November 7-13, 2011

A true November day, chill and wet. I walked in the sodden woods, looking for walnuts … How good to sit by the fire on such a day as this, and how good to go out again in the wet.

-Harlan Hubbard

The Second Spring Moon becomes completely full at 3:16 p.m. on Nov. 10. Rising in the afternoon and setting in the morning, this moon is overhead in the middle of the night, making that time the best for fishing (and creating a second-best lunar time at noon for hunting). Dieters traditionally have more difficulty staying away from food at full-moon time.

Livestock and children may be more troublesome, and crime usually rises. By the next weekend (Nov. 15-16), however, lunar stress should abate. This week is especially favorable for putting in holiday bulbs indoors and garlic outside under Taurus, Nov. 9-10, and Cancer, Nov. 14-15.

An hour before sunrise, before the first color gives the time of day away, look south and imagine it is still evening instead of close to dawn. Then you’ll see the sky has moved into its evening position for spring equinox.

Regulus, centered overhead, announces the first bloom of crocus. June’s Arcturus is well up in the east. Warm Spica lies along the horizon. The Corona Borealis, the crown of peonies and iris and lily-of-the-valley, rises nearby. Vega has come full circle, is guiding Deneb and the Swan back from the northeast.

Late fall almost always arrives the second week of November, a transition time when the last leaves fall, skies darken, wind speed increases, hard frosts put an end to the year’s flower and vegetable cycles, harvest is completed on the farm and last preparations for snow are made.

Late fall’s high temperatures shift decidedly into the 40s, and lows average 32 or worse. High-pressure systems, accompanied by clouds and rain or snow, typically arrive around Nov. 9 and 14. Nov. 9 is historically the wettest day of this month’s second week. Nov. 11-12 are the sunniest, and Nov. 13 is the driest.

At least one partly cloudy afternoon in the 60s or 70s comes six years out of 10 during this time of the year, but cold and precipitation are the norm. Heating-degree days are now more than double those of October, and freezing nighttime temperatures are recorded an average of 55 percent of the time.

The zeitgebers (events in nature that tell the time of year) for this week include the emergence of orange berries from climbing bittersweet and euonymus vines, the increased danger from deer at night as rutting season intensifies, the collapse of late sugar maple, river birch, ginkgo and white mulberry foliage, the rusting of beech leaves, the bright flowering of witch hazel and the turning of New England aster leaves to dusky gold and zigzag goldenrod leaves to faded purple.

Nov. 7: Fertilize trees and shrubs. Remove tops from ever-bearing raspberries. Supplies should be on hand for the bedding plant season, which usually begins with the first pansies and begonias under the new November and December moons.

Nov. 8: From today through Nov. 20 is the normal rutting period for whitetail deer in the central part of the country. Male deer lose their antler velvet, rub and scrape on branches and chase does.

Rutting also contributes to the great increase in the number of accidents involving cars and deer. Half of those incidents happen between 6 p.m. and midnight – and almost all of them occur when weather conditions are mild and clear.

Nov. 9: Throughout the nation, practically all weeds and wildflowers become dormant. Only in subtropical Florida do Bermuda and Johnson grass, chenopods and amaranths continue to bloom.

Nov. 10: Nearly all leaves have fallen by this date along the 40th Parallel. Trees that have held out until now suddenly turn color overnight. Fall isn’t over yet, of course; your collards and kale are holding out; your mulched beets and carrots are doing fine; but 400 hours from now, the bitter transition to early winter is often under way. Full moon increases the likelihood of freezing temperatures tonight.

Nov. 11: Fed by stands of honeysuckle, robins linger in town and in the woods. Juncos have arrived, and bluebirds make their last passage south. Starlings cluck and whistle at sunrise, and cardinals and pileated woodpeckers and bobwhites sing off and on throughout the day.

Finches work the sweet gum tree fruits, digging out the seeds from their hollows. Sparrow hawks appear on the fences, watching for mice in the bare fields.

Nov. 12: Fertilize pastures for improved winter hardiness and stimulation of growth in early spring.

Nov. 13: Sometimes when the temperature reaches 60, November seems like April. Waterleaf is strong on the slopes. Celandine is blooming in the garden, along with a few dandelions, some chickweed, some violets. Seeds sprout in rotting logs. Periwinkle emerges from under the brown leaves when the wind blows hard.

One day, our basketball coach called my friend Bill and me into his office. “Boys,” he said, “you are going to run on our cross country team tomorrow. We don’t have enough members for a cross country team, and if you two run it will put you in great shape for the basketball season.”

What could we say? When the whistle blew and the race started, Bill and I passed everyone and turned toward the West End Grocery and quickly ordered two hand-dipped ice cream cones. We took our time and ate the ice cream all the way to the water tower near the finish line.

Here they came, all the cross country team. A guy named Jim was in the lead. Then, Bill and I took off. We passed Jim and the rest like a shot, and we were cheered as the winners of the race.

But, we couldn’t keep from telling the other runners how good the ice cream cones tasted – and Jim was finally declared the winner. He was a happy winner, too, and bragged about it all the rest of the school year.