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Views and opinions: Watch Perseid meteor show as summer advances to fall

 

August 6-12, 2018

Tall ironweed blooms

All around us, purple-blue clusters

Blazing atop stalks six feet tall …

-Ann Filemyr

When flocks of ducks and geese have settled into their post-birthing routines and middle summer’s wildflowers start to pale, then blackberries redden and turn sweet and black, perfect for cobblers and jam.

And the Black-Eyed Susan Moon, reaching perigee (its position closest to Earth) on August 10, becomes the Blackberry Jam Moon at 4:57 a.m. on August 11. Rising in the morning and setting in the evening, the new moon passes overhead at midday.

By the end of this almanac period, the sun will be 40 percent of the way to autumn equinox. A partial eclipse of the sun occurs on August 11, but it will not be visible in the United States.

Continue watching the planet display this month, Mars in Capricorn following Saturn along the southern horizon after sundown, Venus due west after sunset, followed by Jupiter in the southwest.

Find the Milky Way in the eastern night sky. Cygnus the swan is there, too, its formation like a giant cross. Below it is Aquila, spreading from its main stair, Altair, like a great eagle. Almost directly above you, Vega is the brightest star in the heavens.

The Perseid meteors peak August 11-13 in the east, an hour or so after midnight below the Milky Way in Perseus. This shower can produce up to 60 meteors in an hour and will not be obscured by the moon.

Weather trends

Morning lows are typically in the 60s, although one-fourth of the nights carry temperatures into the middle 50s. August 8 in 1989 and the same day in 1990 brought 40s into my weather history, and those two pieces of data are the first real signs of autumn's approach.

The advance of the cold is seen first in the nighttime statistics, and then, not long after, in the percentage of lower daytime temperatures. August 10 marks a second step toward fall: It is the average date for a major cool front 50 percent of the years on record, and on both August 9 and 11, there is a 10 percent chance for high temperatures only in the 60s.

On August 13, lows fall into the 40s for 15 percent of the time – that's the highest percentage since June 24, making yet another small step toward winter.

Even though the summer may be hot and humid and seemingly endless, its stability is deceptive. Sometimes the August 10 cool front is especially chilly, breaking the stagnation of the Dog Days. Sometimes leaf miners lace the locust trees, creating patches of gray and brown in the tree line.

Sometimes a few maples turn red and stand out like the hand of October from all the other trees of August. Bird calls have changed, and migrations are more apparent as flocking becomes more common. These and so many other events actually change the texture of your moods and attitudes, preparing you for the radical transformation of the months ahead.

Field and garden

The Blackberry Jam Moon is new on August 11, perfect for August plantings and picking blackberries. Everbearing strawberries and watermelons are ripe, Midwest peaches are typically at their best. Farmers bring in corn for silage, dig potatoes, pick commercial tomatoes and finish the second or third cut of alfalfa hay.

Gardeners gather up the winter squash plants as their stems dry, leaving about 2 inches of stem on the fruit; store in a cool, dry location. Berry and grape pickers make juice and wine and jelly from elderberries and wild grapes.

Marketing notes: Mum and pansy time is here for the autumn market. Then it’s time for the fish harvest; make tilapia fingerlings available for sales to homesteaders, Preppers or hobbyists. If you don’t have tilapia in your pond, explore purchasing and breeding them in a fish tank over the coming winter.

Fish, insects, livestock and birds: Keep carrots, oats, bran, iodized salt and good greens on hand to invigorate bucks as the breeding season opens. But keep male goats away from the legumes later in the season; that form of feed may cut down on fertility.

The major months of seasonal change – September, December, March and June – are excellent times to set up a vaccination timetable for your livestock. Changes in the season bring weather extremes as well as stress, so you will be taking care of routine health care at the most important times of the year.

The natural calendar

Morning fogs thicken and become more frequent as the night air cools more often into the 50s and below. Touch-me-nots are still full bloom, tall bellflowers strong and blue, burdock holding beside the oxeye, bouncing bets and new six-petaled wild cucumbers, the yellow and the blue flowered wild lettuce, the bull thistle, virgin's bower, tall nettle, prickly mallow, small woodland sunflower, soft velvetleaf, sundrops and heal all in full flower.

Along the rivers, bur marigolds, zigzag goldenrod and broad-leafed swamp goldenrod are budding. Water horehound, willow herb, wood mint and swamp milkweed are still open. Late summer's jumpseeds aren't ready to jump yet. Damselflies still hunt by the water. Cabbage butterflies still mate.

Fish (and all creatures) may be hungrier and more active with the moon overhead near midday as the barometer declines in advance of the August 10 and 17 cold fronts. Starlings become more restless as the days grow shorter.

Changes may soon be occurring at bird feeders, since migration of wood ducks, cedar waxwings, catbirds, Baltimore orioles and purple martins is likely to accelerate with each new weather system. At night, the cricket and katydid chorus intensifies.

Almanac classics

The Rambunctious Rooster

My Aunt Frances was blind. She spent her time visiting with her brothers and sisters. My brothers and I, as well as all of our cousins, looked forward to her visits because she was so much fun.

She had a repertoire of stories that you wouldn’t believe. If a child wanted a “bear story,” Aunt Frances came up with one. When we were teens, we regaled her with stories of our dating and “puppy love” stories that we wouldn’t have thought of telling our parents.

We had no indoor plumbing at that time, only “six rooms and a path,” and I had the dubious honor of escorting Aunt Frances to the outhouse.

One summer, we had a rambunctious rooster. When I went to the outhouse alone, I would check his location, then make a run for it to keep him from pecking my bare legs. When I was escorting Aunt Frances, I’d keep an eye out for him and give him a kick to discourage him. That tough old bird was not discouraged. He kept on trying.

Then, once on our way through the chicken yard, I saw him coming. I let go of Auntie and said, “Just a minute!” Then I really gave him a kick that sent him flying.

Auntie said, “What was that noise?”

I answered, “It was that old rooster. I gave him such a kick that he’ll never bother us again.”

He really didn’t. I’d sent him to rooster heaven. Tough old bird that he was, he made a wonderful Sunday dinner, along with some of Mom’s homemade noodles. That was the glorious end of the rambunctious rooster.

8/8/2018