By Bill Felker Perchance the beginning of summer may be dated from the fully formed leaves, when dense shade begins. I will see. – Henry David Thoreau, Journal, May 20, 1852 The Moon and Stars and Sun The Fourth Week of Late Spring The Warbler Migration Moon, bringing flocks of many different warblers up through the Midwest, reached perigee, its position closest to Earth, on May 17 at 10 a.m. It then will wane until it enters its final quarter at 1:43 p.m. on May 22. Rising in the middle of the night and setting late in the morning this moon passes overhead near dawn. As Leo moves off to the west by 10 p.m., the likelihood of frost diminishes sharply, and tender bedding plants, tomatoes and peppers can be set out – as long as you are prepared to protect them on cooler nights. The Sun enters Gemini on May 20, reaching about 85 percent of its solstice declination, at which point sunrise and sunset are only about a quarter of an hour each from their earliest and latest times. Weather Trends The days surrounding the May 20 cool front are some of the most turbulent of May, often marked by rain, tornadoes and high winds. The May 20 system also brings the threat of frost to the northern tier of states, but it typically spares tomatoes and eggplant below the 40th Parallel. The days following the May 24 front are often unseasonably cold. Even though more than half of May 25ths and 26ths are in the 70s or 80s, a full 40 percent are not. Zeitgebers: Events in Nature that Tell the Time of Year When hummingbirds arrive at your feeders, look for thrushes, and scarlet tanagers to arrive, too, and when you see strawberries coming into full bloom, wild cucumber will be sprouting along the rivers. Summer phlox are almost 2-feet tall as catbirds arrive in the bushes. And when azaleas lose their petals, morel season is about over for the year, and swallowtail butterflies come looking for bleeding heart flowers. Cricket song grows louder, and the earliest fireflies flicker in the lawn. In the Field and Garden When the canopy of leaves is complete, then flea beetles attack beet greens in your garden. Aphids multiply on heliopsis. Damselflies and dragonflies hunt the ponds. Leafhoppers, corn borers and armyworms assault the crops. Flies are bothering the cattle, and ticks roam the brambles. When you see mayflies by the water, spitbugs will be making their spittle-like shelters in the parsnips, and the first cut of hay will be underway. Chives bloom in the garden and lilacs reach full flower; that’s when crappie fishing peaks in the shallows. When wood sorrel blossoms in the garden, hunt for rare, medicinal golden seal blooming in the woods. The Strawberry Rains (a late-May rainy period) can increase the risk of internal parasites. Make use of stool samples to check for worms. Consider self-sufficiency in easy things like garlic, wild black raspberries, horseradish, asparagus, chives, rosemary, thyme and rhubarb. Add something every year. Many farm pond fish spawn when the water temperature reaches 65 degrees. Add tilapia or koi to increase options for sales and food. Gradually rising temperatures may have an effect on the amount of food your livestock (and children) need. Metabolic rate rises with the thermometer. Around the time that locust flowers fall, look for powdery mildew in the wheat. Then check the straw bedding of your livestock. Keep it clean and dry. Mind and Body The S.A.D. Index (which measures the forces thought to be associated with Seasonal Affective Disorder on a scale from 1 to 100) moves into the harmless teens this week, reaching 15 by May 22. After that, it fluctuates, but only into the 20s. Almanack Classics The Odd Cockerel By Myrna Glass of St. Marys, Ohio My father was a plasterer and mason. Mom and the kids managed a small farm. We raised our own food. We kids were taught to work. I helped with the chickens. I found them interesting. I did enjoy cuddling the baby chicks called “biddies.” I got pecked by a few setting hens while gathering eggs. Then there were the roosters. There were some of them that liked to peck on my bare legs as I ran to the outhouse. Of course, they fought each other, too. There was one rather small rooster who was the fightingest one in the whole barnyard. He would take on the bigger ones and sometimes win. However, he formed a bad habit that finally caused his demise. He decided to fight the cars on the road. He would stand on the road then at the last minute would jump out of the way. I have no idea how he managed to keep that up for a month before the time came that he was killed. When a car hit him, I went out to pick him up to see if there was enough left of his lifeless body for food. There was, and we scalded and picked off his feathers. Then mother started to clean him. Suddenly, she said, “Oh, look here!” She had found two eggs ready to be laid. We had a good laugh about our odd cockerel. *** Send your memory stories to Poor Will, P.O. Box 431, Yellow Springs, OH 45387. Five dollars will be paid to any author whose story appears in this column. 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. MOHW WHOM UEMLP PLUME OMOD DOOM OOMRB BROOM EUEMSR RESUME OMOB BOOM EUMF FUME EEUPRSM PRESUME OLOBM BLOOM EUEMFRP PERFUME THIS WEEK’S RHYMING SCKRAMBLER NWONK OEZN AOELN ENOBMORT UONWNKN EONRP OESTN NOWGR EEEONHPLT IODSWN Copyright 2022 – W. L. Felker |
