing and watching for turkeys from earliest light throughout the morning. Fish and game should be more active under the dark moon when the May 12 and 15 cold fronts approach, pushing down the barometer as they come.

Birders should look for migrating white-throated sparrows, ruby-crowned kinglets, yellow-rumped warblers, magnolia warblers, tanagers, grosbeaks and orioles.

Almanac classics

On the Roof

By Sam J. Eicher

Berne, Ind.

This couple went on a trip and had the neighbor’s children feed their cat and keep an eye on Grandmother while they were gone. So after they were gone for a week, they called home, and they asked, “How is the cat?”

The kids said that the cat died, and the couple about had a fit when they heard the news. The couple told the children that they should’ve said that on the first day, the cat was on the roof; and then the next day, she fell off; and the third day, she’d died.

Then it wouldn’t have been so much of a shock. And then they asked, “So, how is Grandmother?”

And the kids said, “She’s on the roof.”