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Views and opinions: It's almost time to make hay in northern part of the nation
 

 

May 28-June 3, 2018

Perhaps we have a deep and legitimate need to know in our entire being what the day is like, to see it and feel it, to know how the sky is gray, paler in the south, with patches of blue in the southwest … I have a real need to know these things because I myself am part of the weather and part of the climate and part of the place, and a day in which I have not shared truly in all this is no day at all.

-Thomas Merton

Almanac horoscope

The Daddy Longlegs Moon wanes into apogee (its benign position furthest from Earth) on June 2 at 11:34 a.m. and enters its last phase at 1:31 p.m. on June 6. Rising late at night and setting in the morning, this moon passes overhead before dawn.

By the end of the first week of June, the sun has reached a declination of 22 degrees, 44 minutes, just a few minutes from solstice.

Mars, remaining in Capricorn, moves along the southern horizon between midnight and dawn. Continuing to follow the year in stars, find early summer’s boxy (or teapot-shaped) Libra due south, with Scorpius close behind. If you look up to the middle of the sky, you will see a horseshoe-shaped constellation, the Corona Borealis, and to its right the bright planting star, Arcturus.

Although late May’s Strawberry Rains often bring rain and cloudy conditions, apogee on June 2 weakens the power of the waning moon, and the transition to the moon’s fourth quarter on June 6 completes a softening of lunar influence on tides and moods.

The arrival of fresh produce to market, the greening corn and soybean fields, relatively mild temperatures, the filling in of the high canopy and the start of rose-blooming season all converge to augur well for low seasonal stress.

Weather trends

The cool fronts associated with early summer typically cross the Mississippi River on or about June 2, 6, 10, 15, 23 and 29. Major storms are most likely to occur on the days between June 5-8, 13-16 and 24-28. New moon on June 13 (followed by perigee on June 14) increases the chances for freezing temperatures along the Canadian border and at higher elevations.

Full moon on June 27 could contribute to unstable meteorological conditions in conjunction with the June 29 cool front and could start the Corn Tassel Rains a few days early.

The natural calendar: Throughout the East and lower Midwest, the Rugosa rose, floribunda rose, delphinium, moth mullein, feverfew, quickweed, swamp valerian and moneywort come into bloom.

Field and garden

As the moon wanes, consider putting in double-crop soybeans after the wheat is cut. Plant the vegetable garden for August and September harvests: root crops now, flowers and vegetables that produce their fruit above ground after new moon. June is haying month in the upper half of the nation.

Marketing notes: Id al Fitr, the Festival of the breaking of the Ramadan Fast, occurs on June 14. In reviewing your culling program, consider that older sheep often command higher prices during this period.

Fish, insects, livestock and birds: The waning moon, above the region before dawn, should make fish (and young children) hungrier at that time, especially as the barometer drops in advance of the June 2, 6 and 10 cool fronts. Legumes should give your animals better nutrition and weight if you cut fields right after they bloom.

June is the month during which insect infestations typically reach the economic threshold.

Solomon and Sheba in the attic

My furnace is in the attic of my house, and that place is always warm in the coldest weather. During the later winter and early spring, I plant seeds under grow lights there.

Last year when I did my attic gardening, I found a stink bug crawling around on the table where I do my planting. I watched my stink bug and saw that he appeared harmless and vulnerable. Once he fell off a leaf and lay on his back kicking until I picked him up and set him on his feet. I smelled my fingers then. No odor, really.

This year, I noticed another stink bug in the attic. I wondered if he had lived there by himself for the past 12 months. I looked around to see if there were more stink bugs. I found one more, but no more than that.

For some reason, it occurred to me that those two must be wise to survive isolated in the attic. So I named one Solomon, after the famous wise king, and the other Sheba, after the queen of Sheba who was quite interested in that king. But I don’t really know the anatomical gender of either bug.

Who would care about the sex of two small creatures in the attic? Besides, I can’t tell them apart.

While some people have told me they are overrun by stink bugs, I feel that my stink bugs are good company. My attic is low and cramped. No one has ever joined me planting seeds. I reflect that insects are under siege throughout the world these days, thanks to pesticides and global warming. I wonder if perhaps these two stink bugs are hiding with me from Armageddon.

And I wonder who besides Solomon and Sheba would be so unobtrusive, provide fellowship without destroying my solitude and require no food, no drink. Best of all, they do not fit the mold. They do not act like the fabled stink bugs of Orkin or Terminex. They do not follow the entomological script.

They follow their own counsel. They could be overrunning my house, but they are content to bask in the warmth of the grow lights and contemplate the luminescent April green of the sprouts. Solomon and Sheba have, it seems, found the Path. They might even be trying to show me their secret. I will see.

5/24/2018