Our bodies have formed themselves in delicate reciprocity with the manifold textures, sounds, and shapes of an animate earth – our eyes have evolved in subtle interaction with other eyes, as our ears are attuned by their very structure to the howling of wolves and the honking of geese… We are human only in contact, and conviviality, with what is not human. – David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous

The Moon and Stars

The Restless Billy Goat Moon, entered its second quarter on Aug. 15, reached perigee, its powerful position closest to Earth, on Aug. 17. It then waxes until it becomes completely round and full at 7:02 a.m. on Aug. 22. Rising in the evening and setting in the morning, this moon passes overhead in the middle of the night, encouraging creatures to be more active at that time, especially as the cool fronts of Aug. 21 and 24 approach.

The house-shaped star group, Cepheus, has traveled right into the middle of the sky by midnight, announcing the start of early fall. To the east of Cepheus, find the zigzag formation of Cassiopeia, followed by Perseus (looking vaguely like a horse) rising in the northeast. The Big Dipper continues to hug the northern horizon throughout the night.

Weather Trends

The weather in the third week of August is relatively stable, bringing highs in the 90s on 15 to 20 percent of the afternoons, milder 80s 55 percent of the time, and cool 70s the remaining 25 percent. 

Aug. 17 is a pivotal date for the first frosts in the West and North. Snow is often reported in Canada near this date, and the countdown to frost time begins for the Midwest.

The 19th of the month, however, has the highest frequency of 90s (35 percent chance) of any other day in the week. Chances of rain increase from 25 percent at the beginning of the period to 30 percent by August 21. And full moon on the 22nd should encourage storms, cooler weather and the formation of a hurricane in the Caribbean.

Zeitgebers

(Events in Nature that Tell the Time of Year)

Buckeye leaves are browning under the high canopy. Scarlet has appeared in the sumac, Virginia creeper and poison ivy. Ash, wild grape, redbud and cottonwood can be yellowing from the heat.

Elderberries are ready for wine. It is high bloom for velvetleaf, jimsonweed, prickly mallow, wild lettuce, ironweed and wingstem, but teasel and tall bellflower time is over.

Signs of fall coming include rows of lanky great mulleins black and gone to seed, pokeweed the size of small trees with purple stalks and berries.

Grackles become louder in the afternoons now, but an entire morning can go by without a cardinal song or the sound of a dove.

Puffball mushrooms emerge among spring’s rotting stems and leaves.

Mallard migration gets underway in Ohio and Indiana.

Mind and Body

The S.A.D. Index, which measures seasonal stress on a scale from 1 to 100, remains in the 40s for most of the period, challenging those who suffer from summer S.A.D. with the waxing moon and continued Dog Day conditions.

In the Field and Garden

Scout fields for late-season pests, for larval feeding scars, a sign of rootworm damage, second brood corn borer, second generation of bean leaf beetles and rootworm beetles.

Collect the final bouquets of Queen Anne’s lace before all the petals darken. Continue to check gourds, pumpkins and winter squash for rot and damage from beetles.

Buckeyes and pecans fall to earth. Peaches, pears, blackberries, second-crop raspberries, plums and elderberries sweeten, then close their seasons.

The harvest of commercial tomatoes, tobacco, potatoes, and corn silage, and the third cutting of alfalfa hay continue throughout the area.

Almanack Literature

“A Blackberry Peril”

by Patty Manzey, Pomeroy, OH

No, I didn’t fall into a blackberry patch. Our friends down the road had the patch.

Many years ago my mother-in-law, Mommy, lived with us. Our friends with the patch called to say they had a bowl of berries for us. So, Mommy & I got into the car for a short ride to get them.

After pulling out of the garage, I thought to myself, “Go back & get your own bowl.” So, I did. I went back into the house and came out with the bowl ready to go again.

But the car was gone with Mommy inside who never drove. We lived on a farm and the shop is a tenth of a mile from the house.

I started screaming to my husband in the shop, “WHERE IS THE CAR? MOMMY IS IN IT!!!”

He came running out. We looked all around and saw the car in the cornfield to the right of the driveway. In my haste I had not put the car entirely in PARK. It slipped into REVERSE and went down the driveway rear end first into the cornfield.

My door was still open and it was a wet year. The door caught on the stalks of corn and the car sunk in the soft soil. Thank God as these two things kept it going all the way down the hill with Mommy inside.

When I saw where it was, I quickly went to soothe her. And no, she had not had a heart attack. A friend was in the shop with my husband. They got the tractor and pulled the car out. Our friend told my husband, “Don’t say anything to her as she feels bad enough already.”

Mommy and I then went on our merry way and got the blackberries from our friends AND explained to them why we were so late. 

Poor Will Pays for Your Stories

Poor Will pays $4 for unusual and true farm, garden, animal and even love stories used in this almanack. Send yours to Poor Will’s Almanack at P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387 or to wlfelker@gmail.com.

ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S SCKRAMBLER

In order to estimate your SCKRAMBLER IQ, award yourself 15 points for each word unscrambled, adding a 50-point bonus for getting all of them correct. If you find a typo, add another 15 points to your IQ.

WLOB BLOW

PWRC CROW

EOD DOE

WOSN SNOW

OTSW STOW

AWOH WHOA

AGWLO AGLOW

AOUHGHTL ALTHOUGH

AOBNJ BANJO

OOEGRF FOREGO

IEHHG-OH HEIGH-HO

LOEHL HELLO

EROFHOSW FORESHOW

THIS WEEK’S RHYMING SCKRAMBLER

CCOBOTA

OTMATO

OUEDNGR

AEOWLGRTF

OOINMD

HODAI

XMCEIO

OHLYLAT

IIGODN

VOREGRWO

TOTELAFL

Bill Felker’s Daybook for September (with extensive details for every day of the month) is now available. For your autographed copy, send $20 to Poor Will, P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, OH 45387. Or order from Amazon or from www.poorwillsalmanack.com.

Copyright 2021 – W. L. Felker