Oct. 8-14, 2018

There is a beautiful spirit breathing now

Its mellow richness on the clustered trees,

And, from a beaker full of richest dyes,

Pouring new glory on the autumn woods,

And dipping in warm light the pillared clouds.

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Shattering Ginkgo Moon, new on Oct. 8 at 10:47 p.m., waxes throughout the period, entering its second quarter at 2:01 p.m. on Oct. 16. Rising in the morning and setting in the evening, this moon passes overhead in the afternoon.

By the end of October’s second week, the sun has reached the same position it holds at the end of February. The night lengthens by more than a quarter of an hour this week as the day shortens to a little over 11 hours. Nearly four hours have disappeared from the day's length in the past four months, and late-autumn darkness is setting in.

Saturn in Sagittarius, followed by Mars in Capricorn, lies in the south-southwest after the sun goes down. Jupiter, in Libra, flirts with the western horizon throughout October, disappearing shortly after Venus.

If you get up before sunrise, you can see the sky the way it will be after sundown in early March. Orion and the Milky Way will be moving off to the west, and Castor and Pollux of Gemini will be directly above you. Regulus, the planting star, will be the brightest light in the east, and summer’s Arcturus will be just emerging along the eastern tree line.

Weather trends

Oct. 10 brings a 40 percent chance of rain, and Oct. 12, a 50 percent chance. Oct. 12 is also the first day that snow has a 5 percent chance of falling. Highs only in the 40s and 50s are more common this week than last, with Oct. 11-13 being the days most likely to see such cold (a 40 percent chance).

While some days are often warm, others are typically cooler (for example, Oct. 11 has only a 15 percent chance of a high above 70). The coldest morning so far in the season usually comes on Oct. 13, when the chances of a low in the 20s are 20 percent for the first time since spring.

Whether a person is excited at the World Series or the football season or school or autumn’s colors, whether one is sad that summer has ended or that cold weather lies ahead or that wildflower bloom is almost complete for the season, few people can fail be influenced by the changes of middle fall.

Throughout the land’s transformation, the “horoscoper” (a person who watches time) can find consolation and promise to balance the negatives of October. Attentive to details, the time-watcher sees the future as much as the present or past, places each particle of change in a context that repeats and therefore softens loss and anticipates return.

The natural calendar: Middle fall arrives this week and signals the departure of chimney swifts, wood thrushes, barn swallows and red-eyed vireos. Long flocks of robins migrate across the region. Cattails and thimble plant seed heads begin to break apart.

The leafturn and leafdrop accelerate, and the relative stability of middle September comes apart. A fourth of the dogwoods and a third of the maples are almost bare by now.

By the end of the week, most of the ashes, buckeyes, box elders and black walnuts will be close to gone. Foliage barriers around your property may disappear completely. Shagbark hickory, chinquapin oak, tree of heaven and great shrub-like pokeweeds are thinning out. There is a steady drizzle of ginkgo and locust leaves.

Field and garden

Under the dark moon, lunar conditions for planting root crops, setting spring flower bulbs and transplanting perennials are ideal. Dig up cannas, caladiums, tuberous begonias and gladiolus prior to heavy frost. Put in autumn landscape shrubs and trees.

Test soil after harvest is complete in field and garden. Plants and bulbs intended for spring forcing indoors should be placed in light soil now and stored in a place where temperatures remain cool (but not freezing).

Marketing notes: The heaviest time of Halloween market sales begins in the middle of October.

Livestock, fish, game, birds and insects: The moon will be overhead in the afternoon throughout the period; therefore, fish and scout for game after lunch as the barometer falls in advance of the Oct. 13, 17 and 23 cold fronts.

The best lunar grain harvest conditions, as well as the most propitious lunar times for clipping hair, trimming hooves, worming livestock, putting on shingles and having surgery, should occur throughout the period. Check your horses for horse bot eggs, too. Also, complete autumn culling of sheep and goats before pasture season comes to a close.

Hormonal changes in sheep and goats follow the shortening days, creating the peak of autumn breeding season. Migration of toads and frogs continues to take place. Most species of butterflies no longer visit your garden.

Scout for squirrels in areas where black walnut trees are common. The leaves of the black walnut fall earlier than those of most trees, and squirrels are partial to the nuts. Box elder and buckeye trees sometimes lose their foliage early, as well.

Almanac classics

The Case of the Jumping Mother

By Ryan Zimmerman

We decided to move some of our ewes to a different pasture. We chased the ewes into a pen, but one wild Barbados ewe jumped out of the pen and ran out the open front door. Then she jumped back into the pasture where her lambs were located.

We caught the other ewes and loaded them into the trailer. Then we chased the Barbados ewe back into the pen, but we had forgotten to close the door, and she jumped over the pen, out the door and back into the pasture.

This time, we made sure the door was closed. So we chased her back into the pen. She jumped out of the pen again, but the door was closed this time. So she jumped right through a closed window and jumped back into the pasture.

We chased her back into the pen for the fourth time. My brother stood in front of the broken window this time, and we caught her before she got away.

We loaded her on the trailer with the other ewes and took them all to the other pasture about a fourth of a mile away. But within an hour, the Barbados ewe was back with her lambs.