July 15-21, 2019

Nothing that is can pause or stay;

The moon will wax, the moon will wane,

The mist and cloud will turn to rain,

The rain to mist and cloud again,

Tomorrow be today.

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Finches in the Thistle Down Moon, becoming full. on July 15, wanes throughout the week, reaching apogee, its position farthest from Earth, on July 21 and entering its final quarter on July 24 at 8:18 p.m.

This moon reaches its most influential position overhead near dawn. Lunar power should favor early morning angling, especially as the weather systems of July 21 and 28 approach.

Weather trends

Rain is a bit more likely this week than it was last week, as chances for showers rise over the next seven days from 20 to 35 percent. Temperatures in the 80s occur more than 55 percent of the time, with 90s coming 35 percent. The coolest days of the period are typically July 22-23, when mild 70s are recorded about a quarter of all the years.

The most consistent day of the period, and of the whole month, is July 24 when highs in the 80s come 95 percent of the time. July 23 brings cool sleeping conditions more often than any night in the month; a full 35 percent of the nights drop below 60 degrees.

The natural calendar

July 15: A slight turning of the leaves is beginning on some of the redbuds, Virginia creepers, box elders, and buckeyes. Foliage of Japanese honeysuckle and the multiflora roses are yellowing. Catalpa beans are fat and long. There is a scent of August in the morning air, the smell of spent flowers and leaves.

July 16: Mallow, Asiatic lilies, and day lilies disappear in the garden as red, white, and purple phlox flowers unfold. Lizard’s tail and wood nettle go to seed along the riverbanks.

July 17: Average temperatures reach their peak throughout the region today. Averages remain at that level through July 28, after which they begin their descent, not only here but almost everywhere in the nation.

July 18: May apples have toppled over, foliage dappled with yellow and brown. A few late enchanter’s nightshade plants still have tiny blossoms, but early summer’s honewort is gone.

July 19: Pollen has disappeared from the clustered snakeroot. Some spicebushes and privets have green berries.

July 20: The best of the morning bird chorus is often over now for the year. The cardinals still greet the dawn, but on many days they stop singing after sunrise. Robin calls have lost their whinnies and singsong chirping.

Swallows are migrating; they can sometimes be seen congregating on the high wires. When the mornings are cool, fog hangs in the hollows before dawn.

July 21: Ragweed blooms throughout the southern states (and rides the wind to your yard). Yellowing locust leaves and brown garlic mustard give a sense of fall to the woods. Osage fruits drop to the ground.

Field and garden

As the July Dog Days intensify, they will bring more Japanese beetles to the roses and leafhoppers to the potatoes, and aphids everywhere. Keep flowers and vegetables well-watered and fed to help them resist the onslaught of the insects and weather.

Mid-July rains may be causing soybean root rot and leaf yellowing. Burdock and catchweed cause problems in the pasture – it’s getting to be bur-time throughout the land.

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.

Watch your animals after traveling long distances in the heat. Be sure they have plenty of attention, feed, and water. All things being equal, animals (like people) may be more susceptible to disease after a traumatic trip than during their regular day-to-day life.

In the countdown for summer, it is:

•One week until ragweed pollen floats in the wind

•Two weeks until blackberries are ready for jam and brandy

•Three weeks until aster and goldenrod time

•Four weeks until the season of fall apples begins

•Five weeks until hickory-nutting time gets underway

Almanac classic from 2004

Love that Lasts

By Don Hoge

Burbank, Ohio

This love story started in 1942. I was in the 10th grade, and I was in study hall. The classes changed, and when I got up, I noticed this beautiful gal with perfect teeth, long hair with a headband, and a plaid jumper dress on. I didn’t talk to her, and that was it. No more contact.

Now we move on to 1948. I was back from the service and was farming. So this one Saturday night, me and my buddy went to a dance at the Odd Fellows Hall in Lodi. We walked around and looked the situation over, and I couldn’t believe it: There was the same girl that I had seen in 1942.

I went up and talked to her, and found out her aunt and uncle lived in Lodi, and she was a junior in college. So we danced the night away, and she could really dance.

She went out to Indiana the next week to see relations, and told them that she had met the guy she was going to marry. But she didn’t tell me.

To get on with the story, we did get married in 1949. We‘ve been married 55 years with three kids who are all schoolteachers, and Mrs. Hoge retired with 28 years teaching.

So now after all these years, we are still talking, playing cards, and when you get older, everybody travels, but we have both had our health problems – she with heart trouble and me with cancer, and she can’t see and I can’t hear, so between the two of us we make one person.

When other people go to Florida when they get old, we go south to Wooster, Polk or Ashland, Medina, Spencer, and Lodi. So we are quite busy doing all of this stuff, and I am still farming, and she still has those beautiful teeth, and we are happy.

This week’s Scrambler