Jan. 24-30, 2011
The world is well kept … Her undertakings are secure and never fail.
-Henry David Thoreau

Lunar phase and lore
The Jessamine Moon wanes through the end of January into the first days of February, passing into its final quarter on Jan. 26 at 7:57 a.m. and then becoming the new Bluebonnet Moon on Groundhog Day, Feb. 2, at 9:31 p.m.
Entering fertile Scorpio on Jan. 25, traversing Sagittarius on Jan. 28-29 and then coming into Capricorn on Sunday, Jan. 30, the dark moon favors surgery, cutting hair, livestock and pet vaccinations and dental work all week. Bedding plant seeding is especially recommended in Scorpio and Capricorn.

The waning moon will rise before sunup and set in the afternoon, moving overhead in the morning throughout the period, making mornings the most promising time for fishing, scouting for wild animals and for feeding children and livestock. Fish and mammals should be even hungrier during the mornings as the cold fronts of Jan. 31 and Feb. 3 approach.

Weather patterns

Jan. 27 is a pivotal statistical date in the fortunes of winter. Throughout the country average temperatures, which had remained stable from the middle of January, climb one degree. That rise may not be obvious in any particular year, but it does represent the cumulative wisdom of all the years on record, revealing the inevitable turn of the Earth toward June.

Daybook

Jan. 24: Late winter, one of the shortest seasons of the year (only three weeks) now arrives in the wake of the sun’s passage into Aquarius. The rapid change in solar declination increases the volatility of the atmosphere and brings more promises of milder days (as well as more unpredictable weather).
Jan. 25: Some almanacs say that today is the traditional date for raccoons to mate. A different measure of the season: The sun approaches its mid-November noontime height and cardinals begin to sing.

Jan. 26: Robins may suddenly descend on your crab apple trees near this date, signaling either the arrival of a new flock from the South or a visit from an overwintering flock. Either way, they point the way to early spring, just three weeks away.

Jan. 27: When you hear cardinals singing before dawn, you will know that late winter has begun. Although this period can be one of the coldest of the year in the North, its thaws accelerate the swelling of buds and the blooming of early bulbs in sheltered microclimates.

Jan. 28: This weekend, with the moon in Sagittarius, get your pans or bottles ready for hand-feeding kids and lambs. But, be sure to heat-treat the colostrum or milk before you use it. Bottle feeding often produces offspring that are easier to handle after weaning.

Get ready for kidding and lambing with heat lamps, blankets, disbudding boxes, nipple waterers, iodine or other disinfectant to treat the naval cord.
Jan. 29: Tundra swans, early migrants to the Great Lakes, start to arrive on Lake Erie and other smaller bodies of water throughout the region.
Jan. 30: High above your homestead, the sun reaches a declination of a little more than  -17 degrees – about one-fourth of its distance to spring equinox.

The calling of crows

Among the most consistent morning companions to early risers are the crows. They leave their roosts and call about 15-20 minutes before sunrise throughout the year, and are especially welcome between September and January when most other birds have either stopped singing or have left for the South.
On the shortest days of the year, the crows usually awaken between 7:30-8 a.m., depending on temperature, cloud cover and precipitation. As the sun begins to rise earlier, they follow a more rigorous timetable a little like the following:

Date   Sunrise  Crow Calls
Jan. 1   7:55  7:45
February 1  7:45  7:20
March 1  7:10  6:50
April 1   6:20  6:00
May 1   5:35  5:15
June 1  5:10  4:50
July 1   5:10  4:55
August 1  5:35  5:15
September 1  6:00  5:45
October 1  6:30  6:16
November 1  7:04  6:50
December 1  7:35  7:25

If the crows awaken and cry out the break of day at slightly different times than those listed above, no matter. It is, I believe, not so important to know exactly when they call than it is to hear what they have to say: That we are not really as alone as we might think, and that the world is still well kept, her undertakings secure.