I reflected …that the pulse of village life beats in…trivial exchanges, which occur constantly and forever: the talk of weather, of sun and rain, of fog and cloud, of storm and wind, throughout every season, the casual small talk that symbolizes the friendliness of people living in any social group…. – August Derleth, Village Daybook: A Sac Prairie Journal

Ephemeris for the Third Week of Deep Winter

In the Sky The Sun enters its sign of Aquarius on the 20th, ushering in the last subseason of winter (aptly called “Late Winter”). And the day’s length is approaching a spring-like ten hours.

Unlike the imposing storms of January, the events that redefine the passage of Capricorn to Aquarius are plain and small: the occasional appearance of flies and lady beetles indoors; sightings of opossums at night and overwintering robins and bluebirds in the day; the rare appearance of a butterfly (like Rick saw in the Glen on the 8th); the songs of the titmouse, the laughter of the nuthatch; the frequent arrival of starlings in town (their murmuration’s disrupted by the snow); the increasing frequency of mourning dove and cardinal mating calls; the first blossoming of aconites and snowdrops and snow crocuses…

Riding the cycle of Late Winter, the Camel Cricket Moon waxes throughout the week, passing into its second quarter on Jan. 17 and becoming full on the 25th.

The Weather in the Week Ahead

The low-pressure trough of this week of the month often brings in warm southerly winds. During January’s third week in 1890, the longest record-breaking thaw in Lower Midwestern history warmed temperatures into the upper 60s for three days.

On the other hand, days when the temperature does not rise above zero occur more often this week than in any other week, and morning lows below zero occur more in the third week of January than in any other week of the year.

Natural Calendar

The foliage of the oakleaf hydrangea has often fallen by this point in the year. The Osage fruits have turned deep red-brown. Azalea leaves curl and darken. The berries of the euonymus are coming away from their decaying, once protective sepals. Junco gathering for migration north begins, just as the sun comes into Aquarius. When the snow melts, fresh growth emerges on the Japanese honeysuckle, leaves dark violet, venturing out from the axils of their woody vines. In the garden, a few red nubs of peonies appear. Garlic mustard is lush on the hillsides. In the swamps, young poison hemlock is feathery and spreading, watercress bright in the springs of the talus slopes. New ragwort and sweet rocket leaves push up.

Countdown to Spring

• One week until the traditional January Thaw and the beginning of Late Winter

• Two weeks until cardinals start to sing before dawn

• Three weeks until doves join the cardinals, and maple sap flows

• Four weeks until the first red-winged blackbirds arrive in the wetlands

• Five weeks to the first snowdrop bloom and the official start of Early Spring

• Six weeks to crocus season and major pussy willow emerging season

• Seven weeks to the beginning of the morning robin chorus before sunrise

• Eight weeks to daffodil time

• Nine weeks to the major wildflower bloom

• 10 weeks until the yellow blossoms of forsythia bushes appear

In the Field and Garden

On the long winter evenings, take time to check the warm-weather bulbs you brought indoors. Clean and dry them carefully if mold has started to form.

Purchase grass seed with which to “frost seed” your lawn. If you don’t have snow on the ground, just walk out and sprinkle the seed where it needs to be; the steady freezing and thawing of the ground should work the seeds into the ground, allowing them to sprout as soon as the weather permits.

Winter fertilizing not only frees up time in the spring for the many farm and garden chores that follow warm weather, but it also provides a modicum of insurance against spring rain delays. After testing your soil, spread lime, phosphate and potash as needed.

Potatoes are often cut today and dusted with sulfur to prevent rot. They are then dried and allowed to sprout in flats. Perennials should be covered with extra mulch if they are sprouting early. Vines, shade and fruit trees may be pruned after a week or two of averages below freezing.

Almanack Literature

Bees in the Classroom

By Sue Hallam, Shiloh, Ohio

Anyone who has spent 30 years (or 30 minutes) in a classroom being inspected by 30 pairs of eyes and ears knows the high potential for embarrassing moments. Sooner or later, catastrophe strikes.

The warm days of spring awaken the earth and specifically the insects that inhabit it. My classroom on the 3rd floor was above the cafeteria so that the enticing (or not) odors wafted up and in through the windows. In the days before we got our duct-taped, X-slashed screens, bees entered the room on those currents of olfactory delight. Their onomatopoeic buzz as they dived and soared excited the students as no lesson I devised ever could.

Kids screamed, dodged, swatted, and generally enjoyed the distraction the bees provided. Several brave boys, bee swatting notebooks in hand, dashed around the room making exaggerated swings at the marauders, often “missing” their targets and smacking another student on the back of his head. Even more chaos was raised if they hit the target and splattered bee guts on the window, desk, or wall.

In an attempt to restore order, I calmly recited the lie that bees only sting if provoked. Usually the children’s blood lust was satisfied by a few dead bees, and then the children reluctantly and watchfully retuned to the tasks at hand. I reassured the students that if one stood still, remained calm, and didn’t panic, the bees would not sting.

I was congratulating myself on my professional handing of yet another bee invasion when one surviving bee warrior, intent on revenging the smashing of his companions, flew behind my glasses.

I screamed, ducked, and swatted. My glasses flew into the air and landed three rows back. (Fortunately intact.)  My nose began to run in response to the pain I had inflicted on it. My textbook tumbled to the floor and lay in a crumpled heap. I may even have uttered an “expletive deleted,” judging by the startled “Ooohs” and “Uh-ohs” from the class.

The event came to a close when a voice from the back of the room said, “I guess you provoked that one, Mrs. Hallam.”

Oh, the joys of teaching!

ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S SCKRAMBLER

LOHE HOLE

LOCA COAL

AOLF FOAL

LEOD DOLE

MLEO MOLE

LOLP             POLL

EROL ROLE

OETSL STOLE

LTROL TROLL

LLRO ROLL

THIS WEEK’S RHYMING SCKRAMBLER

LTTPAE

RATSP

TAMT

TASP

TTAH

TVA

LAFT

ABT

NAGT

CTA

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. Yes, you are a genius.

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