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Next week sees arrival of late spring through Midwest
 
Poor Will's Almanack by Bill Felker 
 
April  20-26, 2015
I had no inclination to read or to write, but only to spend the hours looking upon the earth’s April beauty, so lavishly spread before me here, listening to the field sparrow’s song, and smelling the fragrances of the leaves, the musk of the turned soil, the delicate perfume of the pasqueflowers, spending the hours in the sure knowledge that none would ever come again.
-August Derleth, A Countryman’s Journal, April 15
Lunar phase and lore

The Petal-Fall Moon, new on April 18, waxes throughout the period, entering its second quarter at 6:55 p.m. April 25 and reaching apogee (its gentle position farthest from Earth) on April 29.
Rising near midday and setting in the middle of the night, this moon moves overhead in the late afternoon and evening, encouraging fish to strike, especially as the cool fronts of April 24 and 28 lower the barometric pressure before they arrive.
The season and the moon combine to create another superb week for planting, especially with lunar position in Cancer from April 23-25.
Weather trends

After the high-pressure system of April 21 moves into Pennsylvania, the chances for an afternoon high in the 70s or 80s jump from last week’s average of 20 percent way up to 40 percent, and from this point forward, the number of frosts in any given seven days declines by nearly 2 percent per 24 hours.
Chances improve for field and garden planting after the April 24 cool front, when three days of dry and sunny weather are the rule.
April 28 brings the first cool front of late spring, the season in which the canopy closes over most of the yards and woods of the United States. But this front, and the first three of May, bring the last serious chances for snow and a damaging freeze to strike along the 40th Parallel.
The natural calendar

April 20: Today is Cross-Quarter Day (the halfway mark between equinox and solstice). The sun enters Taurus at the same time.
April 21: The Lyrid Meteors reach their best on April 21-22. Look in the southeast after midnight. The meteors will appear near the Summer Triangle, especially in Lyra.
April 22: Late spring arrives when the antlers of deer begin to grow, when the first parsnips bloom, the first indigo bunting arrives, the last daffodils disappear and bumblebees come out for pollen.
April 23: This week, the Big Dipper tilts deep into the sky overhead. Its pointers (the two outside stars of the dipper) are positioned almost exactly north-south after dark, marking the center of middle spring.
April 24:Watercress and ragwort are flowering in the wetlands, thyme-leafed speedwell in the lawn, early meadow rue, rue anemone, wild geranium, large-flowered trillium and columbine all filling the woods.
April 25: Pink magnolia season replaces white star magnolia season. Buttercup season and money plant season complement snowball viburnum season and bridal wreath spirea season.
April 26: Ducklings and goslings are out on the lakes and rivers.
In field and garden

April 20: Early date for soybean planting. Chance for snow drops to only 1 in 100. Mosquitoes will bite you in the garden.
April 21: Aphids are exploring the weeds and flowers. It’s four more weeks until every single tender plant can be placed outside.
April 22: Winter wheat is typically 4-8 inches high. Iris borers are hatching now; check your roots.
April 23: Cutworms and sod webworms work the cornfields all across the central and southern parts of the nation. The full-court press of corn planting gets under way as the high leaf canopy is filling in, casting the first shade on the flower and vegetable garden.
April 24: Scarlet tanagers appear in the woods; meadow parsnip, wood betony, honeysuckle, buckeye and red horse-chestnut flower.
April 25: As conditions permit, sow seeds for forages that will provide as close to year-round grazing as possible: tall fescue, ryegrass, wheat, oats and rape for early spring; Kentucky bluegrass and orchardgrass for spring and fall; bromegrass and timothy for early summer; birdsfoot trefoil, bahiagrass, Bermuda grass, Sudangrass, crabgrass and lespedeza for mid- to late summer.
Plan to seed turnips in middle summer for late fall and early winter grazing.
April 26: Average high temperatures reach 70 degrees along the Ohio River as cutworms and sod webworms work the cornfields all across the central and southern parts of the nation.
Almanac literature
Great American Story Contest entry
How I Got My Dream Pony
By Scarlett O’Grady
New London, Ohio
I remember the summer when I was 11 years old. My daddy got a chance to get a 6-year-old Exmoor pony. I, like any other 11-year-old girl, had been dreaming about getting a horse for as long as I could remember.
Daddy accepted the offer, and I bragged about it the next day at school to all my classmates.
A week later, when school was released for the summer, we (all six members of my family) packed up our ’98 Suburban and drove to get my pony. When we got there, we found out the woman selling the pony also wanted to know if we wanted two goats.
Momma and Daddy agreed we should. After all, the horse was very fond of them both. So we loaded up the goats, but when we tried to load up Violet, the pony, she backed up and galloped off around the neighborhood.
It took my daddy and the woman selling the horse 15 minutes to catch her. But when they did catch her, Violet went right into the back of the Suburban.
On our way home, we passed some Amish plowing their field, and when we drove by with a horse tail and two goats hanging out the back window, why, they must have thought that was the funniest thing ever, by the way they were laughing.
But I didn’t care. I got my pony!
Winners of the Great American Almanac Story Contest will not be announced until all selected entries appear in this column.

4/16/2015