By Bill Felker

Beauty has no set weather, no sure place; Her careful pageantries are here as there, With nothing lost. – Lizette Woodworth Reese

The Moon, Venus and the Stars

The Hickory, Black Walnut and Pecan Nutting Moon was new at 9:52 p.m. on Sept. 6 and waxed throughout the week. It reaches perigee, its position closest to Earth on Sept. 11 at 5 a.m. and then enters its second quarter at 3:39 p.m. on Sept. 13. Rising in the morning and setting in the evening, this Moon passes overhead in the middle of the day, favoring lunch time for seeking fish and game, especially as the cool fronts of Sept. 8, 12 and 15 approach.

Early in the week, look for the Moon to appear to almost touch bright Venus after sunset. On the 16th, look for Saturn to be close to the Moon in the evening sky. Before dawn, Orion has emerged fully from the east. January’s Leo and its brightest star, Regulus, are rising from the Atlantic Ocean, and the Great Square is following Hercules into the far west.

Weather Trends

The rainiest days in this period are typically the 9th and the 12th, each having a 40 percent chance of showers. The other days carry just half those odds. Sept. 12 marks the beginning of a slight decline in percentage of daily sunshine, a decline that accelerates as it continues through December (the year’s darkest month).

Summer-like 70s and 80s are the rule for this week of the year. Frost is rare at this stage of September, but chances for a light freeze increase to 10 percent right after new moon, and on the 13th and 14th as the third high pressure system of the month comes through.

Zeitgebers

(Events in Nature that Tell the Time of Year)

Berries are red on the silver olives, orange on the American mountain ash, purple on the pokeweed. Wild cherries have disappeared from their branches. Squirrels scatter buckeye hulls along the trails; locust pods fall beside them.

Most doves stop calling in the morning until February. The rich scent of late summer pollen is almost gone by end of the week, replaced by the pungent odor of fallen apples and leaves.

Cobwebs are everywhere in the woods, and the number of butterflies often swells in the garden:  coppers, blues, monarchs, swallowtails, checkerspots. When the days are cool, the cicadas are quiet. On the colder nights, the katydids refuse to chant, and the frogs are silent.

Mind and Body

The S.A.D. Index, which measures seasonal stress on a scale from 1 to 100, falls into the gentle 30s after the Moon weakens as it moves toward its second quarter. The likelihood for mild weather and sunny skies combines with the continued benign long days to create positive conditions for mental and physical health. And you may be feeling a surge of energy as the days grow shorter. Take advantage of it while it lasts. Typically, the autumn surge lasts only six to eight weeks.

In the Field and Garden

Continue to cut zinnias and other annuals to encourage more blossoms through the month. Purchase mums: select some already in bloom, some just budding.

In an average year, soybeans have turned on a third of all the farms, and a fourth of the corn is mature. Some years, the soybean harvest has even begun.

Locust borers assault the locusts. Pine root collar weevils move to the pine trees.

Seed sweet Williams and sweet rockets to provide May color before lilies start to bloom in June.

One fourth of the corn silage has often been harvested by the middle of September’s second week. In northern fields, the planting of winter wheat is starting to get underway. 

ALMANACK LITERATURE

Hazel and the Snakes

By Frances M. Vander Weide, Jenison, Mich.

This is a true story that my friend, Hazel, told about a cat from her neighborhood. Hazel lived alone in a modest, immaculate home in a small town in Kentucky.

One day a cat came to Hazel’s back porch meowing. She saw that he was hungry, so she set out a bowl of food for him. The days went by, and the cat would come back to visit on her back porch, and Hazel would always set out a bowl of food for him.

Then one morning as she went out to feed him his breakfast, she noticed he had brought a snake to her porch. The snake wasn’t the poisonous kind, but to Hazel, any kind of snake was very frightening. This snake was barely moving, as the cat dropped it onto her porch.

Hazel went to her next-door neighbor and asked if he could please come and dispose of a snake for her. Then a few days later, the cat brought her another snake the same way. Again, she had to seek the help of her neighbor. Finally, after three snakes were brought to her, she told herself that she couldn’t be running over for help from her neighbor every time that cat brought her a snake and that she would have to get brave and dispose of them herself.

Hazel did become very brave because the “gifts of snakes” she received from the cat that summer totaled 30. When she told her friends about it, they remarked, “Hazel, your yard must be full of live snakes.” Hazel replied, “I think the cat roams all over this town at night hunting for one to bring me each day. They aren’t all coming from my yard!”

Hazel loved and rewarded that cat for returning his love for her. Her own gestures of compassionate love recognized the cat’s way of showing kindness, even though it was his self-appointed gift of “just snakes” to someone who was kind enough to give him food when he was hungry.

Poor Will Wants Your Stories

Poor Will pays $5 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.

NEGARELISMISO  GENERALISSIMO

SUMCATOIH      MUSTACHIO

TONIRAO      ONTARIO

SIPCATOIH      PISTACHIO

NGAMIFCOI      MAGNIFICO

VLCNOAO VOLCANO

EORVI VIREO

REVGITO VERTIGO

AAIOGD ADAGIO

OOEMR ROMEO

THIS WEEK’S RHYMING SCKRAMBLER 

OOUUHGDRS

OAOVTC

FUFBAOL

UAOBNGLW

OCILCA

AEORGLL

AAEUBTL

PITOET

ROOT

UEAUOSTSR

Bill Felker’s Daybook for October (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