April 24-30, 2017

Stay together, Learn the flowers, Go light.

-Gary Snyder, “For the Children”

 

 

Moon time: Mock Orange

Moon, new on April 26 at 7:16 a.m., waxes throughout the period, entering its second quarter at 9:42 p.m. on May 2. Rising in the morning and setting in the evening, this moon passes overhead in the afternoon.

 

Sun time: Late spring is pushing the land toward summer. The sun reaches a declination of 15 degrees on May 1; that’s a little over 60 percent of the way to summer solstice.

 

Star time: Now Spica is the star of May nights, Virgo above it, Corvus below. Libra is becoming more prominent in the southeast, Lupus below it, Sagittarius behind it. Arcturus moves overhead, announcing the close of frost season in the lower Midwest. A star chart or an online map of the stars should help you find all of these.

 

Shooting star time: The Eta Aquarid shower appears across the southeast in Pegasus after midnight between April 20-May 20. The moon will provide the darkest skies for meteor watching in the first days of May. Weather time

 

Between May 1-June 1, only a few mornings of light frost occur in this part of the country. Chances for freezing temperatures after the dates listed are: May l, 45 percent; May 5, 35 percent; May 10, 25 percent; May 15, 15 percent; May 20, 10 percent; May 25, 5 percent; and May

31, 2 percent.

 

The April 28 front: In advance of this first front of late spring, highs in the 90s become possible as far north as Chicago, and the chances for a high in the 80s pass the 20 percent mark at lower elevations along the 40th Parallel. The warmth, however, comes at the cost of rain five years in 10, and the last days of April are typically some of the wettest days of the fourth month’s fourth week.

 

The first three days of May are frequently marked by a “Lilac Winter” high-pressure system that chills one of the most fragrant times of the year.

 

 

Another favorable horoscope: Late spring arrives this week, bringing all the weeds up out of the ground and turning the undergrowth green with honeysuckle leaves. Bluebell, toad trillium, bellwort, meadow rue, ragwort, columbine, white violet, winter cress, small-flowered buttercup, large-flowered trillium, wood betony, miterwort, jack-in-the-pulpit and rue anemone are flowering.

  

Wild phlox, wild geranium, wild ginger, celandine, spring cress, sedum, golden Alexander, thyme-leafed speedwell, garlic mustard and common fleabane are budding.

 

Lilacs are in full bloom, the peonies are budding, maples are leafing out, buckeyes come into full bloom and dandelions have gone to seed. The tree line is alive either with new pale leaves or orange buds and gold flowers. There are buds on the black raspberries and honeysuckles, mock orange and mulberries.

 

Dogwood blossoms take over after the redbud flowers have gone. Yellow–flowered wood sorrel blossoms in the yard and garden, telling you to look for ruby-throated hummingbirds to arrive at your feeders. When you see redbud trees getting seedpods, then go looking for horseshoe crabs mating along the Atlantic coastline. Or listen for the first crickets of the year singing in a field near your house.

 

 

The dark moon favors traditional worm control methods, such as liming the pasture, planting garlic and plowing in mustard. In the fields, fight armyworms, cutworms, sod webworms and corn borers. Attack carpenter bees around the barn and weevils in the alfalfa.

 

When buds appear on black raspberries, mock orange and mulberries, then soybean planting is in full swing, and when you see the pink spirea in bloom, then lettuce and radishes should be big enough for salad. When lilacs reach full bloom, look for the first lilac borers to emerge. The peach tree borers will be coming soon, too.

 

It’s not too late to go to the local nursery and purchase small shrubs and trees in full bloom, and May is an excellent time for adding to your fruit tree collection. Marketing time: Ramadan begins on May 27. Plan now to market lambs and kids to the halal market at the close of this period, June 25.

 

Mind and body time Your nature-based horoscope is outstanding this week: By this point in the solar year, almost all signs of seasonal affective disorders have disappeared from most people (as long as they stay outside more than 30 minutes each day). The day’s length and the increased average amount of sunshine combine with the gradual warming temperatures to create almost ideal psychological conditions. Staying indoors, however, can contribute to higher stress levels, as the body wants to be outside; don’t hold it back.

 

Creature time (for fishing, hunting, feeding, bird-watching): The moon will be overhead in the afternoon this week, giving the after-lunch period improved chances to bring you luck on the water and in the woods (if you are looking for turkeys).

 

For even better luck, try the days prior to the arrival of the April 28 and May 2 cool fronts. Birders might see the rare sandpipers and thrushes, and should be scouting the woods for the great May migration of warblers.

 

Almanac literature

Blue Racers Can Kill

By Anna Monroe Bruce

Fairborn, Ohio

 

When my mom was a young girl, she and her girl friend in Kentucky were going to Sunday school over the mountain and through the woods, talking to each other as they hurried along.

 

All at once, her friend screamed again and again, falling to the ground crying, “Get help! Get help!”

 

Momma ran to the foot of the mountain to the church house, where several men were standing. They came to meet Momma. She told them what had happened. One man jerked his knife out of his pocket and they all ran to the girl. They found her lying unconscious on the ground, her clothes drawn tightly around her waist. The man took his knife and cut what looked like a cord that was tight around her. That cord turned out to be a snake, and it fell into four pieces on the ground.

 

The creature was called a blue racer. They are not poisonous and they do not bite their prey, but this one had had almost squeezed the girl to death by circling her body and drawing tighter and tighter.

 

They revived Momma’s friend with resuscitation and she lived. But she and my mother did not walk over the mountain and woods to Sunday school anymore. They went the long way by the road, from then on.